LIBERIA

(MissionNewswire) Three Don Bosco Training Centers in Liberia have installed solar energy systems to address the country’s expensive and often unreliable electricity supply. The project was made possible thanks to the support of the Don Bosco Jugendhilfe Weltweit, in collaboration with various Swiss foundations and the EKI Fundación in Spain, which provided technical and logistical support.

The new solar energy systems have been installed at the Don Bosco Technical School in Monrovia, the Salesian school and youth center in New Matadi, and the Don Bosco Center in Tappita. Electrical course trainees at the Don Bosco Technical High School in Monrovia were able to gain first-hand practical experience by assisting in the installation work at all three sites.

Salesian missionaries developed an occupational standard for electricians in Liberia, developed modular curriculum, produced a pedagogical and material organization guide, set up the workshops, created a two-pathway training for students and workers in the informal sector, and determined an evaluation standard and a certification.

The electrotechnician training initiative aims to respond to the needs of the labor market while ensuring youth have access to vocational and technical training that aids them in finding long-term stable work. The electrotechnician course is opened each year to 90 high school students and 30 uncertified electricians. Recently, the school also started a training course for photovoltaic systems and their maintenance.

“Salesian missionaries in Liberia have had to overcome many challenges including high rates of poverty that continue to leave many children and families in need,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Education is always the primary focus of Salesian programs. Since Salesian missionaries live and work in the communities they serve, they are able to recognize local needs and customize programs and services to meet those specific needs, greatly impacting local youth. This new training program is meeting a need in Liberia’s current workforce while helping youth tap into an industry sector in need of skilled, certified workers.”

Liberia is still recovering from civil war and the deadly Ebola epidemic that affected 10,678 people with 4,810 reported deaths, according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 64 percent of Liberians live below the poverty line and 1.3 million live in extreme poverty, out of a population of 4.6 million, according to the World Food Programme. Food security is also affecting 41 percent of the population and making chronic malnutrition high.

Whether working to rehabilitate former child soldiers or assist young women in overcoming barriers to education, Salesian programs in Liberia are providing opportunities for youth to live up to their potential through both academic and social programs. Salesian volunteer programs and Catholic schools have helped more than 2,300 students and their families.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Liberia – Three Salesian Centers powered by solar energy

Don Bosco Technical School in Monrovia

Don Bosco Technical School Facebook

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Liberia

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LIBERIA

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries have been responding to needs from those impacted by the coronavirus in Tappita, located in the Liberian forest. The first case of COVID-19 infection in Liberia was announced on March 16 in the capital city of Monrovia. To date, the official count shows 383 cases and 31 deaths, but it’s feared the numbers are much higher.

One of the challenges is that people are not convinced that there is a virus in Liberia. Father Riccardo Castellino, a Salesian missionary in Tappita, said, “While there have been great gestures of solidarity one of the biggest challenges is a group who has been freeing people from isolation and quarantine because they don’t believe the virus is real. They believe is the virus is a government ploy to take money and that those who have died were victims of the evil eye. Right now, illiteracy and superstition are much worse than the virus.”

Salesian missionaries have been responding with prevention. Missionaries have engaged youth to help with awareness-raising campaigns and educational activities about the virus and how to prevent it. The Salesian school has been closed since mid-March, and the medical dispensary continued its service, but at a slower pace. Many people have returned to the villages to work on their land to survive.

Various parish groups have put together as much relief support as they can to assist the neediest people like the elderly, sick, disabled and widows. A committee distributed food and sanitary items including rice, oil, hand-washing buckets and disinfectants. The past pupils of the St. Francis School in the area have done the same.

Recently, the mission received a subsidy through the province to help with the second distribution of food and health products. The school also met all staff, teachers and other employees who were forced to stay at home and were not collecting a salary. They, too, were provided with food support.

Construction has not been stopped in Liberia during the pandemic. While it’s continued at a slower pace, workers have finished the renovation of the small Salesian community house. Progress on construction of the church has continued, and the kindergarten has reached completion of the first phase with the foundation finished and windowing framing finished.

Fr. Castellino said, “We look forward with trust and hope. Behind the clouds, the sun continues to shine!”

Liberia is still recovering from civil war and the deadly Ebola epidemic that affected 10,678 people with 4,810 reported deaths, according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 64 percent of Liberians live below the poverty line and 1.3 million live in extreme poverty, out of a population of 4.6 million, according to the World Food Programme. Food security is also affecting 41 percent of the population and making chronic malnutrition high.

Whether working to rehabilitate former child soldiers or assist young women in overcoming barriers to education, Salesian programs in Liberia are providing opportunities for youth to live up to their potential through both academic and social programs. Salesian volunteer programs and Catholic schools have helped more than 2,300 students and their families.

