Malnutrition: A Deadly Epidemic For Orphans

Posted on June 6, 2011 by admin

A lot can happen in a minute.

Your average high school sprinter, for instance, can pretty easily cover a quarter mile in a minute. The world’s hot dog eating champ barely needs that long to down five franks. You can even cast your vote on election day in a minute or so.

Those are the sorts of things most of us would probably come up with if asked to name something that can happen in a minute. Few of us would think of something tragic the United Nations says takes place each and every minute in many parts of the world.

Ten orphans die of malnutrition.

That’s right. By the time Takeru Kobayashi has inhaled his fifth Nathan’s frank in defense of his hot dog eating world championship, ten orphaned children have died of hunger.

Malnutrition Injures and Kills

In the United States and other developed countries, there’s not much awareness of how huge an issue malnutrition is for orphans. How many people even know there are about 145 million orphaned children worldwide, mostly in poverty-stricken areas of Asia, Latin American, and Sub-Saharan Africa?

A hundred and forty-five million is nearly half the U.S. population, yet to most of us these children are invisible.

According to the nonprofit orphan aid organization Rice Bowls, malnutrition contributes to more than 50% of all childhood deaths. Every year, adds Rice Bowls, malnutrition plays a role in the deaths of as many as five million children under the age of five. UNICEF statistics suggest the number of these deaths may be closer to eleven million a year.

Regardless, for the worlds’ orphans, malnutrition truly is a deadly epidemic.

For those orphans it doesn’t kill outright, malnutrition often has severe physical and mental consequences. Starvation is especially hard on children because it deprives the brain and all body systems of nutrients at a time when good nutrition is crucial for growth and development.

In addition to their high rates of stunted growth, malnourished orphans often have severe fatigue, weakness, headaches, and diminished intellect. A lack of vitamin D can lead to rickets, seizures, and even psychological problems in these children. Many suffer from night blindness related to vitamin A deficiency and they’re susceptible to goiter, delayed development, and even brain damage because they don’t get enough iron or iodine.

Seeing a starving child is shocking and heartbreaking. Everyone has probably heard about the bloated abdomen and perhaps even become desensitized to it because they’ve seen so many pictures of it on TV or Internet fund-raising campaigns.

But few people probably know why a starving child’s belly can bloat. It’s because of a condition called kwashiorkor, which is due to inadequate protein intake that causes the abdomen to swell.

Malnourished orphans are otherwise terribly emaciated because they lose both fat and muscle. Their hair is often brittle, discolored, and falling out, their skin is typically dry and peeling, and they’re likely to be undersized throughout their lives, assuming they even survive to adulthood.

Millions die simply because their immune systems are so weak they can no longer fight off infection, just like a person with AIDS. As a result, their lives are constantly threatened by any number of infections — usually malaria and infectious diarrhea in poor areas of the world where most malnourished orphans live. These children are also much more prone to terrible chronic diseases like cystic fibrosis, cancer, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney failure, and neurological diseases that affect the muscles.

How You Can Help

The crisis of malnutrition in orphaned children may seem so large that it can’t be stopped, that there’s nothing you can do. But you can make a difference by doing one or more of the following through the Orphan Coalition, an independent nonprofit orphan support organization located in Colorado Springs, CO:

  • Make a one-time or monthly donation as an Individual, Corporate, or Business Orphan Coalition Advocate sponsor;
  • Volunteer through the Volunteer Orphan Coalition Ambassador program that mobilizes and facilitates financial support and awareness on behalf of orphans.

See Also

For additional information, visit the following online resources:

Malnutrition by the Numbers

  • There are 145 million orphans worldwide and 44,000 new orphans everyday;
  • Ten orphans starve to death every minute;
  • Sixty million orphans go to bed hungry every night;
  • One out of every four children — roughly 146 million — in developing countries is underweight;
  • More than 70% of the world’s 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50% located in South Asia alone;
  • An estimated 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc;
  • Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year;
  • For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years;
  • Malnutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide — a proportion unmatched by any infectious disease since the Black Death;
  • According to UNICEF, 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year and that malnutrition-related diseases cause 60% of the deaths;
  • Iron deficiency is the most common form of malnutrition, affecting 180 million children under the age of four;
  • Iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of 40-60% of children in developing countries;
  • Lack of vitamin A weakens the immune system of 40% of children under the age of five in developing countries and can cause blindness;
  • Iodine deficiency is the main cause of brain damage in the early years of a child’s life;
  • It only costs about $15 a month to feed an orphan.

