Posted on 09/19/2013 1:46:47 PM PDT by IsraelBeach
South Sudan Establishes Database On Homeless Children
By Christian Edwards
Juba, South Sudan — September 19, 2013 (SSN) … Ms. Awut Deng, South Sudan Minister of Gender Child, Social welfare and Humanitarian Affairs, has engaged in a countrywide audit aimed at establishing the actual number of street children and orphans for the purpose of national planning.
Minister Deng has travelled to the Eastern Equatoria state to assess the situation of the homeless children there. Her visit, she said was to collect views of various civil servants, experts, charity workers on how best the street children could be helped to lead a normal life.
“It’s our collective responsibility to ensure that all these children go to school. They are the future of this country”, the Gender Minister urged.
She called on the governments of regional states, development partners, civil society organization and religious leaders to join efforts in ensuring “streets free of street children”.
Hon. Awut who was received by the state’s deputy governor Mr.Jerome Gama Surur, visited a school of the orphans in the state’s capital Torit. The school is operated by the charity organization, Hope for Sudan. It has enrolled a total of 86 orphans. Madam Awut applauded the well wishers whose contributions made it possible to set up the center that she said has become home for many homeless children.
Awest Lomoro, a street child aged nine, appealed to the government for support, saying the government needs to take action to protect the fathers and the mothers. The South Sudan Gender Minister has in the recent past visited Warrap and Western Bahr el Ghazal states.
In South Sudan, teenage girls are more likely to die in childbirth than complete their schooling.
One-third of all children are stunted because they don’t have enough food.
Three-quarters of South Sudanese, including 3 million children, get no healthcare. Many die needlessly.
This is the legacy of decades of civil war and many years of neglect.
South Sudan has suffered Africa’s longest civil war, with 2 million dead and 4 million displaced. Today, eight years after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, there is still conflict in South Sudan.
Sudan, which Iran is trying to turn into a base for Islamic Jihad, has been at war with Christian South Sudan whose only goal is to achieve a peaceful democracy.
The security situation remains fragile in many areas, as cattle raids and inter-tribal rivalries pose a threat to already vulnerable communities. In addition to the above hardships South Sudan is today suffering from massive flooding which has killed and displaced hundreds of children.
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