Suspected thieves have raided the Bawjiase Orphanage Home at Awutu Bawjiase in the Central Region and made away with 12 of the 19 cows being reared on the orphanage's farm. The cows are estimated to cost GH¢18,000. The Director of the home, Captain Joe Yeboah (retd), told the Daily Graphic the thieves raided the farm last Friday night. He said the caretaker of the farm travelled for three days and left the place in the care of his eldest son. “Apparently, the son was not sleeping at the place. It was only on Saturday morning that the caretaker called to tell us that some of the cows had been stolen,” he said. Captain Yeboah said the theft would greatly affect the operations of the home, since it was from the sale of the cows that funds were generated to take care of the children. He, therefore, appealed to the public, especially chop bar operators, to report any persons found to be dealing in cows. The matter, he said, had been reported to the Bawjiase Police, who had since begun investigations into the matter. The orphanage, also known as the Countryside Children’s Home, has an 80-acre farmland as a self-reliance programme to cater for orphans. The Countryside Orphanage is an independent, charitable, non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to the positive development and welfare of under-privileged children. It was established in 1981 by Madam Emma Boafo Yeboah through inspiration from an American missionary couple at Winneba in the Central Region. It was duly registered with the Registrar-General’s Department and the Department of Social Welfare and received its certificates of recognition and incorporation in 1994 and 1998, respectively. Its preparatory school offers excellent tuition to all inmates and some children from the Bawjiase community. The home also offers basic education to the inmates up to the junior high school level. Basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, entertainment and others are provided for over 150 inmates of the home, which relies on support and donations from individuals, churches and organisations to provide those needs.