 

 

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There Are Far Worse Things Than A Recession

Posted on June 3, 2011 by admin

Nobody has to be sold on the idea that recession is bad. We all know about recession, with its scarcer jobs, tougher times making ends meet, and generally bleak outlook.

Many of us, particularly those who’ve been around a while, have vivid memories of how oppressed recession can make us feel. We clearly remember how unpleasant it is not to be able to afford things we wanted or felt we needed.

There are those who live with that sort of oppression — and far worse — all the time: the world’s 145 million orphaned children. And for them, it’s never-ending.

Oppression Is All They Know

It often starts at an early age with the loss of one or both parents. Somewhere in the world, a child loses a parent every two seconds and nearly 5,800 are orphaned every day, says aid organization SOS Children’s Villages. By 2015, there will be 400 million orphans worldwide, SOS estimates.

The global HIV/AIDS epidemic is one of the main reasons for that. That epidemic alone has orphaned more than 15 million children, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fifteen million is enough children to form a human chain spanning the entire United States, points out Rice Bowls, a nonprofit orphan aid organization.

Malaria has orphaned many children, too, and killed many others. In 2008, the disease caused nearly a million deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. The tragedy is not only that most of the victims were children younger than five, but that they didn’t have to die at all. Malaria is both preventable and curable.

Lack of food may well be the leading cause of death for orphans. Malnutrition, says Rice Bowls, plays a role in the deaths of as many as five million children under the age of five every year, and UNICEF statistics suggest that number may be closer to 11 million. Poverty affects at least a third of all children in developing countries and is the main reason for the malnutrition epidemic among orphans.

Those who don’t succumb to disease or starvation are faced with many other forms of oppression, often at the hands of adults. Wars have claimed the lives of more than two million children and three times that many have been seriously hurt or permanently disabled because of armed conflicts, according to UNICEF. More than a million children have been orphaned or separated from their families as a result of wars.

Slavery and sexual exploitation are the most appalling atrocities adults commit against orphans. UNICEF statistics suggest 1.2 million children annually are illegally trafficked and forced into hazardous labor like mining, handling toxic chemicals, prostitution, and pornography.

Because violence often pervades the societies in which orphans live, it’s very common for these children to be victims of cruelty. WHO estimates that, in the developing world, 40 million children under the age of 15 suffer from abuse and neglect.

In addition to ongoing emotional abuse, this can involve extreme acts like kicking, tying the child up, and beatings severe enough to cause a concussion or break bones. Child rapes and assaults are very common in developing countries, but most are never reported because victims are usually too afraid to talk about it for fear of retribution from their attacker.

For orphans, the cycle of oppression can be virtually impossible to break because it has been a way of life in their countries for many years, often decades. To escape it, they need as much assistance as they can get from those more fortunate for things like food and water, medical attention, and access to education.

How You Can Help

Orphans don’t have to be doomed to lives of oppression. You can make a difference by doing one or more of the following through the Orphan Coalition, an independent nonprofit orphan support organization located in Colorado Springs, CO:

  • Make a one-time or monthly donation as an Individual, Corporate, or Business Orphan Coalition Advocate sponsor;
  • Volunteer through the Volunteer Orphan Coalition Ambassador program that mobilizes and facilitates financial support and awareness on behalf of orphans;

See Also

For additional information, visit the following online resources:

Oppression by the Numbers

  • There are 145 million orphans worldwide and 44,000 new orphans everyday;
  • More than half the children in the developing world are severely deprived of one or more necessities including shelter, sanitation, safe water, health care, school, and food;
  • According to UNICEF, 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year and that malnutrition-related diseases cause 60% of the deaths;
  • Less than 10% of children orphaned by AIDS are receiving some kind of public support;
  • Given the number of people with AIDS — currently about 34 million worldwide — the number of children orphaned by the disease will continue to grow for at least another decade;
  • By 2020, southern Africa will lose one out of every five agricultural workers to AIDS, making it increasingly difficult to get food to areas that need it most;
  • Nearly one in four (about 1.3 billion) people live on less than a dollar a day;
  • In 2008, there were 247 million cases of malaria and nearly one million deaths, most of them among children in Africa;
  • In Africa, a child dies of malaria every 45 seconds and the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths;
  • In many orphanages around the world, sick and special needs infants are left to die and mortality rates at some orphanages are as high as 20%;
  • Each day, more than 38,000 orphans ‘age out’ of orphanages or government aid programs; most of these children are ill-equipped to survive in the outside world;
  • More children age out every week than are adopted annually worldwide;
  • More than 30 million children worldwide are not immunized against treatable or preventable diseases;
  • 134 million children ages 7 to 18 have never been to school;
  • Two million children are believed to be exploited through the commercial sex trade;
  • Approximately 246 million children work, 171 million of them in hazardous conditions.