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ANS Photos (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) 

ANS – Liberia – Tappita Salesian mission vs Covid-19

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Liberia

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The Salesian Province was also widely affected by the catastrophic Ebola epidemic that the World Health Organization (WHO) reports killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa between 2013 and 2016. Ebola greatly impacted Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Salesian programs in those countries were on the front lines of prevention, providing educational materials, soap and hand washing stations, as well as bleach and other cleaning products. Salesian centers also immediately began working with orphans whose parents, and sometimes entire families, died from the disease.

“Salesian missionaries in the West African Province have had many challenges to overcome including the Ebola epidemic and high rates of poverty in those countries, leaving many children and families in need,” says Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “While education is always the primary focus, because Salesian missionaries are living and working in the communities in which they serve, they know the local need first-hand. Because of this and their past experience, Salesian centers are able to effectively launch wide-reaching prevention programs in time of crisis.”

Even before there were many COVID-19 cases in the countries, Don Bosco Network secured its centers across Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and put into effect physical distancing, sanitizing and ensuring staff and youth were safe. Salesians also started making homemade sanitizer and teaching local populations how to make it. The centers also began distributing soap and other sanitizers.

Developing and launching an awareness campaign was also critical. Through Don Bosco Radio in Ghana and Nigeria, information on preventive measures, symptoms, testing and avoiding the spread of the virus were given through online radio stations. Salesians also shared information on their social media channels. Within their communities, Salesians shared banners and flyers to highlight prevention information.

Training has also been key. In Lagos, Nigeria, Salesian staff were taken through training on COVID-19 to be equipped and ensure safety. In Ashaiman, Ghana, training for 15 people were trained on how to make their own masks using tissue paper and rubber bands.

In some of communities, frantic efforts to create food banks are being made. These are in preparation and anticipation of a worse case scenarios that could include lockdowns. Food banks will enable Salesians to support the vulnerable with critical nutrition support, which is needed even in the best of times. With people out of work, many lack the ability to purchase food as needed. Measures are also being taken to assist rural farmers with agro-input to support their farming.

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Photo courtesy Salesian Missions (contact for usage permissions)

Salesian Missions

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LIBERIA

(MissionNewswire) On Jan. 21, students in their last year at Mary Help of Christians School, located in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, met with the school’s dean, Father Solomon Gbaki, before their final exams. Operated by Salesian sisters, Mary Help of Christians School provides a foundation of education and support for young students who would otherwise have limited opportunities. The school started in 1993 and serves just over 560 students. The school also has a feeding program, which serves more than 100 students each day.

This is one of many schools that Salesian missionaries operate in Liberia. Salesians have been present in Monrovia since 1979 and manage parishes, youth centers, schools and oratories.

In 2019, Don Bosco Technical High School, also in Monrovia, launched a vocational training course for electro-technicians. An afternoon class is available to high school students, which complements their current educational path. There is also a morning class for young workers to help them obtain certification to improve their options in the workforce.

The launch of the electro-technician training was part of an initiative that included the renovation of existing space at Don Bosco Technical High School to transform it into a workshop. The initiative aimed to respond to the needs of the labor market while ensuring youth have access to vocational and technical training that assists them in finding long-term stable work. The electro-technician course is available each year to 90 high school students and 30 uncertified electricians.

“Salesian missionaries in Liberia have had to overcome many challenges including high rates of poverty that continue to leave many children and families in need,” says Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Education is always the primary focus of Salesian programs. Since Salesian missionaries live and work in the communities they serve, they are able to recognize local needs and customize programs and services to meet those specific needs, greatly impacting local youth. This new training program is meeting a need in Liberia’s current workforce while helping youth tap into an industry sector in need of skilled, certified workers.”

Liberia is still recovering from civil war and the deadly Ebola epidemic that affected 10,678 people with 4,810 reported deaths, according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 64 percent of Liberians live below the poverty line and 1.3 million live in extreme poverty, out of a population of 4.6 million, according to the World Food Programme. Food security is also affecting 41 percent of the population and making chronic malnutrition high.

Whether working to rehabilitate former child soldiers or assist young women in overcoming barriers to education, Salesian programs in Liberia are providing opportunities for youth to live up to their potential through both academic and social programs. Salesian volunteer programs and Catholic schools have helped more than 2,300 students and their families.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Liberia – High school students meet Principal before exams

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Liberia

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New desks, chairs, tables, bookcases and filing cabinets were among the furniture received in Monrovia. Desks and chairs help to provide a more dignified and organized educational environment for students to complete their studies. As a result, students are often more focused on classroom work and more prepared for their lessons.

“This donation is especially important for the children in our schools,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The furniture has contributed greatly to their discipline and learning environment while bringing smiles to their faces. This has been a great contribution to the high school.”

The Institution Recycling Network was started in 1999 to match surplus items that need to be recycled with organizations and people who need them. Every educational, commercial and healthcare organization in the U.S. has surplus furniture and equipment. Hundreds of millions of people living in poverty or recovering from natural disasters worldwide are in desperate need of the kinds of surplus goods these very organizations are discarding. IRN makes the match and facilitates the distribution of the surplus into the hands of the organizations and people who need it most.

