Children

Imagine your only a mere child and your parents are nothing more than a foggy memory, a distant voice on the phone! For hundreds of thousands of Romanian children this has become the norm as more and more parents flee the country in search of jobs abroad. The search of economic stability is nothing new, however the number of children left behind continues to grow and the long term effects are continuing to mount.

Short- or medium-term effects, according to Gabriela Tonk, deputy chief of the National authority for child protection also include “a higher risk that the child will suffer emotional, physical or sexual abuse. In extreme cases children are even recruited for prostitution or a criminal network.” (Children left behind as impoverished Romanians migrate).

Effects of Migration: Children Left at Home , a Soros Foundation Romania study compiled in October 2007, estimated that some 115,000 secondary students have at least one parent working abroad, 35,000 have both parents abroad, 55,000 have just their mother abroad and 80,000 have just their father abroad. The study illustrated the physiological effects that separation is having on the children left behind behind their families.

“These children usually encounter the same problems as children who lost their parents through divorce or death; loneliness, problems at school, psychological effects. There are things a parent can provide that a grandparent cannot; some of them just lose control over the children.”, according Mihaela Stefanescu, coordinator of the Soros study.

Now dubbed “migration orphans”, most end up in the care of grandparents or other relatives, however many more are finding themselves in group homes and orphanages.

“I understood at first, because my mother had no work and needed to pay for food for us. But when I talk to her on the phone each weekend, I tell my mother, please come back home, because I miss her so much. I tell her, please don’t desert your children like some parents do. I would not leave my children behind like this.”, says Elena Andrea Pasca, 13, whose mother went to Spain two years ago to pick strawberries, and has since left her husband and married a Spanish man (Prosperity Without Parents).

The story of Romania’s forgotten children may be new to many, however it has me reaching back in my memories some five or six years when I was living in Dublin. There was an obvious influx of migrant workers from Romania, one of which I soon befriend. A young woman, Mikaela, who was in her early 20’s, we worked together in a large company. She was in the country sharing a tiny studio flat with her husband and both where working two jobs, sending almost every penny home or putting it in savings. They planned to live in Ireland for five years, and then return to Romania where they would then be able to live comfortably. By comfortably they planned to have only one job between them and have a few children. Soon Mikaela became pregnant, she worked until she was due and then took her maternity leave, all of which went too fast. For soon she would send her new baby son back to Romania to stay with her mother, so she could again work full time at her two jobs. The situation was hardly ideal, and the effects on a mother who felt she had no alternative, where undeniable.

The families torn apart by the quest for economic stability impacts not only children and their parents, but entire villages and Romanian society on the whole. The true impact of the children left behind are yet to be know, however it is well apparent that besides the economic impact the effects of separation are sure to leave a lasting and detrimental effect on Romania’s future leaders.

“Timoun se riches malere,” say Hatians: “Children are the riches of the poor.” (Skinner, pg.30)

Spring has begun to fill the air, the trees have begun to blossom and the city is a buzz with renewed energy. However there is a darker side to everyday life for many, and tonight a light in the darkness was lit for them. Amid the sound of espresso machines steaming and after work chatter at DC literary hot spot, Bus Boy’s and Poets, there was another buzz in the air…the buzz of freedom!

There are some 27 million people enslaved in the world today…men, women and children seen as nothing more than disposable people. People whose lives are sold for costs of unprecedented lows, often nothing more than a cup of coffee. However tonight one could witness the drive and passion of two men who have stepped forward to answer the call of freedom for each and every one.

“Like plastic pens or paper cups, slaves and potential slaves are so numerous that they can simply be used up and thrown away.” (Bales, pg. 14)

Two men, one goal, separate paths! Both Bales and Skinner have seen the horrors of slavery first hand, and both have witnessed the strength of the surviver. It is this pain and heart that has driven both Kevin Bales and Ben Skinner to dedicate their lives to the fight to end slavery. Skinner literally takes you ‘Face-To-Face With Modern-Day Slavery”, in his writing you can hear the slave holders, feel the suffering of the children, smell the stench of slavery and the distant air of freedom. Bales then takes you into the plan, the plan on ‘How We Free Today’s Slaves’, his passion has taken him to do what no one dared. Bales has molded his undoubted authority and berth of knowledge into a formidable plan to rid the world of this plague. In both books you will find the face of slavery, a human face…a mother, a father, a child; you will hear the voices of suffering, strength, courage and hope.

“You are now about halfway to Delmas, and slaves are everywhere. Assuming this is your first trip to Haiti you won’t be able to identify them….Some are as young as three or four years old, but they will always be the small ones, even if they’re older….” (Skinner, pg. 5-6)

Both books are a must read and once you pick them up you wont be able to put them down without becoming an abolitionist. They say that the pen is mightier than the sword, and it is unmistakably true with both Ending Slavery and A Crime So Monstrous. However what makes both of these more than just a book is the men behind them…true heroes who have risked their lives to bring the plight of the enslaved worldwide to light.

