For 20 years, Ya Bana Children’s Village has provided a stable, nurturing sanctuary for vulnerable and abandoned children. Yet, as older children move between the village and the outside world – attending school and visiting family – the facility faces a challenge no safe haven can fully wall out: substance abuse.

The challenge: protecting the village from external risks

The partnership with ALCO-Safe began unexpectedly when Ya Bana reached out to ALCO-Safe to purchase drug testing kits. The facility had identified a growing concern: children were occasionally being exposed to substances at school or while visiting family, inadvertently bringing those substances back into the village.

As an NGO, Ya Bana faced two primary hurdles:

1. Resource constraints: High-quality, professional testing equipment is often financially out of reach for non-profit organisations.

2. Implementation sensitivity: Testing children requires a delicate balance between safety and emotional care. The village needed a way to identify problems without the process becoming purely punitive.

The solution: a partner in prevention and education

Recognising the importance of Ya Bana’s mission, ALCO-Safe transitioned from a potential vendor to a CSI partner. Instead of a simple sale, ALCO-Safe donated professional LION breathalysers and drug-testing equipment, along with a comprehensive support package.

The solution focused on three pillars of intervention:

• Donation of professional hardware: Providing the same high-standard breathalyser and drug testing equipment used in industrial sectors to ensure accurate, indisputable results.
• Ethical training: ALCO-Safe volunteered it’s time to train Ya Bana staff on how to conduct breathalyser and drug tests ethically and sensitively, ensuring the best interests of the child remain the priority.
• Awareness and prevention: Beyond the hardware, the initiative included alcohol and drug awareness programmes to educate young residents on the risks of substance abuse.

“Our focus has always been that we are not simply a supplier of testing equipment; we are here to help identify a problem so that it can be stopped. In a sensitive environment like Ya Bana, it is never about catching and punishing a child, but rather about detecting problems early so we can offer the necessary counselling and assistance,” says Rhys Evans, Managing Director of ALCO-Safe

The impact: from detection to rehabilitation

The integration of proactive screening has empowered Ya Bana caregivers to move from suspicion to certainty, enabling for early intervention. When a child presents symptoms or is suspected of substance use, staff can now use random or suspicion-based screening to identify the issue immediately.

The impact of this approach is centred on support rather than punishment:

• Early intervention: Identifying substance use early allows Ya Bana to facilitate counselling or, in more severe cases, refer the child to inpatient rehabilitation facilities.
• Safe environment: By preventing substances from entering the village, the initiative preserves the integrity of the home for all residents.
• Empowered caregivers: Staff now have the tools and the defensible certainty needed to handle difficult conversations with confidence and empathy.

Building safer communities through corporate responsibility

This partnership reflects ALCO-Safe’s broader philosophy that substance abuse management is a social responsibility, not just a business transaction. By providing NGOs with the same tools used by major industrial entities, ALCO-Safe helps level the playing field for the most vulnerable members of society.

“Although we are a for-profit company, we recognise that we hold a unique position as specialists in this field. We have a duty to share that expertise with organisations like Ya Bana, helping them proactively detect and address substance abuse before it compromises the safety of their village,” Evans concludes.

Through this proactive CSI initiative, ALCO-Safe and Ya Bana are ensuring that for these children, the path to adulthood is defined by support and safety, not the cycle of addiction.