“There is a clear match between Salesian Missions’ need for furniture and equipment for their worldwide projects and the supplies of surplus to which IRN has access,” says Mark Lennon, principal of the Institution Recycling Network. “Salesian Missions has been an excellent partner.”

IRN partners with nonprofits who are known to be reputable and effective providers of relief and development assistance, and who are able to use the types of surplus that IRN can provide. The organization has a “wish list” from each of its nonprofit partners of the types and quantities of surplus they can use.

When a project comes to IRN, it makes a match against these wish lists and offers the surplus to the most appropriate nonprofits. At this point, surplus is offered on a first-come-first-served basis; the first nonprofit(s) to express interest in the surplus, receives it. In many cases, a single nonprofit will claim the entire project but in some cases, the surplus will be split among two or more organizations.

“There is almost infinite demand in the U.S. and worldwide for good quality surplus so IRN’s surplus program will continue to grow,” says Lennon. “The school or company that supplies the surplus pays IRN for the service of matching their surplus with our nonprofit network. In almost all cases they pay IRN much less than they would pay to bring in dumpsters and throw the surplus away.”

In addition to the recent shipment to Liberia, additional furniture from the same source has been donated to Salesian programs in the Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Vietnam and East Timor.

“IRN donations have furnished Salesian schools and development offices in Central America, South America, Africa and Asia,” adds Fr. Hyde. “We plan to continue working with IRN because they are a reliable partner who is eager to assist in our mission and provide quality donations to our programs.”

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world with 64 percent of its population of 3.5 million people living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. The 2014 Human Development Index ranks Liberia 175 out of 187 countries. Still recovering from the effects of a 14 year civil war that ended in 2003 and the most recent Ebola outbreak, Liberians struggle with social and economic hardships.

Those living in rural areas make up close to 75 percent of the country’s poor and the World Bank classifies Liberia as a low-income, food-deficit country, reporting that half of the population is food-insecure or highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Orphans, street children and adolescent ex-combatants often find themselves on their own facing adult responsibilities with little support and no education.

Salesian missionaries have been working in Liberia since starting a vocational institute there in 1979. Since then, missionaries in the country have been developing programs with a focus on providing youth with the education and skills necessary to transform their lives and their country.

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Sources:

Institution Recycling Network

2014 Human Development Index

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This is made possible through ongoing partnerships with food aid organizations like Stop Hunger Now and Feed My Starving Children. Combined with donor contributions to the food appeal, this allows for the delivery of lifesaving food to Salesian programs around the globe. Once there, missionaries work to ensure it is safely and efficiently distributed to those most in need.

Also making this possible is the fact that Salesian Missions is a trusted recipient of the USAID Ocean Freight Reimbursement Grant program, which enables its Office for International Programs to transport shipments of humanitarian aid and development commodities at low- to no-cost.

More than 793 million people across the world go hungry every day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. More than 70 percent of food insecure people live in rural areas of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Near East. Additionally, two billion people lack the vitamins and minerals needed to live healthy lives, according to the World Food Program and the United Nations.

Of those who go hungry daily, 98 percent reside in developing countries where there is not only a shortage of food, but major challenges for aid to reach its destination. Working and living in the communities they serve, Salesian missionaries are perfectly positioned to ensure that the distribution of food aid reaches those who need it most. Operating primary schools, technical training centers, agricultural schools, youth centers, orphanages and programs for street children, Salesian missionaries are on the front lines of the battle against hunger. In fact, Salesians operate more than 5,300 primary and secondary schools that serve more than a million students worldwide.

“Salesian missionaries are an integral part of the existing infrastructure in many countries and Salesian Missions plays an important role in making sure aid from the United States reaches its destination country and gets into the hands of those who need it most,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions.

Salesian food programs provide meals to students during the school day and serve as an incentive for families to send their children to school. As a result of the feeding programs, students are thriving. Many have gained weight, suffered fewer illnesses and become more focused on their studies. Teachers are seeing better student performance in class, a decrease in absenteeism and an increase in program enrollment rates as a result of the feeding program.

“Feeding programs are a necessity to meet the needs of the massive number of children around the globe who are hungry today,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Meals children receive at Salesian schools may be their only meals. This food not only encourages them to attend school, it allows them to focus on getting the education they need without worrying about where their next meal will come from. Children cannot learn on an empty stomach.”

The impact of Salesian feeding programs can be seen places like Monrovia, Liberia, where the Ebola epidemic has challenged an already-struggling economy. Survivors rely on petty trade to earn incomes that are inadequate to support themselves and their families. Children like 6-year-old Nyumah and his 12-year-old sister (who live in a one-room shack with their widowed mother and grandmother) regularly go hungry, putting their health and futures at risk.