Our children are not disposable…let us not see the children of tomorrow enslaved! Read, learn, fight and let us end slavery once and for all!

In 1993 the World Health Organization declared TB a global health emergency, developing the Stop TB Partnership. In 200o new cases of TB began to emerge which were drug resistant, elevating TB to epidemic proportions for the next four years, as some 20% of TB cases where resistant to standard treatments.

According to the WHO an estimated 1.5 million people died from TB in 2006, with an additional 200,000 deaths from HIV-associated TB. TB is curable if detected early and correctly treated, however multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), HIV-associated TB, and weak health systems continue to pose major challenges in the fight against TB world wide.

The Stop TB Partnership set the Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis, which has aimed to save some 14 million lives between 2006 and 2015. However the WHO claims that Worldwide efforts to confront TB are making progress, but too slowly.

The WHO estimates that around 4.8 billion US dollars is needed to effectively control TB in developing and lower to mid-income countries in 2008 alone. Currently there is some $ 1 billion ear marked for MDR-TB and XDR-TB, however that leaves a substantial gap in funding, of some $ 2.5 billion, which includes $ 500 million gap for MDR-TB and XDR-TB.

Related links:
Tuberculosis: topical overview
WHO program on TB
Stop TB Partnership official World TB Awareness Day 2008 site
Global tuberculosis control 2008 - surveillance, planning, financing - The WHO’s twelfth annual report on global tuberculosis control
Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world report
The Global Response Plan
The Global Response Plan factsheet
Tuberculosis Drugs - Sixth Invitation for Expressions of Interest, May 2005 - UNICEF

Dear Abolitionists,

Please join the fight against slavery and Stop Modern Slavery for an anti-slavery author talk and book signing on March 26th at Busboys and Poets, in Washington, DC.

Featuring:
Ben Skinner, A Crime So Monstrous. Ben is a journalist who traveled the world to document slavery, meeting slaves, slaveholders, traffickers and liberators. His book is a thought-provoking and deeply moving investigation of slavery today, and an in-depth look at the United States’ response to this global problem.

Kevin Bales, Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves. Kevin is the world’s leading expert on modern slavery, President of Free the Slaves and a fellow DC Stop Modern Slavery member. Kevin has researched slavery for over 13 years and has written extensively on the subject, including Pulitzer Prize nominated Disposable People in 1999. In this book, he outlines the first comprehensive plan for ending slavery, Forever!

With photos by Kay Chernush, who was commissioned by the US Dept. of State to photo-document slavery around the world.

For more information e-mail organizers@stopmodernslavey.org.

The global fight against tuberculosis is proving difficult, with the deadly disease spreading as cases go undetected in India and China, the World Health Organization warned Monday. Tuberculosis killed some 1.7 million people in 2006, and an estimated 9.2 million people were infected that year, the WHO said in its annual report on the disease.

Pakistan set to complete world’s largest health campaign, as a massive countrywide effort to immunize 64 million Pakistani children against measles is set to achieve its goal in April. Health officials are immunizing children at schools, hospitals and outreach facilities.

German Court Upholds Muslim Headscarf Ban in Schools, as they announced it would uphold a ban on Muslim teachers wearing headscarves in schools in the state of Baden-Württemberg. A state administrative court of appeal in the city of Mannheim ruled teachers cannot cover their heads in the classroom — at least not if they do so for religious reasons. The court’s decision overturned an earlier ruling in 2006 by a lower court, which decided in favor of a teacher who had converted to Islam. The teacher, who had worn a headscarf since 1995, took her case to court after the school board in the state capital of Stuttgart ordered her to stop wearing a headscarf in the classroom.

How can world’s poor better be part of global market? The world’s poorest people, almost by definition, typically have little stake in the goods and services offered in the global marketplace — a fact that arguably hurts both them as well as companies that would like to have more customers. In this essay, Christian Seelos, director of the platform for strategy and sustainability at IESE business school, writes about how corporations more effectively can reach the poorest of the world.

Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Worst in 40 Years, according to a report sponsored by eight British-based aid agencies and human rights groups has described the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip as the worst in 40 years. And a senior UN official has warned that the entire infrastructure there is close to collapse.

Drive to boost girls’ education in Egypt has started its 2008 arm of the initiative begun 8 years ago. The program started in 2000 with a goal of creating some to build over 1,000 “girl-friendly” schools in seven provinces. From 2003-2007 the initiative targeted villages and hamlets in the provinces of Bani Suef, Assiut, Al-Menia, Al-Fayyoum, Sohag, Al-Beihera and Al-Guiza, which had a disparity between boys and girls attending school gender gap of between 5 and 15.7 percent. Thus far some 1,063 schools have been built and with 27,784 students enrolled. “…by 2015, we hope no Egyptian girl will be out of school”.