 

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Animal Suffering Is Tragic, But Don’t Forget Orphans

Posted on June 2, 2011 by admin

Just about everybody’s heard about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the animal rights organization known for some pretty outlandish publicity stunts. Their attention-getting efforts have paid off, though, by greatly raising awareness of a very worthy cause: the terrible suffering of so many animals due to inhumane food production methods, abuse or neglect by pet owners, or any act of cruelty.

Sadly, though, there’s not nearly enough awareness about the terrible things happening to an enormous number of “furless mammals” — the world’s huge population of orphaned children. There are 145 million of them worldwide, and their unimaginable suffering is right there under our noses.

Most orphans are from very poor areas of developing countries such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, although there are many in the developed world too. Orphans have usually lost their parents through poverty, starvation, war or disease. Where they live, it’s been a long time since people have known anything else.

And orphans are paying the price.

With food so scarce, many have to get by on four or five hundred calories a day. And that’s on average, meaning some days they get more, some days less, and some days nothing.

With that amount of food, it’s often impossible to “get by” at all. According to UNICEF, malnutrition contributes to the deaths of nearly 11 million children under the age of five every year. Even if they survive, starving children face all sorts of physical and mental problems like stunted growth, rickets, seizures, emotional difficulties, blindness, brain damage, cancer, and heart, lung, kidney and bowel disease.

Infectious diseases are an orphan’s constant companions too, especially malaria and infectious diarrhea. Millions of children in poor countries die unnecessarily of these diseases every year because starvation has weakened their immune systems so much they can no longer fight off infection. In 2008, for example, malaria caused about a million deaths, mostly in children younger than age five, reports the World Health Organization.

Many orphans are at high risk for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases because they’re forced to work as sex slaves in the illegal human trafficking industry. About 1.2 million children are unlawfully trafficked every year and there are currently about 2 million in the sex trade, says UNICEF. Over the past 30 years, an estimated 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking.

In addition to sexually transmitted diseases, child sex slaves always face the threat of unwanted pregnancy, social ostracism for being involved in the sex trade, and physical and emotional abuse from traffickers and customers. About 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect.

Although most illegally trafficked orphans end up as sex slaves, many are also used for slave labor or as child soldiers. In fact, there are currently around 300,000 children under the age of 18 fighting in armed conflicts worldwide. In the past 10 years, such conflicts have claimed the lives of at least 2 million children and caused serious injury or permanent disability in more than three times that number, UNICEF estimates.

Unless more fortunate people intervene, orphan suffering will only get worse. With a child losing a parent every two seconds somewhere in the world, there will be about 400 million orphans worldwide by 2015 — almost three times as many as today.

How You Can Help

Orphans don’t have to live in misery and despair. You can make a difference in their lives by doing one or more of the following through the Orphan Coalition, an independent nonprofit orphan support organization located in Colorado Springs, CO:

  • Making a one-time or monthly donation as an Individual, Corporate, or Business Orphan Coalition Advocate sponsor;
  • Volunteering through the Volunteer Orphan Coalition Ambassador program that mobilizes and facilitates financial support and awareness on behalf of orphans.

See Also

For additional information, visit the following online resources:

