There are several factors that have contributed greatly to the biggest number of street children in Uganda; the civil war, HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. Uganda had a civil war that took 23 years and the most affected regions were the northern and eastern parts. Because of this war, many people have been forced to leave their homes join camps and streets.
The Second factor that has largely contributed to the number of street children is HIV/AIDS. In Uganda every family has ever lost someone suffering from AIDS, so many children have been left parentless. Because if this epidemic many children have been forced to leave homes and join street life to look for help.
When they come to the streets they meet so many more problems, looking for shelters, food, clothes and medicine. Because no body cares for them, most of them sleep on the verandas, without covering their bodies, when you look at their bodies; many of them have wounds, jiggers, broken bones and deformed parts of the body since they don’t have any body to look after them. When they get sick of different diseases, they have no medicine to take and eventually they die.
Read more>>
The Children
Here are the children both the orphans due to HIV/AIDS or accidents and the 23 year civil war .We ask you to pause before you donate anywhere else and think about what you can do for these kids. If you wish to donate to these orphans, or sponsor a child, please call, write, or email us. THANK YOU! Sponsor Now!
Orphans and vulnerable children face a number of challenges, including finding money for school fees, food, clothing, and access to basic healthcare. Their desperation makes them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, ultimately making them more susceptible to contracting HIV. Effective responses to the challenges facing these children must strengthen the capacity of families and communities to continue providing care, protection, and assistance to them in, at minimum, meeting their basic needs.
What is an orphan? What are the risks for an orphan?
An orphan is a child who has lost one or both parents because of death and is under the age of 18" and a "vulnerable child" is "a child who needs care and protection.
As one can imagine, the loss of a parent (or both parents) profoundly affects a child economically, psychologically and socially.
Economic hardship - As parents succumb to sickness, they become unable to provide for their child financially and what little savings are available goes towards health care costs. As a result, children’s needs, such as school fees and clothing, aren’t able to be met.
Lack of love, attention and affection - While children of all ages need emotional support and stimulation, young children may be left without responsive care, stunting the child’s emotional development and sense of wellbeing.
Withdrawal from school - Oftentimes, children become the care takers of a sick parent and are unable to attend school. Financially, families may no longer be able to afford school fees, supplies and uniforms as sickness devours the family’s finances.
Psychological distress - Children suffer from the fear of loss once a parent has been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS as well as the stigma that accompanies the disease in many regions of the world.
Loss of inheritance - In many countries around the world, property and inheritance laws do not protect the rights of orphans and widows and they are prohibited from claiming what is rightly theirs. Even when inheritance laws are on the books they are often not enforced.
Increased abuse and risk of HIV infection - Without parents to look out for their best interests, children can fall pray to sexual exploitation and child labor in order to provide for their needs. Because of the high-risk behavior in which they may be forced to engage, orphaned and vulnerable children are at an elevated risk for contracting HIV.
Malnutrition and illness - Orphaned children are at an elevated risk for malnutrition and illness in addition to a lack of access to health care.
Stigma, discrimination and isolation - When they are orphaned by HIV/AIDS, children must oftentimes leave their familiar surroundings and may not be as readily accepted by extended family members and the society. When children are orphaned, they become vulnerable to a whole host of dangers in the name of supporting themselves and their siblings. Children who have been orphaned often drop out of school to provide for themselves and to pay for food and school fees for younger siblings. Orphaned children often fall prey to sexual exploitation and possibly prostitution; they may be co-opted into joining militias or armed groups or forced into domestic servitude.
While HIV/AIDS has dramatically increased the number of orphans worldwide, it is not the only disease leaving orphans in its wake. Malaria and Tuberculosis have had a large impact throughout the world as well. Two million people die annually from Tuberculosis, 90 percent of these deaths occur in the developing world. Malaria claims more than one million lives per year, most of them children. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the brunt of the malaria death toll - nearly 90 percent of the world’s malaria deaths occur in this region, amounting to nearly 3,000 deaths per day. Funding must not fixate solely upon children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS, but rather, it must focus upon all vulnerable children and orphans, regardless of the cause.
What is Needed?
Support for Communities: Extended families and communities care for the vast majority of double orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. Community-based programming, such as neighborhood care points, church volunteer networks and comprehensive support given to needy families, better addresses the needs of each individual population and provides more effective care and support for its vulnerable children.
Caretaker Support: Support for the caretakers is an essential step in ensuring that children receive proper care and attention. In many cases, orphans are taken in by grandparents who no longer work and, therefore, no longer earn a wage. Even when the caretakers do have money coming into the household, they were often in an impoverished situation before the addition of dependents to the household. The combination of chronic poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic have greatly stressed and drained community resources. According to UNICEF, older orphans are at risk of missing out on education, being subject to exploitative labor and being exposed to HIV, while younger orphans are the least resilient and greatly need physical care and nurturing.
In some situations, families are too poor to participate in micro credit loan programs (small loans to start tiny businesses), as they have no one to watch their children or lack sufficient funding for transportation to the city. Cash transfers can allow them to begin participating in these loan programs and eventually become self-sufficient entrepreneurs.
it is often difficult for children and extended family members to obtain records to prove that they are widows or orphans. Without proper documentation, children are often considered ineligible for food aid and medical care. In sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of births go unregistered. Also, many orphans suffer due to a lack of inheritance rights or a lack of enforcement of said inheritance rights. Orphans and widows cannot claim what is rightfully theirs.
|
