Just as some women spend large amounts of money on fertility clinics and medications in order to have babies of their own, some women that the good Lord blessed with one voluntarily, without stress, think of abortion, while some conceive, give birth and throw away into pit latrines or waste bins as the case may be. A good number of others welcome new babies with joy and happiness.

Just as we all grow up to see some scripted lines on our palms, all different from one another and we wonder how these lines got there, the same way some of us grow to see ourselves in an environment that seems different from normal. While some children have good memory of childhood, others don't. Not that they are not well taken care of by their care-givers or nannies, but there is always something amiss nevertheless, which is the close one-on-one bond and undiluted attention a child gets from the parents, something which the care-givers, even with the best intentions, cannot fully provide.

took a peep into the world of these wonderful babies and Jami'yyar Matan Arewa (JMA) was our first port of call. JMA is the oldest orphanage home which has been in existence since about 46 years ago. It was founded by fifteen prominent northern women in Kaduna without religious or tribal bias. Kicked with the blessing of the late premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir. Ahmadu Bello, with a donation of a building(where the home is sitting now) and a whooping sum of 500 pounds cash for the effective take off of the association.

When you step into the 46 years old home and seeing what has been put in place, you will see some comfort, nevertheless has found home, From the aesthetics on the wall to the cute and cozy beds and a fully stocked deep freezer that ensures good hygiene for the children. The orphanage, with a handful of staff portrays the existence of a special kind of love bond which radiates between the workers and the children, as our reporter observed the way the kids cling to their minders.

Co-ordinator/Secretary-General of the orphanage, Hajia Laila Dongoyaro, told LEADERSHIP: "We started with 6 orphans babies, and later the number kept increasing. In fact, there was a time we had about 20 babies in one month, so you can imagine what it is to take care of babies. Though we receive babies from Social Welfare Office and from police stations, we also pick them up from where they were abandoned, either at our entrance or along the streets and, sometimes, people bring them here with all kinds of stories.

I could remember when someone walked in here with a baby and said she could not take care of the baby and, instead on throwing the baby, she decided to bring her so that it will be well taken care of, but my secretary who attended to her told her that we don't just take care of babies or put them in our care just like that and that she should go to the police station and report, or better still to Social Welfare Office, so she left only for us to retire to our different homes and listening to network news and heard that a baby was abandoned in a waste bin, I didn't see the baby when it was brought in the morning, my secretary called me that night, saying," "Hajia that was the same baby that was brought here early today." She took permission and off she went to the television house to take custody of the child. The situation is really pathetic, so we have decided not to be turning them down like that. If we suspect any foul stories, we immediately call in the police, which in turn take charge from there.

There is need for parents to give good moral upbringing to their children. They should not be so strict, but give necessary training and also bring them up in whatever religious doctrine they practice. Sex education is also very important because apart from babies that lose their mothers through childbirth, we have cases of abandoned and unwanted babies who probably the young mother could not abort and had to give birth to the child, only to dump it somewhere thereafter.

"We even have cases of where a father walked in with a baby and met me playing with one of the babies. He asked if I worked here and I became suspicious. So, I said No! That I came visiting too. I pointed to the matron here then, while listening to their conversation. He said," This baby is my grandchild but the mother is too young and it is really shameful letting people know about this. I was advised by my friend, whose grandson is here too, to come and drop the child here for proper upbringing."

There and then , the matron started fidgeting, shouting on top of her voice that there is no such cases here; that the man should please go away with the baby, but the man kept insisting that his friend's grandson was there. After a long argument, the man left with the child. I had to call the matron to confirm the man's statement. I was disappointed that, at first, she denied but when I threatened to call in the police, she admitted and I felt bad. I was disappointed that, some perpetrators of evil still found their way into what we call orphanage homes despite the fact that the orphanage was established to fight a cause, there are rules guiding it. I ordered her to name such babies and you won?t believe it! Out of 20 babies, 17of them were named! These are children we were told were abandoned at the roadside and so on. The most pathetic aspect is that she was being paid for keeping the kids in the home.

I had to bundle all the babies to the Social Welfare Office and funnily enough, they rejected them. Together with the matron, we had to start dropping each baby at his/her respective home. At the end of the day, I kicked the matron out of the home.

Aside orphans and abandoned babies, who we keep for not more than three years before giving them up for adoption, because it is important they grow up in the warmth of a family, we also accommodate destitute children in the streets, engage them in trade and set them up after successful completion. Recent, I married off two of them and they are doing well.

As our babies that are given up for adoption, we visit them frequently and we don't just give them out to just anybody. They would fill a form giving all their particulars and we ask them to report to Social Welfare Office, which in turn investigates them and gives them note to us and, on our part, we go out to their neighbours about without their knowledge, to ask questions relating to their state of mind, etc. We don't give up babies to couples who have attained the age of 50 and above because they would have been too old to take care of the baby.

came across, Mrs. Balogun, a fifty-year -old woman, who has been looking for the fruit of the womb, sharing her pains and emotions, she said childlessness has really been tough for her and her marriage. "I visit JMA orphanage once in a while to play with the kids and on every Sallah day, I cook and take it to the children to eat, hoping that soon the good Lord will smile on me. It's really pathetic when you hear cases of babies being abandoned or thrown into latrines it makes me sad and wonder how God works. While I am suffering, praying for just one and spending huge amounts of money, some have and throw away.

spoke to medical personnel to ascertain the statistics of abandoned babies and what could actually be the major causes. Dr. Shehu .O. Akintade, Chief Medical Director of Hamaab Specialist Hospital, had this to say, "I can?t give you the actual statistics now, but I can tell you the rate of abandonment is on the increase, and the major causes of this social problem is the economic crisis, government which was voted for on promises to better their lots, turns around to practice capitalism, displacing people from their homes.

Secondly, the larger duty fall son the younger, unmarried girls who go after men for money, thus get unwanted pregnancies. For those of them who can?t afford to pay for abortions or fear of death, always go ahead and have the babies, only for them to dump somewhere. It's really sad and the federal government should act on this by punishing whosoever is caught, so that our future leaders can live ."

An Islamic clergy, Ustadh Sai'd Ismail, also chipped in that fear of the Allah is lacking and parents(especially mothers) should train and educate their wards.

All said and done, we urge the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, donor agencies and other well-meaning Nigerians to pool their energy and resources together to assist the entire underprivileged children who find themselves in situations they know nothing about.