Orphan Crisis by the Numbers

  • More than half the children in the developing world are severely deprived of one or more necessities including shelter, sanitation, safe water, health care, school and food;
  • There are 145 million orphans worldwide and 44,000 new orphans everyday;
  • In Africa, a child dies of malaria every 45 seconds and the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths;
  • It is estimated that 2 children are sold internationally every minute;
  • There are about 246 million child laborers ages five to 17 worldwide. Of these, more than 170 million work in hazardous conditions — in mines, with chemicals, or with hazardous machinery. About 73 million of these children are less than 10 years old;
  • The human trafficking industry generates $32 billion a year in profits.
  • A human trafficker can earn 20 times what he or she paid for a girl. A 2003 study in the Netherlands found that, on average, a single sex slave earned her pimp at least $250,000 a year;
  • Ten orphans starve to death every minute;
  • Malnutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide — a proportion unmatched by any infectious disease since the Black Death;
  • Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year;
  • One out of every four children — roughly 146 million — in developing countries is underweight;
  • It only costs about $15 a month to feed an orphan;
  • About one in three children who “age out” of orphanages becomes homeless, one in five resorts to crime, and one in 10 commits suicide;
  • Malaria, diarrhea, and measles are three main infectious diseases that cause death in children, yet all are preventable or treatable;
  • Researchers estimate that more than 80% of trafficking victims are female and that more 50% are children;
  • Children trafficked into one form of labor may be later sold into another, such as girls who are recruited to work in carpet factories but are then trafficked into the sex industry.
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Two Million Children Are Living Life As Sex Slaves

Posted on June 1, 2011 by admin

It should never happen, but it does every day: orphaned children are sexually exploited by adults for profit. And it’s all part of an illegal worldwide human trafficking industry that really amounts to nothing more than modern-day slavery.

Every year, 1.2 million children are lured or forced into this industry for all sorts of forced labor, says child advocacy organization World Vision. This often means the child is sold as a slave or bonded sweatshop, farm, or domestic laborer or abducted to fight as a soldier. But for so many of these children, usually girls anywhere from five or six to 17 years of age, it means being sold or abducted to serve as sex slaves in the cruel and often deadly sex tourism trade.

Orphaned children, who mostly live in very poor countries and have usually lost their parents to war, poverty, disease or starvation, are especially likely to end up in the sex trade. Human traffickers know they can take advantage of these children because they’re vulnerable and have no other way to survive.

A trafficker might try to lure children in with promises of money, food, and clothes for themselves and their families or even with threats and intimidation. Frequently, children are simply taken by force because they can’t defend themselves.

Currently, there are an estimated two million children in the sex tourism trade, which generates billions of dollars in profits for human traffickers every year. People who patronize the industry typically go to a foreign a country, such as from the United States or United Kingdom to Mexico or Thailand, for the sole purpose of engaging in sexual activity with children.

Sex tourists have been known to rationalize their behavior with excuses like, “Without the money I pay, these children might not have enough food.” In reality, sex tourists contribute to severe mental and physical damage in child sex slaves. According to the State Department, the damage can include HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, drug addiction, social ostracism, and death.

Most child sex slaves also develop severe psychological problems like depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and post-traumatic stress disorder. And they usually feel intense shame. Traffickers know this and try to use it to keep the children under control.

The cruelty of traffickers often goes much further, however. Girls and women trapped in the sex tourism trade are often branded like cattle to show ownership. It’s common for both traffickers and customers to be violent to the extreme — for example, by beating, stabbing, burning, kicking, and whipping with a “pimp stick” (a wire hanger straightened out and then folded back on itself several times).

There has been some global response to sex tourism and child slavery, but not nearly enough. Only 38 countries have laws that specifically allow their citizens to be prosecuted for sex tourism and other crimes committed against children while abroad. The relatively few countries that do have such laws infrequently enforce them.

Also, the World Tourism Organization and several other tourism industry organizations have created a Global Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. Perhaps 900 travel agencies in 35 countries have signed the code, a pitiful number considering there are 195 countries and nearly 9,400 travel agencies in the U.S. alone.

How You Can Help

No child should be the victim of sexual exploitation or enslavement, as so many orphans around the world are. You can make a difference in their lives by doing one or more of the following through the Orphan Coalition, an independent nonprofit orphan support organization located in Colorado Springs, CO:

  • Making a one-time or monthly donation as an Individual, Corporate, or Business Orphan Coalition Advocate sponsor;
  • Volunteering through the Volunteer Orphan Coalition Ambassador program that mobilizes and facilitates financial support and awareness on behalf of orphans.

See Also

For additional information, visit the following online resources:

  • Child Trafficking and Exploitation, by World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/globalissues-child-trafficking);
  • Trafficking in Persons — Facts and Figures, from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/trafficking/facts.html);
  • Trafficking and Sex Tourism, by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice (http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/trafficking.html).