Thanks in part to funds raised by the Annual Food Distribution Appeal, Nyumah and his family now receive a monthly supply of fortified rice-meals, enough to keep the children healthy and engaged in school. The meals were donated by Feed My Starving Children and arrived in September in a 40-foot shipping container filled with 35 pallets containing 1,260 boxes of rice meals each. Coordination of the donation and shipping was managed by the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs and for just $2,000, the cost to ship the donated meals, close to 400 families in Nyumah’s impoverished community have access to healthy nutritious meals.

“The beneficiaries of these shipments are children,” says Father Nicola, director and economer of the Salesian house in Monrovia. “We distribute the meals to the poorest families of the Matadi quarter in Monrovia, where 70 percent of the people live in zinc houses in a swamp environment. We give additional preference to families caring for orphans, children affected by Ebola, to widowed mothers struggling to survive, and to the elderly.”

Salesian Missions feeding programs are providing healthy nutrition, preparing youth to better achieve in school and improving health conditions in countries like Liberia, Swaziland, El Salvador, Myanmar and beyond. To raise money for the Annual Food Distribution fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched a fundraising campaign and is issuing an appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/food to give.

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This is the sixth donation of rice-meals from Feed My Starving Children the Salesian organization received this year, most of which was utilized during the recent Ebola crisis in the country which continues to affect the many families living in Matadi who lost family members including primary wage-earners. Contained in the shipment were more than 1,200 boxes of rice-meals that have been provided to students in Salesian programs.

More than 70 percent of the population of Matadi live in conditions of poverty. The rice-meal donation has been essential in the battle against malnutrition and disease in the area. In addition to feeding students in Salesian youth programs and schools, Salesian missionaries are providing rice-meals to those most in need in Matadi including single mothers, elderly residents and children affected by Ebola.

“Feeding programs like the one in Liberia are helping to meet the needs of the massive number of children around the globe who are hungry today,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Meals children receive at Salesian schools may be their only meals. This food not only encourages them to attend school, it allows them to focus on getting the education they need without worrying about where their next meal will come from. Children cannot learn on an empty stomach.”

The Sean Devereux Don Bosco Youth Center in Matadi was one of the recipients of the rice-meal donation. The organization offers vocational training, recreational activities, academic assistance, counseling and youth retreats. Activities at the center are geared toward helping youth appreciate one another through daily interaction thereby cultivating genuine acts of tolerance, love and concern for one another. Moreover, the activities assist youth in acquiring marketable skills in tailoring and typing.

The ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Feed My Starving Children has resulted in 40-foot containers of fortified rice-meals being shipped to Salesian sites around the globe. Feed My Starving Children provides the food and Salesian Missions takes care of the cost and logistics of shipping each container from Feed My Starving Children warehouses to the destination country. Salesian Missions also works to help identify where the greatest needs are at any given time. The partnership began in early 2006 when the first 40-foot container was donated to and shipped by Salesian Missions for programs in Sri Lanka. Through the years, as Salesian Missions has determined beneficiaries in need of Feed My Starving Children food, almost 100 containers of more than 27 million meals have been donated, shipped and received by those in need in more than 25 countries.

“Salesian missionaries are an integral part of the existing infrastructure in many countries and Salesian Missions plays an important role in making sure aid from the United States reaches its destination country and gets into the hands of those who need it most,” adds. Fr Hyde.

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world with 64 percent of its population of 3.5 million people living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. The 2008 Human Development Index ranks Liberia in the bottom five of countries in the world. Still recovering from the effects of a 14 year civil war that ended in 2003, Liberians struggle with social and economic hardships.

Those living in rural areas make up close to 75 percent of the country’s poor and the World Bank classifies Liberia as a low-income, food-deficit country, reporting that half of the population is food-insecure or highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Orphans, street children and adolescent ex-combatants often find themselves on their own facing adult responsibilities with little support and no education.

Salesian missionaries have been working in Liberia since starting a vocational institute there in 1979. Since then, missionaries in the country have been developing programs with a focus on providing youth with the education and skills necessary to transform their lives and their country.

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Sources:

Feed My Starving Children

World Bank – Liberia

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Celebrated each year on August 19, the day was established by the United Nations to recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others and was designated to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. The theme of World Humanitarian Day 2015 is, “Inspiring the World’s Humanity” and highlights humanitarian organizations around the world while inspiring people to become active messengers of humanity.

“On World Humanitarian Day, we honor the selfless dedication and sacrifice of workers and volunteers from around the world who devote themselves – often at great personal risk – to assisting the world’s most vulnerable people,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in a statement on World Humanitarian Day 2015. “This year, more than 100 million women, men and children need life-saving humanitarian assistance. The amount of people affected by conflict has reached levels not seen since the Second World War, while the number of those affected by natural and human-induced disasters remains profound. On this Day we also celebrate our common humanity. The families and communities struggling to survive in today’s emergencies do so with resilience and dignity. They need and deserve our renewed commitment to do all we can to provide them with the means for a better future.”

From the recent earthquakes in Nepal and flooding in Myanmar to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Salesian missionaries are on the forefront of relief efforts and operate programs in more than 130 countries around the globe. Missionaries provide immediate assistance but also remain in countries in need to assist families, rebuild communities and restore livelihoods long after other organizations have left.