Madagascar ratifies statute establishing International Criminal Court (ICC), the independent, permanent court that tries people accused of the most serious crimes, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Malagasy Government deposited its instrument of ratification to the statute on March 14, according to a news release issued by the ICC.

Georgian street children and caregivers trained to deliver life saving aid, as more than 75 street children and 150 social workers and teachers in four regions in Georgia are equipped to deliver life-saving assistance thanks to recent trainings on emergency care conducted by World Vision. The trainings are provided by the “Learning the Principles of First Emergency Care” project, which aims to increase the capacity of street and at-risk children aged 10-16 in Tbilisi, Telavi, Kutaisi and Batumi, as well as among social workers of various youth centers and institutions, to avoid risks and dangers to their health and wellbeing.

Forced labor big part of globalization’s dark side, with over 12 million people worldwide are estimated to be trapped in a massive global market of forced labor that sees workers duped into near-slavery situations, Newsweek reports. These workers have little legal recourse and may have to work decades to pay off brokers who promised them high-earning jobs.

WHO survey shows heavy tobacco use among India’s young, the report shows that about 17% of school-age children in India use tobacco. More than one-third of school personnel also use some form of tobacco, mostly cigarettes, shows the survey, part of a global poll carried out in 140 countries.

Young Tibetans look past Dalai Lama’s recommendations, as the Dalai Lama’s support of peaceful engagement with Chinese to achieve Tibetan goals is not shared by many young Tibetans who believe more drastic, even confrontational action is needed. Yet even among the most radical Tibetan activist groups, respect for the leader is nearly universal.

-Ray L. Wilbur, third president of Stanford University

© UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi

All children are born into this world full of endless possibility, sadly many will face hardship and struggle for the entire duration of their childhood. The majority of children’s struggles are preventable, disease, poor education, hunger, lack of proper sanitation and clean drinking water. And it is these preventable diseases which hinder the possibilities of our worlds future leaders, and rob the world of so much greatness.

© Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

A boy in Guinea-Bissau. According to WFP intellectual levels increase when children are properly nourished.

Imagine a world in which all children’s potential is harnessed and developed, a world in which all children’s future is regarded and revered!

In a statement issued by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon’s message on World Water Day targeted a lack of political will as the main reason for failure to achieve basic sanitation.  However with today is marked to bring awareness to the plight of some  2.6 billion people world wide who are without proper sanitation facilities and clean drinking water.

What can proper sanitation and hygiene do:

UNICEF and UNDP will hold a ground braking event, ‘Stand up for those who cant sit down’, today in NYC’s Central Park;

Please see the official World Water Day site, and yesterdays post for more information, resources and ways you can help those in need of clean water and sanitation.

“Today 2.6 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.”

Children around the globe continue to endure needless suffering due to diseases brought on by a lack of access to clean drinking water and poor sanitation. Two years ago, in an effort to speed up efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, the UN General Assembly created resolution A/C.2/61/L.16/Rev.1, which declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS). The objective of the resolution is to promote the need for global sanitation.

Why is sanitation so crucial? It only takes a very small amount of feces particles to transmit disease, as ‘water carried disease’ are passed on by water, hands, flies or the ground. Thus sanitation is crucial in the fight against the spread of disease.

Children are more susceptible to diseases, and as the lack of proper healthcare facilities, access to drug treatments and education on disease prevention, children in the developing world are even more susceptible than their western counterparts to preventable diseases. Lack of clean drinking water, indoor plumping, and proper sewage gravely hinder a child’s daily life and place them in greater danger of disease and illness. There are five main types of water-related infectious disease; water-borne, water-washed, water-based, water-related insect vector, diseases caused by poor sanitation.

What diseases which can be caused by bad sanitation? Diseases include; schistosomiasis, malaria, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, guinea worm, filariasis, yellow fever, river blindness scabies, trachoma, yaws, leprosy, conjunctivitis, skin infections and ulcers. Many Diarrheal/intestinal diseases, like cholera can cause dangerous dehydration often leading to death. Other diseases like hookworm, can result in anemia and stunted growth in children.

Children bathe and wash dishes in a lake in Sierra Leone, February 2008. © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

Last month Water launched a new report, Giving sanitation the green light, at AfricaSan, Africa’s conference on sanitation and hygiene. The report highlights the serious lack of priority given to sanitation efforts;

“Lack of sanitation is one of the biggest killers of children in the developing world. Yet it is given low priority by donor and recipient governments alike. In sub-Saharan Africa, at current rates of progress, the 2015 MDG target for sanitation will not be met until 2076. It is clear that without an extraordinary effort it will be missed.”

