Global Citizenship Day – Child rights

04/04/2013

The third Global Citizenship Day (GCD) of the Hawassa program took place on Tuesday2 April at the home of the founders of Ebenezer Grace, an orphanage in Hawassa. Alice, Yewel, Salem, Conor and Louisa facilitated a morning of knowledge sharing regarding the rights of children, both globally and specifically to the UK and Ethiopia. The setting was very relaxed, outside in the garden with coffee and biscuits – this helped particularly because of the topics being covered being quite heart wrenching.

Volunteer Yewelsew giving out drinks to us all while we listen intently

We also heard from someone* who actively campaigns for children in Ethiopia. We heard information about different rural tribes and their treatment of children and women due to their beliefs. Some things were really hard to take on board but are a regular occurrence here. For example there is one tribe that insists a pregnant woman goes into the bush on her own when she is in labour to give birth to her child before she returns to the community. As you can imagine this is a huge health risk and terrifying experience both for mother and child and several women never make it back to the village with their babies.

The key thing that was discussed was children being labelled as ‘Mingi´ which basically means outcast. A child can be considered as a mingi for any number of reasons, and once this label has been placed the child is condemned to death either by being abandoned in the bush/jungle or by being drowned in the river. Reasons a child will be considered a mingi include; birth out of wedlock, the birth of twins, the eruption of teeth in the upper jaw before the lower jaw, and chipping a tooth in childhood.

The most shameful part of this practice is that the Government claims it no longer takes place, you are not allowed to highlight these issues – it is punishable by jail or death. Whilst it is known this continues it is defended as being “cultural” and “traditional” therefore the government does not intervene and even prevents NGOs and other do-gooders from making a change in order to preserve the “history” of the country.

There is legislation in place which outlines the basic rights of children in Ethiopia, it seems though that whilst these things are on paper, they are not wholly in practice – no doubt the same can be said for many other countries in the world.

They are set out as: Every child has the right:

1.   To life;

2.   To a name and nationality;

3.   To know and be cared for by his or her parents or legal guardians;

4.   Not to be subject to exploitative practices, neither to be required nor permitted to perform work which may be hazardous or harmful to his or her education, health or well-being

5.   To be free of corporal punishment or cruel and inhumane treatment in schools and other institutions responsible for the care of children

This is me working with the 'just add water'
colouring books, they are rather fun!

The afternoon session of the day took place at Tabor Elementary School with a newly formed organisation which aims to improve the lives of street children. Around 20 street children attended. After a quick discussion in Amharic that outlined their rights as children and young adults and encouraged them to take an active interest in their future, we took to getting creative.

Some of the volunteers had acquired some art materials from the UK and put them to use. We did some face painting, chalk drawing, painting and colouring. It was heart-warming to see these children which have hard lives just revert to being children and doing something enjoyable in a safe environment. Many of them had similar stories, either they have no parents or they were disowned by them due to finances and have come to be a community together on the streets earning what they can and keeping themselves alive. They are not in education, which will directly affect their future and they are often victims of abuse and illegal activities. When the session ended we left the materials with the organisation leaders in the hope that they will make use of them again to provide some respite for the children again in the future.

Volunteer Alice working with the children painting

The general consensus of the day was that it was very informative and rewarding, several of the volunteers have shown a particular interest in continuing to work and campaign for children in the future.

Kx

*It would be dangerous for me to reveal who was talking to us about these things as it is such a sensitive and political topic in Ethiopia therefore their identity will be withheld.