Eating for a good cause...always a pleasure.

For a change this post is not just about food...well, not entirely. The signage directed me to 'High Tea' at Labadi Beach Hotel this morning and for a moment I groaned inwardly. As much as I love going for 'High Tea' at posher than posh hotels, I was really hoping that Labadi had deviated from the norm just a bit this time. They had indeed. I can't remember the last time I had prawns for breakfast, but prawns it was, done tempura style. There were salmon and cream wraps, profiteroles stuffed with a variety of fillings, bacon-wrapped sausages and a huge array of pastries and bread. But we were there for a good cause and that made the experience all the more worthwhile.

Melanie Presland - MC and a teacher at the Home

The Royal Seed Home is an orphanage that takes in children of all ages from infants up to teens; run by an extraordinary woman, Naomi Amoah who single-handedly; with donations received from overseas supporters,  Ghanaian philanthropists and volunteers, runs the two-year old orphanage. In order to be accredited with the Department of Social Welfare, and be eligible to receive government support, she has to bring the orphanage to a standard stipulated by the Department, which in itself requires funding. For now she relies solely on the goodness of strangers.

Jennifer Henrichsen - Volunteer

With the help of volunteers, one of which is Jennifer Henrichsen; who together with Melanie Presland and others have managed to garner enough support amongst their immediate friends and neighbours to lend their support to this cause, the orphanage has gone through structural changes that entailed in some cases, a coat of paint, in others providing beds for the children to donating a water pump for the compound. Companies have also given generously to this organisation and today's function was an example of companies going above and beyond their normal course of business...as the General Manager of Labadi Beach Hotel, alluded to during the function, being in Ghana effectively makes you a citizen for as long you remain here and not for a moment can we see ourselves as distinct and separate from the communities that surround us. The auction, which was the entire point of the Tea raised an astonishing GHc8000, including a fraction of the ticket costs, for the orphanage. For an organisation that struggles to feeds its 150 wards, this will go a long way. A pleasant morning, which concluded with a drumming and dance performance from the children of Royal Seed Home. Kudos to all the companies that dug deep in their pockets and took their business activity beyond the minimum-required levels and even more so to everyone that turned out because they played a huge part in seeing that  the auction, which was the main fundraiser, was a success.

Naomi Amoah - Director of Royal Seed Home

The charming surrounds of Labadi Beach Hotel

Auction item - Artwork by Borlabie

The dancers and drummers from the Home

Sponsor companies