It is clear that the need for proper sanitation systems and education are gravely needed across the globe, and until they are met children will continue to needlessly suffer. Even when proper sanitation systems are in place children and their families must also be made aware of proper hygiene techniques, to prevent the transmitting disease. Furthermore it is crucially important that sanitation standards and needs be met in every country to ensure that sustainable development can take root.

Recent News on Sanitation:
YEMEN: Sanitation services limited, sewage treatment plants poor
AFGHANISTAN: Poor sanitation, bad toilets cause deaths, misery
BANGLADESH: Towards “sanitation for all by 2010”
PAKISTAN: Open defecation-free communities - one village at a time

Other Related Links:
Global Sanitation Fund
Global WASH Campaign
UN-Water
World Health Organization (WHO)
Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council
International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’
World Water Day site 2007
Water Aid
Children pay the price for lack of safe water and sanitation
UNICEF calls for children to be at centre of regional action on hygiene
UNICEF highlights water scarcity on World Water Day
PlayPumps International- uses the PlayPump water system,a merry-go-round attached to a water pump, and aims to install 4,000 PlayPump water systems in 10 African countries by 2010, bringing clean water to up to 10 million people.
Tap Project - UNICEF- Dine at Tap Project participating restaurants around the US during World Water Week, from March 16 - March 22, and donate a dollar for your free tap water.
The Water Project
El Porvenir supports self–help, community–initiated water, sanitation and reforestation projects in Nicaragua.
Water Advocates

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Jamhuri grounds, Nairobi, Kenya. January 2008 © Julius Mwelu/IRIN

The battle for a peaceful Kenya is far from over as a semblance of everyday life remains a distant dream for most Kenyans. While this month saw the signing of a power-sharing deal, the fight for peace and stability in the country is no where near complete. The “Real work” begins after political deal, while the power-sharing agreement between Kenya’s two main political parties may be set, humanitarians working in the country state that the real work hasn’t even started yet, as reconciliation and resettlement is the true priority and test of peace. “We still have 200 camps [for the displaced],” Bob McCarthy, regional emergency coordinator for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said. “People are being assisted to meet their immediate, short-term needs. The challenge now is to establish whether conditions are conducive for IDPs to return to their homes…”.

It is the IDP children falling through protection cracks amid the ciaos and displacement. Children in the camps lack access to proper education, healthcare, and lack the basic necessities of childhood including play. With some 150,000 displaced children in dire need of support and care to cope with the mental trauma they have endured. Many children who have; witnessed the unspeakable, are now parentless, separated from their families. Healing the children is the biggest challenge of Kenya in the wake of the post-election violence.

“The future of Kenya is very dark because the children are bringing up, the things they saw, we don’t know how those things are going to [affect] their lives,” said James Riako, a counselor with the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), working in a transit camp for displaced people in the grounds of St Stephen’s Cathedral in Kisumu, the capital of Nyanza Province in western Kenya.

While it appears the countries focus is shifting to recovery, resettlement of IDPs, and while many IDPs are ‘voluntarily’ able to return home it seems unlikely that many will make quick returns as the infrastructure remains crippled and the feeling of security has not completely returned for most in the country. According to the UN’s guiding principles on internal displacement those displaced may go back to the homes from where they fled, be resettled in another part of the country or reintegrated into the area of displacement. This has sent many Kenyans searching for their ‘ancestor’s’ homes, others have sought to return home, but it has left many to remain in IDP camps as the fear of renewed clashes remain. According to the UN’s principles;

“Competent authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence, or to resettle voluntarily in another part of the country. Such authorities shall endeavour to facilitate the reintegration of returned or resettled internally displaced persons.”

The words safety and dignity stand out the most, and one can imagine this is the battle that will be the hardest for most looking to return home.

Sadly violence in the country has not completely subsided with the signing of the power-sharing agreement, and peace still looms in the distance. This week has been met with more out brakes and tension is high as hundreds flee clash-torn Laikipia where it has left some 300 houses destroyed by fire, leaving some 3,000 people to flee and resulted in some 14 deaths in the last 3 weeks.

So can Kenya’s children be healed? The truth is something only time can tell, as the country continues to remain in shambles despite the loosely painted image of peace. The children more than anyone need the return of normality, and for their sake one can only hope that it will come soon, and end their suffering. When peace finally covers Kenya the children will continue to be the ones in most need of rehabilitation and psychological care.

The words of Martin Luther King, Jr., ring as true today as they did they did then. It is our silence that allows suffering to continue. As a society we cannot remain silent about the injustices that plague our world, the injustices that children face daily, for if we speak then we can hear not only our voice but that of the voiceless child.

Photo by Omar

Every man, woman and child has a voice and it is those voices that are the first steps to fight hunger, disease, hate and violence.