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.
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| 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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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