QUEENCARE PROTECTS CHILDREN'S RIGHTS (PAGE 11, JAN 28, 2010)

ONE non-governmental organisation (NGO) that is complementing the efforts of the government, individuals and other NGOs to protect the rights and interests of women and children is QueenCare International.
The organisation is based at Kato, near Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region and was founded by the Queen of Kato, Nana Afia Siraa-Ababio III, soon after she was enstooled in 1989. It is currently taking care of about 46 children, some of whom are orphans, destitute and street children.
The NGO seeks to create awareness of quality parenting and child care and rekindle lost cultural values. It is also committed to providing intervention services for vulnerable groups such as women, children and persons with disability through advocacy, counselling, care, support and economic empowerment.
At an appreciation day organised by QueenCare International, the Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board (NAB), Mr Kwame Dattey, stressed the need for the youth to abstain from alcohol and all hard drugs, eschew social vices and rather concentrate on their education to become worthy citizens of the country.
He observed that many religious and other organisations were currently establishing tertiary educational institutions in the country to contribute their quota to national development and advised parents to ensure that their children got the best of education, since it was the key to socio-economic development.
The 52-year-old queen, known in private life as Hannah Asuamah Kyere, who is the Executive Director of QueenCare International, acknowledged initiatives by government agencies, local and international institutions and other NGOs to address the problems associated with the development of the Ghanaian child, particularly in deprived communities, adding that there was no doubt about the fact that children were the future leaders of this country.
She said among the key problems confronting children were child labour, child trafficking, migration from the rural to the urban centres and streetism and pointed out that the root cause of all those problem was child neglect resulting from parental irresponsibility and deep-seated ignorance by parents and sometimes state institutions.
QueenCare International has selected four regions in the country, namely the Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central, for its operations but currently it had concentrated its activities in Brong Ahafo and Greater Accra.
Nana Siraa-Ababio, who is a product of the Berekum Presbyterian Girls’ School and the Government Secretariat School in Koforidua in the Eastern Region, stressed that her organisation used advocacy, sensitisation, awareness creation and confidence building to ensure quality parenting and make fathers and mothers more responsible for the care and support of their children.
The queen, who succeeded her late grandmother, Nana Yaa Tima, is currently providing food and shelter for about 46 neglected children and called for support from all well-meaning individuals and organisations.
The NGO is also involved in an advocacy and care and support programme for persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIVs). It has also established a theatre group called Otwaakwan Performing Arts, an abstinence club and a rescue home at Kato.
A number of individuals and organisations were presented with certificates of honour by the NGO in recognition of their invaluable support to it to promote quality parenting and child care.