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The hopes of Kenya’s children hanging in the balance
Nairobi / Geneva, 25 January 2008 - The hopes of hundreds of thousands of Kenyan children and their families hang in the balance as the two leaders in the disputed election, President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, finally begin to talk, face to face. The meeting, instigated through the mediation of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and other eminent African leaders, offers the strongest hope for peace since the country was engulfed in brutal inter-ethnic and political conflict. Children and women have borne the worst of the violence in Kenya and have the most gain from peace.
Overnight brutal attacks continued in several areas in the Rift Valley. Children and families in Molo and the Mau Summit fled for their lives while their homes were set ablaze. Up to 5,000 people who are fleeing this insecurity were expected to arrive in Nakuru Thursday. Inter-ethnic violence also erupted in some places that had so far stayed out of the conflict, including Nakuru which is now playing host to the largest population of displaced families in the country.
While the government continued to try to close camps for displaced families in Nairobi, notably the Jamhuri camp where 3,000 people were living until Monday, the lack of political agreement was reflected in the fear and apprehension many displaced families expressed about returning home. Many just do not know where “home” is any more.
UNICEF has dispatched more than USD1.2 million in emergency supplies and has had teams working on the ground in the major hot spots since the crisis began. While vital life-saving support in water, sanitation, hygiene, health and the prevention of malnutrition continues, the children’s agency is in particular need of funds to protect children from violence and abuse, and to assist those who have been worst affected.
Children, teens and women are always reluctant to talk about sexual attacks, yet the reality of such abuses is all too evident. Preliminary reports collected by an interagency group, led by UNFPA with support from UNICEF and UNIFEM, indicate the tragedy of girls and women in the informal camps who trade sex for biscuits, protection, transportation, or are raped while trying to get to a latrine during the night. The camps have little light and those who have fled from their homes with nothing have no flashlights to guide their way. The Gender Violence Recovery Center in Mombasa reported that cases of sexual violence had doubled since the elections and there have been an increase in sexual assaults by strangers and gang rapes; mostly of them girls under the age of 18, but also including some boys. Most do not report these attacks, and those who do rarely within the recommended 72-hours that allows optimal treatment to prevent HIV infection.
Getting children back to school is vital for their better protection as well as to help build a sense of normalcy in their lives. An estimated 1,700 displaced children have been admitted to schools in the Nakuru area alone. More than 500 children who are staying at the Nakuru showground, for example, are now attending the nearby Moi Primary School. Their classes are held in tents provided by UNICEF. UNICEF has also supplied teaching and learning materials and recreation kits – and desks and chairs are on the way. Classes also started yesterday with over 2,000 children enrolled at the Eldoret Showground camp and another 1,200 at the Burnt Forest camps. While some of the classes were held in tents, many took place in the open air, often with teachers who had themselves been displaced by the violence. The re-establishment of schools in the most difficult circumstances is a testament to the commitment of Kenyans to education. Many displaced parents told UNICEF that getting their children back to school is their top priority.
Working with partners UNICEF is also setting up safe play areas in Nakuru that will enable children from the camp to enjoy games and play, and for parents to be assured that their children are safe while they go to seek work or fuel or collect water and food, or for a place to live. Safe play areas supported by UNICEF will be created not only in the camps, but also in the heart of the worst affected communities where children who were not displaced, have nevertheless suffered from the violence and deprivations of the past weeks. The safe play zones provide children and their families with opportunities for counseling and reconciliation.
UNICEF support for the return to school will also include a strong peace and reconciliation component.
UNICEF is urgently seeking USD3 million for emergency child protection and education programmes that can protect and help children today and build a safer Kenya tomorrow.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For more information please contact:
UNICEF Kenya Chief Communication Sara Cameron +254(0)722585262 scameron@unicef.org
UNICEF Geneva Veronique TAVEAU +41 22 909 57 16 vtaveau@unicef.org
UNICEF New York Patrick McCormick +1212 326 7426 pmccormick@unicef.org
the link to this news http://www.unicef.org/media/media_42664.html
Digital Diary: Nigerian street children tell their stories of life without security
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| © UNICEF Nigeria/2007/Tayo |
| Isaiah, 15, during the recording of ‘Voices from the Street’, a UNICEF-supported Radio Nigeria programme produced by children living in the streets in Lagos. |
By Christine Jaulmes
NEW YORK, USA, 26 December 2007 – Isaiah has spent 5 of his 15 years living on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria, the second largest city of Africa. Like hundreds of other children, he spends his days and nights in this sprawling metropolis trying to fend for himself.
“It is not easy living on the street but what can I do?” asks Isaiah, one of 25 children who have told their stories on Nigerian national radio through a UNICEF-supported project.
“I have two sisters that I have not seen in five years, I have smoked Indian hemp like other boys of my age, got beaten by bigger boys, robbed of my money, took my bath in the canal and slept under the bridge,” Isaiah says in one broadcast. “The good thing is that I am alive!”
Given the opportunity to go to school, Isaiah says he would like to become a lawyer. “I want to be defending people,” he explains.
‘Voices from the Street’
The UNICEF-supported Child-to-Child Network, a non-governmental organization, worked with Radio Nigeria to train children in radio production so they could tell their own stories. The resulting series, ‘Voices from the Street’, was broadcast to more than 60 million listeners.
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| © UNICEF Nigeria/2007/Tayo |
| Earning $5 to $6 a day as a bus conductor, Isaiah lives on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. |
Some of the children in the series tell of escapes from unhappy homes, while others recall travelling to the city in search of adventure. They end up selling water packaged in plastic bags or washing the windshields of vehicles in heavy traffic.
Isaiah works as a ‘bus conductor’ – collecting fares from passengers who squeeze onto the yellow commercial buses of Lagos. He earns $5 to $6 a day.
At the age of 10, Isaiah left his home in Ogun State. A friend, who turned out to be a child-labour recruiter, invited him to Lagos along with 11 other boys. “We left home without telling any of our parents,’ Isaiah says.
Survival on the streets
The recruiter paid the boys’ bus fare to Lagos. Then he took the boys to the city’s biggest market and motor park “to sell them,” according to Isaiah.
“The more people he brings, the higher his ‘rank’ goes and the more money he gets paid,” Isaiah adds. “I was eventually sold to one man for a fee of 5,000 Naira [about $40]. The man took me to a place I do not know; my duty there was to be a housekeeper.”
Isaiah decided to run away. He met up with other street children who showed him how to survive on his own.
“I started to sleep under the bridge or inside any of the buses parked under the bridge,” he says. “If mosquitoes are too many, I sleep inside the boot of the vehicles.”
‘I am a big man now’
Getting the children to tell their stories was a challenge, says ‘Voices from the Street’ producer Funke Treasure Durudola. When the most taciturn of the boys finally opened up, she adds, it was the high point of her 12-year broadcasting career.
“You have to be empathetic. Connect with them first and they must connect with you, too, before you can get their story,” says Ms. Durudola.
UNICEF and the Child-to-Child Network also offered to help reunite the children with their families, or to find other rehabilitation possibilities.
Isaiah hopes his family can hear his story on the radio. “I pray that the people of my place will listen,” he says. “They will hear that I am still alive and that I am a big man now.”
Green Meadow
Wheat Field
