Orphanage after Turkish premier's name inaugurated in Kenya

KONYA (A.A) - March 6, 2012 - An orphanage has been inaugurated in Kenya after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's name. Konya-based RIDA Humanitarian Aid Association opened an orphanage in Garissa, Kenya, and named the orphanage after Premier Erdogan upon a request from local people. "Our association helps orphans, and we have started to help orphans in Sudan in 2008," the deputy chairperson of the association, Tamer Kalender, told AA correspondent on Tuesday. Kalender said the association had embraced 3,500 orphans in the region.  Majority of people living in Garissa region were from Somalia, Kalender said. Kalender said local people of Garissa wanted the orphanage to be named after Erdogan as the Somali people were so touched by Erdogan's speech on Somalia at the United Nations. "They really care about recent Somalia visit of Erdogan who listened to their problems and pioneered many aid campaigns," Kalender said. Kalender said 50 children between ages of 8 and 10 would stay in the orphanage at first.