Tamale Children’s Home
There was no power in the office yesterday so I took the opportunity to go to Tamale Children’s Home to take them the donated clothes and blankets and to 
enquire about volunteering. I think I was expecting it to be really grim - like you see on documentaries about Russian orphanages - but it was surprisingly nice. It is like a little community, with a school, clinic, day rooms and bedrooms. It had been painted brightly with murals on the walls and the grounds were nicely kept with lots of trees and a little play ground. 
There were about 4 other volunteers there when I visited, from Denmark and Holland. I am going to try and go one day a week. They told me that most of the babies are handed in by people who just find them abandoned. The culture of extended family here in Ghana means that usually an unwanted baby would be given to another family member to bring up. In fact nearly everyone I know has at least one child that was "given" to them. So to end up in an orphanage is fairly rare and I guess the situation would have to be desperate to send them there. There are about 20 newly born babies at the moment.
I have just been to Sahadatu’s shop and was asking her about this business of giving children away, and she told me that she has given one of her sons away to her brother. Crazy. She said it is s o the family remain close and the relationships are strong.