“Because Salesian missionaries live within the communities they serve, they are perfectly positioned to respond in times of crisis,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Our programs help to provide food, clothing and shelter to those in need and our missionaries remain through the long recovery process after a humanitarian crisis to help families rebuild their homes and salvage their livelihoods.”

In honor and celebration of World Humanitarian Day 2015, Salesian Missions is proud to highlight its humanitarian efforts that have benefited more than 450,000 people since the start of 2015.

MYANMAR FLOODING

Salesian missionaries have been providing emergency relief and helping flood victims displaced by the heavy monsoon rain and flooding that has affected Myanmar this summer. Nearly 1 million people have now been affected by the widespread flooding across the country since June. Myanmar government officials have reported that close to 100 people have died and 1.2 million acres of rice fields have been destroyed. Heavy rains in early August caused by Cyclone Komen worsened the already precarious situation and led to intensified flooding across much of the country. Salesian missionaries living and working in the region are responding to the situation with aid for the flood victims, many who have lost everything. The regions most affected include Chin, Rakáin, Magwe and Sagaing which the Burmese government declared a state of natural disaster. The Salesian house of Kalay, a boarding school in the region of Chin, is located at the center of one of the most flood-stricken areas but did not suffer any damage. The Salesian community in the region is already actively engaged in emergency relief work and also planning long-term rebuilding and education and social development initiatives to help flood victims.

NEPAL EARTHQUAKES

Salesian missionaries immediately responded with food, medicine and temporary shelter after a devastating 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25 and a second earthquake struck on May 12. More than 8,000 died and close to 20,000 were injured as a result of the earthquakes and their aftermath. Forty of Nepal’s 75 districts were affected, 16 of them severely, with homes, schools, buildings, cattle, fields ready for harvest and other property destroyed. More than 500,000 people were displaced and remain in need of shelter and other assistance.

Salesian missionaries are building temporary schools and addressing long-term training needs as part of their reconstruction and relief efforts. To date, more than 21 temporary learning centers have been completed. In a recent evaluation meeting with Nepalese government officers and other non-government organizations, it was acknowledged that the temporary learning centers built by the Salesian missionaries and students from the Salesian-operated technical school, Don Bosco Thecho in Kathmandu, Nepal, were of such high quality they could possibly serve as permanent school buildings.

SYRIAN CONFLICT REFUGEES IN TURKEY

Sharing a 500-mile-long border with Syria, Southeastern Turkey has more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees, as reported by the United Nations. Salesian missionaries are providing services at three sites within Syria while also providing for Syrian refugees in Turkey. While many Syrian refugees stay in towns on the Turkey-Syrian border, many find their way to big cities like Istanbul where Salesian missionaries operate a program that currently serves close to 400 Syrian refugees.

At the Don Bosco Center in Istanbul, Salesian Father Andres Calleja Ruiz leads special programs for refugee children and youth from Syria as well as for a growing number of families fleeing ISIS persecution in Iraq. Because most refugees do not speak the local language it is difficult for children to attend school and adults to find work. At the Center, Salesian missionaries provide a school for more than 350 refugee children where they learn the English language and traditional school subjects such as mathematics, geography and music. Students have access to sports and dance programs intended to help them connect with their peers and find enjoyment and comfort in their new surroundings. In addition, the program provides counseling both for youth and their families to help them overcome the challenges and traumas they have faced.

Technical skills training is a critical component of Salesian work in Istanbul. Many refugees leave the country’s border towns and refugee camps and make their way to Istanbul hoping to find employment and a more stable life. If they fail to find work, refugees are often left in dire circumstances. The Don Bosco Center’s technical skills training program is a critical safety net for those in need.

WEST AFRICA EBOLA OUTBREAK

The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the most deadly on record, has infected close to 21,200 and killed more than 8,400 across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Salesian missionaries in both Sierra Leone and Liberia immediately responded with health prevention education and humanitarian assistance in the form of food aid and medical supplies as well as soap and other cleaning and disinfecting products to help slow and eventually stop the spread of Ebola. The Salesian-run Mother Patern College of Health Sciences, one of five colleges that make up the Stella Maris Polytechnic University in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, was on the front lines of the Ebola crisis with all 63 of its staff reassigned to address the Ebola outbreak. Education was an important step in stopping the spread of the disease and Salesian missionaries in Liberia and Sierra Leone went door to door providing education on Ebola and passing out prevention materials. Salesian missionaries also continue to provide ongoing support, shelter and education to Ebola orphans, those children who have lost parents, and for some, their entire families, as a result of the deadly disease.

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ANS – Spain – “In the midst of calamities, we reassert our commitment to the poor”

World Humanitarian Day 2015

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As of the beginning of April, there were no new cases of Ebola reported in Liberia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since the outbreak started, WHO has reported more than 9,712 confirmed Ebola cases and 4,332 deaths from the virus in the country. Across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana, more than 800 healthcare personnel have been infected with Ebola and nearly 500 have died since the epidemic began. The WHO has noted that this will have devastating implications for the long-term health of these countries.

