The state of the Namibian child
As Day of the African Child approaches, there are increasing signals from within Namibian society that all is not well, especially when it comes to how we care for orphans and vulnerable children in our country.
On 16 June the international community - when it celebrates Day of the African Child - will take stock and focus on the continuing need for the improvement of basic services provided to African children.
The day honours those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in South Africa in 1976, when thousands of black school children marched in protest against the poor quality of education, while demanding their right to be taught in their own language. They were met with fierce police brutality. The number of protesters killed by police is usually given as 176, but estimates of up to 700 linger. Last Friday Namibian Sun reported that girls as young as nine are accessing contraceptives at public health clinics without being accompanied by parents or guardians, while 10-year-olds are giving birth. These were just some of the shocking revelations heard recently during public hearings conducted nationwide by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Resources and Community Development. This week Ombudsman John Walters and the child welfare ministry confirmed investigations into the living conditions of orphans and vulnerable children at a state facility, where staff are allegedly not trained to look after special needs children and at least one incident of rape has been reported. But this is the tip of the iceberg, in terms of what vulnerable children experience in the country.
It has been estimated that one in three children in Namibia grow up in households that are poor. It goes without saying that poverty has deep and long-lasting impacts on the lives and development of children, especially their health and education. If poverty is not addressed at an early age it is passed on from generation to generation.
As various authors have opined, poverty impacts on a child's emotional and psychosocial wellbeing and the daily struggle to make ends increases the stress and tension within households, which are often child-headed.
It deeply saddens that in a country with only 2.5 million inhabitants, our children still reap the whirlwind.
On 16 June the international community - when it celebrates Day of the African Child - will take stock and focus on the continuing need for the improvement of basic services provided to African children.
The day honours those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in South Africa in 1976, when thousands of black school children marched in protest against the poor quality of education, while demanding their right to be taught in their own language. They were met with fierce police brutality. The number of protesters killed by police is usually given as 176, but estimates of up to 700 linger. Last Friday Namibian Sun reported that girls as young as nine are accessing contraceptives at public health clinics without being accompanied by parents or guardians, while 10-year-olds are giving birth. These were just some of the shocking revelations heard recently during public hearings conducted nationwide by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Resources and Community Development. This week Ombudsman John Walters and the child welfare ministry confirmed investigations into the living conditions of orphans and vulnerable children at a state facility, where staff are allegedly not trained to look after special needs children and at least one incident of rape has been reported. But this is the tip of the iceberg, in terms of what vulnerable children experience in the country.
It has been estimated that one in three children in Namibia grow up in households that are poor. It goes without saying that poverty has deep and long-lasting impacts on the lives and development of children, especially their health and education. If poverty is not addressed at an early age it is passed on from generation to generation.
As various authors have opined, poverty impacts on a child's emotional and psychosocial wellbeing and the daily struggle to make ends increases the stress and tension within households, which are often child-headed.
It deeply saddens that in a country with only 2.5 million inhabitants, our children still reap the whirlwind.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article