Orphan Sexual Exploitation by the Numbers

  • There are an estimated 2 million children trapped in the illegal worldwide sex trade. Many of these children are among the world’s 145 million orphans;
  • Approximately 75-80% of human trafficking is for sex;
  • Human trafficking around the globe is estimated to generate anywhere from $9 billion to $31.6 billion in profits. Half the profits are made in industrialized countries;
  • Child sex tourists are typically males and come from all income brackets. They’re usually from Western Europe and North America;
  • Studies indicate that child prostitutes serve between two and 30 clients per week, which translates to anywhere 100 to 1,500 clients per year, per child. Younger children, many below the age of 10, have been increasingly drawn into serving sex tourists;
  • The human trafficking industry generates $32 billion a year in profits;
  • An estimated 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect;
  • A human trafficker can earn 20 times what he or she paid for a girl. A 2003 study in the Netherlands found that, on average, a single sex slave earned her pimp at least $250,000 a year;
  • Sex traffickers use a variety of ways to “condition” their victims, including starvation, rape, gang rape, physical abuse, beating, confinement, threats of violence toward the victim and victim’s family, forced drug use, and shame;
  • More than 30% of all trafficking cases in 2007 and 2008 involved children being sold into the sex industry;
  • Overpopulation combined with poverty and lack of education creates a fertile market for those seeking to extract children for the sex trade;
  • Over 71% of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies;
  • UNICEF estimates that, over the past 30 years, more than 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking;
  • After the illegal sex trade, the most common form of human trafficking is forced labor;
  • Human trafficking is projected to surpass the drug trade by 2016.
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21st Century Slave Traders Target Orphans

Posted on May 27, 2011 by admin

Think slavery’s a thing of the past? Not by a long shot.

Right this very moment, there are 12 to 27 million slaves in the world — more than there were during all three centuries of the transatlantic slave trade combined, says nonprofit child welfare organization World Vision.

However, today’s slave trade is more insidious and takes on many different forms from the shackled, highly visible adult African victims many of us have come to associate with slavery. In fact, a large portion of modern-day slaves are orphaned children.

There are about 145 million orphans worldwide, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These children, who have usually lost their parents to war, poverty, disease, or starvation, are especially likely to be lured into slavery because they’re vulnerable and have no other way to survive. Or, being defenseless, they’re simply forced.

Every year, 1.2 million children are trafficked as slaves, World Vision says. This sometimes means the child is sold into slavery or bonded indenture. Or the child may be convinced or abducted to fight as a soldier. For girls from five or six to 17 years of age, it can also mean being sold or abducted to serve as sex slaves in the illegal sex tourism trade.

UNICEF estimates there are currently 300,000 child soldiers — both boys and girls under age 18 — fighting in more than 30 armed conflicts worldwide, and their lives are particularly tragic. Besides being used as forced labor and suffering from malnutrition, many are injured by landmines, combat, and abuse. Many have also been forced to commit horrible violent acts or have witnessed indescribable cruelty against loved ones and others. Children as young as seven years old have been purchased for around $10,000 to act as suicide bombers.

At least 2 million children have died in armed conflicts in the past 10 years, says UNICEF. War has seriously injured or permanently disabled more than three times that number.

One out of every six children in the world is trapped in the child labor trade, often working 18 hours a day or more at dangerous tasks like mining, handling toxic chemicals for the agricultural industry, or using dangerous machinery. Many millions toil endlessly against their will as servants, sweatshop workers, field hands, carpet weavers, or seamstresses. Frequently, those working in factories or other buildings are never allowed to venture outdoors.

Under such harsh conditions, which usually include inadequate food, unsafe drinking water and no medical care or immunizations, child slaves are highly susceptible to malnutrition, infection, and premature death. It’s also common for them to suffer extreme physical and emotional abuse, be permanently disabled by work-related injury, and become addicted to drugs or alcohol at very early ages.

“Victims of human trafficking pay a horrible price,” the State Department says. “Psychological and physical harm, including disease and stunted growth, often have permanent effects. In many cases, the exploitation of trafficking victims is progressive: a child trafficked into one form of labor may be further abused in another.”

How You Can Help
No child should be the victim of sexual exploitation or enslavement, as so many orphans around the world are. You can make a difference in their lives by doing one or more of the following through the Orphan Coalition, an independent nonprofit orphan support organization located in Colorado Springs, CO:

  • Making a one-time or monthly donation as an Individual, Corporate, or Business Orphan Coalition Advocate sponsor;
  • Volunteering through the Volunteer Orphan Coalition Ambassador program that mobilizes and facilitates financial support and awareness on behalf of orphans.