Before schools officially reopened in Liberia, Salesian missionaries provided Ebola prevention information and teacher training in preparation for the return to school. School buildings and classrooms were thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. A team of educators with the National Catholic Task Force led by Sister Evelina of the St. Teresa’s Convent school in collaboration with the Catholic Education Secretariat, conducted two separate trainings for 528 teachers from 28 Catholic schools located in Montserrado, Bomi, Gbarpolu, Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties.

The first training, conducted during the emergency phase of the response, focused on basic facts and awareness surrounding Ebola prevention. The second training was for select groups of teachers to become Ebola trainers. These teacher trainers provided Ebola prevention workshops and awareness programs for students and other teachers once the schools reopened in February. A guide on Ebola prevention which will serve as a reference for Ebola prevention in schools was circulated among Catholic schools, including Salesian schools in the country.

Now that schools are open and classes have resumed, Salesian missionaries are getting back to the important work of establishing a regular routine for their students. The recent shipment of food aid resulting from the partnership between Salesian Missions and Stop Hunger Now is providing nutritious meals to students each day to help them focus on their studies and improve their overall health. In addition, Salesian programs are helping children get back to school by providing financial assistance to more than 100 families to help them pay school fees.

“Feeding programs like the one in Liberia are helping to meet the needs of the massive number of children around the globe who are hungry today,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Meals children receive at Salesian schools may be their only meals. This food not only encourages them to attend school, it allows them to focus on getting the education they need without worrying about where their next meal will come from. Children cannot learn on an empty stomach.”

Through ongoing partnerships like the ones with Feed My Starving Children and Stop Hunger Now, Salesian Missions is able to deliver life-saving food aid and other supplies to those most in need.

“Salesian missionaries are an integral part of the existing infrastructure in many countries and Salesian Missions plays an important role in making sure aid from the United States reaches its destination country and gets into the hands of those who need it most,” adds. Fr Hyde.

Salesian missionaries have also turned their attention to helping Ebola orphans. Missionaries in Liberia report close to 530 children who have lost both of their parents to Ebola and another 153 who have lost either their father or mother to the virus across the three West African countries affected. Salesian programs are working to unite orphans with relatives or educational programs and orphanages that will help to provide ongoing care and education. Other Salesian programs are already in the process of providing food, medical care and education to Ebola orphans.

Headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, Salesian Missions has launched an Ebola Emergency Fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign and is issuing an urgent appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/ebola to give.

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World Health Organization Ebola Crisis

The post LIBERIA: Food Aid Provides Returning Students Nutritious Meals Thanks to Salesian Missions Partnership with Feed My Starving Children first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Salesian missionaries report more than 530 children who have lost both of their parents to Ebola and another 153 who have lost either their father or mother to the virus across the three affected West African countries. Salesian missionaries living and working in Sierra Leone have been responding with preventative education, food aid, medical supplies and other assistance since the outbreak began.

© 2015 / UNICEF / Kamara

The Salesian-run Don Bosco Fambul in Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, is one of the country’s leading child-welfare organizations and has been on the forefront of efforts to help prevent Ebola in local communities and provide care for children left orphaned.

With assistance from the Catholic non-governmental development organization, Manos Unidas of Spain, Salesian missionaries at Don Bosco Fambul have recently transformed a school into a home for 120 boys orphaned by Ebola. This unique interim care center for orphans on the Don Bosco Fambul campus meets the children’s basic needs while also providing schooling and education on health and hygiene. Precautions around health and hygiene, including a focus on preventative measures, are extremely stringent since the orphans have all been in contact with people infected by Ebola.

“Because the Ebola virus has an incubation period of 21 days, sometimes it is thought initially that the children are not infected, and some have even come with false certifications of a clean bill of health but it may be just that the symptoms have not yet appeared,” says Father Jorge Crisafulli, Provincial of the Salesians in English-speaking West Africa. “All the boys who come to us, no matter where they come from, pass an initial period in quarantine cared for by nurses who have survived the virus. Their temperature is taken every three hours for the entire twenty-one days and any change is recorded immediately.”

The interim care center has a designated isolation area called Zone A which is a quarantined tent where up to 60 boys stay for their first 21 days at the interim care center. Strict preventative health protocols are enforced within this area such as a special handle to turn water on and off in the shower to ensure that no one is touching anything that has been touched by someone else.

The goal of the interim care center is to eventually reunite the boys with extended family that can care for them such as aunts, uncles and grandparents.

“When a child comes to us and is proven to be healthy, social workers and volunteers from Sierra Leone go to his village of origin to find someone of his extended family, so that he can return to them,” adds Fr. Crisafulli. “But this is not always possible, either because no one is left alive or because their families do not want to take care of the child.”

