Ghana’s economic challenges are having adverse impacts on vulnerable groups, following the hikes in transport fares and the general increase in goods and services.

The situation has crippled several businesses with many experiencing low productivity and losing their profitability.

Orphanages are also bearing the brunt as managers in some facilities struggle to get enough to feed children under their care.

Children at the Graceland and Needy Childcare at Bawjiase in the Central Region have shared their ordeal about how they sometimes suffer to cope with the frequent unavailability of food in the facility.

The orphans revealed that they usually trek to nearby markets in order to get access to food, a situation they said is compounding their woes.

“We don’t have rice, we don’t even have gari, so we have been going to buy gari at the market. Our food is finished. And we are not having anything,” they told JoyNews in an interview.

They made these known during the Easter festivities when various groups and individuals went to their aid.

On Saturday, a group called ‘My Help, Your Help’ Foundation donated food and stationery items to make life more comfortable for the children.

President of the Foundation, Nicholas Cofie, said the exercise forms part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, adding that they had learned about the challenges facing the orphanage.

“They raised the issue of school uniforms, stationeries and above all foodstuff. We feel these are children who have no parents, they are helpless, and they are vulnerable.

“So, as a Christian organisation, we deemed it fit and proper to be compassionate to them. I also believe that Easter is about giving,” he observed.

While commending the group for the kind gesture and intervention, the founder of the facility noted that they would still need more helping hands to keep them going.

Madam Grace Wobell said the orphanage would need help from other agencies, groups and individuals to absorb the shocks induced by the high cost of food and other services.

“Now food is expensive. When you go to the market, it is not easy like that, catering for such children. So, please if you dine with your family, remember these children too,” she appealed.

Meanwhile, the facility is also in need of funds to expand its infrastructure to deal with congestion in the dormitories and provide a better learning environment for the children.