See Also
For additional information, visit the following online resources:

  • Child Trafficking and Exploitation, by World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/globalissues-child-trafficking);
  • Trafficking in Persons — Facts and Figures, from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/trafficking/facts.html);
  • Trafficking and Sex Tourism, by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice (http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/trafficking.html).

Child Slavery by the Numbers

  • 161 countries are in some way involved in human trafficking, either as the source, a transit country, or destination;
  • It is estimated 2 children are sold internationally every minute;
  • The most commons ways children are lured into slavery include physical force, promises of money for their family and other types of coercion, intimidation and threats against the individual and their family, and offers of food or clothing to bait the individual into being captured;
  • There are about 246 million child laborers ages five to 17 worldwide. Of these, more than 170 million work in hazardous conditions — in mines, with chemicals, or with hazardous machinery. About 73 million of these children are less than 10 years old;
  • The human trafficking industry generates $32 billion a year in profits;
  • Although accurate statistics about human trafficking are difficult to obtain, researchers estimate that more than 80% of trafficking victims are female and that over 50% are children;
  • Over 71% of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies;
  • After the illegal sex trade, the most common form of human trafficking is forced labor;
  • UNICEF estimates that 300,000 children younger than 18 are currently trafficked to serve in armed conflicts worldwide;
  • Human trafficking is projected to surpass the drug trade by 2016;
  • The AIDS epidemic in Africa has left many children orphaned, making them especially vulnerable to human trafficking and slavery;
  • It would cost $760 billion over 20 years to end child labor. The estimated benefit in terms of better education and health is about six times that — over $4 trillion in economies where child laborers are found;
  • 75% to 80% of human trafficking is for the illegal sex tourism trade;
  • Sex trafficking plays a major role in the spread of the AIDs virus and other sexually transmitted diseases;
  • Humans are trafficked not only for sex and labor, but also for organ harvesting;
  • In about 54% of human trafficking cases, the recruiter is a stranger. In 46% of the cases, the recruiter knows the victim;
  • 52% of human trafficking recruiters are men and 42% are women. In 6% of cases, men and women cooperate to lure or abduct victims.
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Zambian Orphans, Widows Are ‘Property Grabbing’ Victims

Posted on May 16, 2011 by admin


Here’s a shocking statistic from the Justice for Widows and Orphans Project (JWOP): 78% of Zambia’s orphans and widows suffer the injustice of having their property forcefully taken from them by “property grabbers.” And it’s not even illegal.

To help combat the problem, JWOP project manager Felix Kunda is calling on his government, to review current laws and realign them to modern trends. One law in particular, the Interstate Succession Act of 1989, doesn’t adequately protect the interests of orphans or widows, especially on matters relating to customary land, Kunda argues. He adds that the Act is difficult to administer because it’s applied according to local customs and traditions, which often vary greatly in a country of 73 tribes and 286 chiefs.

Furthermore, says Kunda, the Act places orphans and widows at great disadvantage in terms of  inheriting from a deceased father or husband, particularly in rural areas. He proposes that, in the revised law, property grabbing from orphans and widows be classified as a criminal offense, the police be allowed to make arrests for such offenses, and the judiciary be mandated to prosecute the offenders to deter future property grabbing.

To document the extent of the problem, JWOP and the Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) have filmed six documentaries of cases occurring over the past year. Policymakers and other officials, including Finnish Ambassador to Zambia, Sinikka Antila, recently viewed the documentaries.

Kunda commends the media for reporting on the injustice of property grabbing because it helps raise awareness in the general public. “The media can also assist us in highlighting the plight of the widows and orphans, by establishing a desk, just like there are the business or sports desks,” he suggests.

Sources:

Zambia: 78% widows and orphans suffer injustice (http://www.lusakatimes.com/2011/03/11/78-widows-orphans-suffer-injustice/). lusakatimes.com, March 11, 2011

Zambia: 78% widows and orphans suffer injustice (http://timeszambiapost.com/78-widows-and-orphans-suffer-injustice-77993.htm). timesZambiaPost.com, March 11, 2011

RJ & Makay

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Scarf Operation Helps Feed AIDS Orphans

Posted on April 26, 2011 by admin

Twenty-five year-old Sean Coetzee has found a way to combine commerce and charity to feed South African children who have lost their parents to AIDS. It’s called Project Isuga, a scarf-making business that donates sale proceeds to cover meal costs at a South African orphanage.

“It’s a very simple concept,” says Coetzee, a South African native now living in Arlington, VA. “For every scarf sold, we donate a school lunch to one of these AIDS orphans.”

