It was a heartbreaking decision no mother should have to make. Akulah Agbami had to choose which of the three children she had planned to adopt would be allowed to leave the Zambian orphanage where they spent all day in their cots. And now she has pledged to help other young orphans suffering in that country. Jan Winter met her.

AKULAH AGBAMI and her family have transformed the life of tiny Kuumba, the girl brought to Bradford from a Zambian orphanage last summer.

They even had to choose a date of birth for her because no-one knew how old she was.

Little Kuumba - who was probably 18 months old but was more like a four-month-old baby - was the most ill of the three children Akulah had initially selected to adopt.

But when the orphanage authorities decreed she could only have one of the children, Akulah had to decide which she would bring from the institution where the children were neglected, spending all day in their cots in a room with a closed door.

And she has now pledged to set up her own home for abandoned youngsters in the African country.

"No-one knew how old Kuumba she was. She weighed six kilogrammes. She couldn't stand or smile, she had just lived in a cot," said Akulah, who already has three children, one of them adopted. Kuumba is now a lovely, happy toddler, much loved by her new family.

Akulah aims to gain charitable status for Zambia Action Projects to raise the £7,000 which would allow her to set up a high-quality orphanage and meet the running costs for a year.

Conditions were grim for children in the orphanage where Akulah found Kuumba. They were all in one bedroom, with little food or care and no loving attention.

Akulah will return to Zambia this summer to set up her orphanage and attempt for a third time to bring home the next-oldest of the three children she had picked, a little boy called Olo. A trip in November ended in heartache when the orphanage again refused to allow him to leave.

The authorities changed their minds about allowing Akulah to adopt all three of the children after she was so worried about another child in the orphanage that she brought in a doctor to look at him. That antagonised managers, who feared outside interference in the institution they were running.

"We don't know if Olo is going to survive till next summer. He stands a good chance of dying of neglect.

"I can't be proud of myself because when I close my eyes, I see all those other kids in that situation. I can't live with myself and leave that situation as it is," says Akulah.

Akulah had tried to adopt in this country, after wanting to extend her family. She has had a hysterectomy and so would be unable to have more children herself. But she admits her unconventional lifestyle was held against the family. They travel a great deal, including spells abroad sampling other cultures, when Akulah educates the children herself. The charity Barnardo's, for example, thought that the children they placed needed more stability and should not move about.

"We lead a modest life here but we spend lots of time outside and I try to get my kids to lead active lives. All our income goes on travelling."

She is a teacher and award-winning children's author, who was honoured by Yorkshire and Humberside Arts Board last year.

The family were hoping to adopt a family of three children from Milton Keynes last year, but the decision went in favour of a Sheffield family. Akulah was told the other family had been selected because they were closer to Milton Keynes - and because Akulah and her children were vegetarian!

"We were all psyched up for these three Milton Keynes children. Then I thought: 'There are children all over the world in a dreadful situation.' There was no excuse for sitting around, so I booked a ticket to Zambia." Akulah chose the country after reading a newspaper report about the hardships in orphanages there.

She is a determined person and arranged to meet key people who could help her in her bid to adopt orphaned children from Zambia.

The social situation means life is very tough in the African country. Kuumba was abandoned in a cardboard box - a common situation in a land where half the women aged between 16 and 30 are HIV positive, and poverty is rife.

Akulah was shocked by the harshness of life there. On her first day in the capital, Lusaka, she saw a road accident where a woman was decapitated by a truck. "It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen, but people didn't look twice." They were so used to death and horror that they didn't even stop.

And she tries to be charitable about the workers in the orphanage, who take for themselves anything brought in for the children, including clothing and medicines. Akulah knows that the staff probably only take things so that their own children survive, something which is a priority for any mother. But it is hard for Akulah to accept when she sees the orphaned and abandoned children suffering.

Many children are left on roads, and are killed before receiving any help, but others survive to be taken to orphanages.

Akulah was willing to take the consequences of adopting Kuumba, including the care of her if she was HIV positive, as many babies in Zambia are. But tests have revealed the toddler does not have the disease.

One child in the 12-cot orphanage where Kuumba was taken, the Chilenje Transit Home, died while Akulah was there. "It's such a common occurrence there, but it really upset me. I think life is sacred and everyone's life is important," she said.

Akulah now wants to raise £7,000 - the amount it will cost to set up a small orphanage in Zambia and meet the running costs for a year. She plans to find the right staff who will be able to offer the care which children need and deserve, and will provide a fully-equipped place where their lives are far better than they could expect at present.

If anyone can help Akulah, contact her by writing to Jan Winter at the T&A, Hall Ings, Bradford BD1 1JR.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.