Only one child now lives in Cherry Brierley Children’s Home full time. The home is changing to becoming a centre for support and learning in the wider community, but we can still offer a safe refuge for children at risk. We have such a child at the moment. That child is Ryan.

He is a bright boy who dreams of one day becoming an Electrical engineer. Unfortunately though, the family source of income is from selling locally brewed alcohol called ’Chang’aa’, which is where his troubles began.

Ryan started to become addicted to the alcohol brewed by his family and so the Children’s Home was asked to step in to at least give him a safe space to stay and study. We fear it won’t be that simple though. His School Headteacher commented that Ryan was overheard saying that if he won’t be going back home to his family, then he should be granted the opportunity to have some alcohol every morning to feel ok. For now he finds the Children’s Home a good place to stay but requests that he could be granted one day in a weekend to go back and see his family before returning to the Home. We, of course, hope that his family would visit him instead of him returning home, but that’s not what he asks for.