The orphanage Coetzee helps is in Dunbar, the town where he grew up. He describes his own childhood as “great” and says he enjoyed being a tennis fanatic at an all-boys boarding school. After going to the University of Nebraska on a tennis scholarship and graduating with a degree in marketing, he accepted a job as a brand manager for a big corporation in South Africa.

“In 2008 I went back to South Africa but I wasn’t really fulfilled with what I was doing,” Coetzee relates. “So I decided to come back to the States and start a business that helps to improve peoples’ lives in Africa.”

By starting a business rather than a nonprofit, he does not have to rely on donations, Coetzee points out. “Project Isuga exists to make a difference in the world by creating a business that incorporates giving into everything it does,” he says. The scarves are sold on the company’s website and at retail locations, like Periwinkle in nearby Shirlington.

“When Sean came to show me the scarves, I immediately liked their purpose,” says Periwinkle store manager Erin Kruse. “They’re a beautiful, stylish piece that we were able to add to our store in Shirlington and, yet, they were much bigger than just a scarf.”

According to Coetzee, the scarves are carried by 12 retailers across the United States. In time, he’d like to increase that number and expand his product offerings. Meanwhile, the scarves are selling quickly, says Kruse.

When asked about the meaning of Isuga, Coetzee says, “It directly translates to sugar in Zulu but it has a much broader meaning in their culture. To them it means love, joy and happiness.” His goal, adds Coetzee, is to bring those things to the children at the orphanage in Dunbar.

Sources:

Turning Scarves into Meals for Orphans (http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=348761&paper=60&cat=104). Arlington Connection, March 3, 2011

Turning Scarves into Meals for Orphans (Periwinkle Shirlington) (http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Local/2011/03/11/Turning-Scarves-into-Meals-for-Orphans-Periwinkle-Shirlington/190-5ce0b8e21f). UPI.com, March 11, 2011

RJ & Makay

 

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Orphans Endangered in Sudan Fighting

Posted on March 28, 2011 by admin

When rebel troops battling Southern Sudan’s army invaded an orphanage a week ago, 103 orphans were caught in the crossfire. Fortunately, none of the children or orphanage workers were harmed, but gunfire was exchanged while the children were inside the facility, says Doris Kirchebner, a spokeswoman for SOS Children’s Villages International, the aid group that runs the orphanage in the city of Malakal.

Rebel fighters battling the south’s Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA) entered the facility on Saturday, March 19, and the fighting began while the children and staff were still inside. “We heard that they entered one house and occupied it and it was possible to move the children to another house,” she relates. “What we know is that the whole compound was surrounded by SPLA soldiers. It was not possible for anyone to get in or get out.”

According to orphanage director Akwoch Dok, the children have been caught in the middle of clashes before. “It is not the first time,” he said. “When it happens, the children hide under the beds so the bullets pass by.”

Several armed militants took the children hostage, says a U.N. report. While mediation efforts were taking place, the children were transferred to a hotel elsewhere in Malakal. Five attackers were reported killed inside the orphanage, according to the U.N. report.

“It is not easy for (the children),” says Martha Choat, a minister in the Upper Nile state government. “For the past two days they were sleeping with no blankets or bedsheets.” According to Choat, the youngest orphan is only a month old and the orphanage director went shopping the following Monday to buy water because “the kids are having diarrhea, they are sick, they are drinking from the river.”

The orphanage takeover occurred amid fighting Saturday that saw 40 rebels and two SPLA soldiers killed, reports army spokesman Col. Philip Aguer. Since its January independence referendum, Southern Sudan has seen a wave of violence that has killed hundreds. The SPLA is carrying out military operations in three counties of Jonglei state has reportedly made parts of three counties in Jonglei off-limits to the U.N.

The secretary-general of the main political party in Southern Sudan, Pagan Amum, claims the south is suspending talks and diplomatic contact with Northern Sudan because of allegations the northern government is funding militias in the south. Amum say the north is trying to “destabilize” Southern Sudan and to facilitate the overthrow the southern government before it declares independence on July 9.

Sources:

103 orphans caught in middle of S. Sudan fighting (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/14/2114216/103-orphans-caught-in-middle-of.html#). miamiherald.com, March 14, 2011

103 orphans caught in middle of S. Sudan fighting (http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/03/103-orphans-caught-middle-ssudan-fighting). washingtonexaminer.com, March 14, 2011

RJ & Makay

 

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