AfriKids has established four child rights centres in northern Ghana which have the capacity for residential care; the Next Generation Home in Bolgatanga, Mama Laadi’s Foster Home also in Bolgatanga, the Angus Child Rights Centre in Sirigu and the Operation Smiles centre in Nakuaabi. With the exception of Mama Laadi’s Foster Home where the most vulnerable children are cared for from birth to adulthood, all of the centres are transitional. Sister Jane Naaglosegme and the Operation Smiles centre are a great example of how this approach to childcare works. AfriKids started because of the work of Sister Jane Naaglosegme. She is a gentle, humble woman with an extraordinary sense of determination. She is Catholic nun and has trained both in nursing and midwifery and when AfriKids’ founder Georgie Fienberg first met her in 1997 she was putting her skills to use at a babies’ home she established for ‘spirit children’. The belief that some children are sub human, born to bring bad luck to their families is still prevalent and used as a justification for infanticide in the remote rural communities of northern Ghana. Sister Jane had developed a simple method for disproving this; if a child was accused of being a spirit she would take them in, nurse them through their infancy and build bridges with their relatives. She took in the children’s mothers or close relatives if they were orphaned to learn parenting skills and eventually reintegrated the ‘spirit children’ with their families. It was her results and resourcefulness that inspired Georgie to begin fundraising and eventually register a charity. Everything achieved since then all stems from that one woman’s simple determination. Her legacy in Sirigu lives on in the shape of the award winning Operation Sirigu and the many ‘spirit children’ living happy and productive lives back with their families. Since 2005 we have been able to support Sister Jane in a new venture; Operation Smiles. Having been posted to the village of Nakuuabi, a very remote outpost four hours drive west of AfriKids Ghana’s base, Sister Jane is working with the communities around her to help the most vulnerable women and children. There are an unusually high number of young single mothers due to male out-migration, poverty which makes dowries impossible to attain and traditional festivals and practices which expose young girls to sexual abuse. Much as it was at the babies’ home, Sister Jane’s focus is to help families live together and find a sustainable means of living, rather than just removing vulnerable children from their homes. Sister Jane has established a good working system for vulnerable young mothers and orphans. She takes in the child and a family member who is committed to caring for them, feeds, houses and supports them and passes on parenting skills for three months, then resettles them at home and monitors them closely.