Often, Salesian missionaries at Don Bosco Fambul run into complications when trying to place boys with extended family such as struggles over land rights.

“One of the serious problems that we have encountered is that sometimes the extended family does not want the child because they want to keep the land of the dead parents that rightfully belongs to the child survivor. So they refuse. They say the child is a witch or a wizard and that it is their fault that the family died, and then they keep the land that rightfully belongs to the young person. For that reason, we have hired lawyers who take care of these problems, so that these children will have a future,” explains Fr. Crisafulli.

Boys who do not have extended family to go to are able to stay at Don Bosco Fambul, attend school and participate in activities such as music, dance and organized games. Counseling is also available to help them successfully transition into adulthood.

Headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, Salesian Missions has launched an Ebola Emergency Fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign and is issuing an urgent appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/ebola to give.

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Sources:

ANS – Sierra Leone – Post-Ebola: we share responsibility

UNICEF Report

World Health Organization – Ebola Stats Week of March 22

Don Bosco Fambul in Sierra Leone

The post SIERRA LEONE: Salesian Missionaries are Caring for 120 Orphans in Wake of Ebola Crisis first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Salesian missionaries report close to 530 children who have lost both of their parents to Ebola and another 153 who have lost either their father or mother to the virus across the three affected West African countries. Salesian missionaries living and working in Sierra Leone have been responding with preventative education, food aid, medical supplies and other assistance since the outbreak began.

The Salesian-run Don Bosco Fambul in Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, is one of the country’s leading child-welfare organizations and has been on the forefront of efforts to help prevent Ebola in local communities and provide care for children left orphaned. Promoting the welfare of children is a top priority for staff at Don Bosco Fambul as they work to tackle issues affecting street children, in particular educating them on Ebola prevention. Social workers from the organization have been meeting with homeless children on the streets of Freetown in the evenings while other staff offer group counseling, mediation and family tracing services in an effort to return children to their relatives. Following the outbreak of the disease, Don Bosco Fambul provided much-needed items for children affected, including those living in quarantined homes.

“This is a very scary and traumatic time for these children,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Overcoming this deadly disease only to find they have lost parents, siblings and other relatives is devastating for them. In the coming weeks and months, Salesian missionaries will be working to ensure proper shelter and care is provided to children now orphaned as a result of the Ebola outbreak.”

Recently, fortified rice-meals have been donated to Don Bosco Fambul to help feed orphans of the Ebola epidemic thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Feed My Starving Children, a non-profit Christian organization committed to, “feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.”

Starvation is a concern in the affected countries. According to reports from Salesian aid workers in the field, as a result of the Ebola epidemic, many of the local markets have been shuttered and many farmers have died. Children who could previously count on at least one meal a day at Salesian schools are left hungry because the government ordered schools to be closed for the last several months in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

The most recent shipment of emergency food aid has allowed Salesian missionaries to provide meals for more than 150 poor youth three times a week. Many of the children relying on the food aid have few options to turn to for meals and are very hungry. Without proper nutrition children are more susceptible to getting sick and at a faster rate.

With the decrease in Ebola infections (Sierra Leone currently has 117 cases), schools in the country are expected to reopen in March. Government officials report that much still needs to be done to disinfect the schools and provide training and resources to teachers. Teachers will be trained to use thermometers to take the temperatures of students and other staff members and chlorinated water buckets will be made available in all schools.

Headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, Salesian Missions has launched an Ebola Emergency Fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign and is issuing an urgent appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/ebola to give.

Sources

Reuters – Sierra Leone to reopen schools in March as Ebola infections slow

WHO – Ebola Situation Report January 2015

The post SIERRA LEONE: Recent Food Aid Shipment is Nourishing Youth Affected by Ebola Thanks to Salesian Missions Partnership with Feed My Starving Children first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Salesian missionaries, already living and working in the country, are part of the National Catholic Task Force which has been responding to Ebola since it began with the first Liberian case in March 2014. By October, the virus had spread to all 15 counties of Liberia and since then, the number of cases reported have overwhelmed health facilities and workers forcing many hospitals to close down. According to WHO, Liberia has been hard-hit with more than 3,500 confirmed deaths of Ebola.

The Salesian-run Mother Patern College of Health Sciences, one of five colleges that make up the Stella Maris Polytechnic University in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, has been on the front lines of the Ebola crisis with all 63 of its staff reassigned to address the Ebola outbreak. The college administers programs in health education and HIV/AIDS, offers courses in primary health care and degrees in nursing, social work, laboratory technology and biology.

Salesian missionaries have been providing education about Ebola and preventative measures through various programs throughout Liberia. In addition, fortified rice-meals and boxes of hand soap have been donated to Salesian programs in the country thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Stop Hunger Now, an international relief organization that provides food and life‐saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable.

The shipments of food aid and boxes of hand soap helped to provide emergency assistance to those affected by Ebola, particularly the young and the poor. The contents of the shipment are being shared among organizations that make up the National Catholic Task Force, including Salesian missionaries.

“Because of the Ebola epidemic, shops have closed, rice production is down and the price of food has risen in the affected countries leaving many at risk of starvation,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The partnership with Stop Hunger Now allows us to feed those most in need while providing us necessary supplies to help prevent the further spread of Ebola. The donation also provided us with another avenue to reach people to educate them about Ebola, the risk factors and preventative measures, to help stop the spread of the disease.”

Now that the transmission of Ebola has slowed, Salesian missionaries are turning their attention to educating and preparing teachers for the re-opening of schools. School buildings and classrooms are being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and educators are taking part in training about Ebola. So far, a team of educators with the National Catholic Task Force led by Sister Evelina of the St. Teresa’s Convent school, in collaboration with the Catholic Education Secretariat, has conducted two separate trainings for 528 teachers from 28 Catholic schools located in Montserrado, Bomi, Gbarpolu, Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties.

The first training, conducted during the emergency phase of the response, focused on basic facts and awareness surrounding Ebola prevention. The second training, happening now, is for select groups of teachers to become Ebola trainers who, once schools re-open in February, will provide Ebola prevention workshops and awareness programs for teachers and students. A guide on Ebola prevention will be circulated among Catholic schools, including Salesian schools, and will serve as a reference for Ebola prevention in schools.

Salesian missionaries have also turned their attention to helping Ebola orphans. Missionaries in Liberia report close to 530 children who have lost both of their parents to Ebola and another 153 who have lost either their father or mother to the virus across the three West African countries affected. Salesian programs are working to connect orphans with other relatives or with educational programs and orphanages that will help to provide ongoing care and education. Other Salesian programs are already in the process of providing for the basic needs of Ebola orphans including food, medical care and education.

Headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, Salesian Missions has launched an Ebola Emergency Fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign and is issuing an urgent appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/ebola to give.

Sources

Reuters – Liberia aims to be Ebola-free by end-February as cases fall to 10

Salesians Response to Ebola (Video)

The post LIBERIA: Schools Planning to Re-Open in February, Salesian Missionaries are Preparing and Responding with Teacher Education first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola epidemic a global health emergency. Salesian missionaries already living and working in communities in Liberia have been providing food aid and education about Ebola while disseminating protective clothing including long-sleeve shirts and cleaning and disinfecting agents such as chlorine.

Recent figures indicate that awareness and prevention campaigns to combat the spread of the Ebola are showing some early signs of progress. According to the WHO, in recent days, there has been a slight decrease in the number of reported cases of Ebola in Liberia. However, the risk remains high with the most recent figures showing that there have been 13,676 cases of Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three hardest hit countries, and 4,910 deaths from the disease.

A recent Stop Hunger Now shipment of food aid and 48 boxes of hand soap is helping to provide emergency assistance to those affected by Ebola, particularly the young and the poor. The contents of the shipment are being shared among organizations that make up the National Catholic Task Force, including Salesian missionaries, which have come together to address the Ebola crisis.

“Because of the Ebola epidemic, shops have closed, rice production is down and the price of food has risen in the affected countries and many people are at risk of starvation,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The partnership with Stop Hunger Now allows us to feed those most in need and provides us other necessary supplies to help prevent the further spread of Ebola.”

Education is an important step in stopping the spread of the disease. Salesian missionaries in Liberia have gone door to door providing education on Ebola and passing out prevention materials to over 5,000 people. They have also distributed 500 bags of rice and 5,000 liters of oil to families in need and people and entire communities in isolation or quarantine.

“People at risk are not properly informed,” added Fr. Hyde. “The Stop Hunger Now donation provides another avenue for us to reach people to educate them about Ebola, the risk factors and preventative measures, to help stop the spread of the disease.”

This is the second Stop Hunger Now shipment to Liberia coordinated by Salesian Missions. The first, in October, contained rice meals as well as medical protective gear including gloves, masks and gowns. Salesian missionaries in the country note the need for more medical supplies and assistance for those providing care. With recent aid arriving from countries like the United States, France and England, more medical centers are being built for people infected with Ebola and more beds are becoming available. However, the need is still great. The WHO estimates that Liberia needs about 3,000 beds for the treatment of Ebola but currently has only 620 beds. In addition, there is a shortage of doctors, health care workers and equipment to run the treatment centers. Health-care workers have been particularly hard hit by the disease with 521 infected and 272 dead.

Salesian missionaries in Liberia continue to focus on providing lifesaving emergency aid to those in need while working with community leaders to help with Ebola prevention and treatment efforts.

Headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, Salesian Missions has launched an Ebola Emergency Fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign and is issuing an urgent appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/ebola to give.

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Sources:

ANS – Liberia – Update on situation in Monrovia 

WHO – Ebola Liberia

The post LIBERIA: Emergency Food Aid, Hand Soap Reaches Ebola-Affected Communities through Partnership Between Salesian Missions and Stop Hunger Now first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The rate of Ebola in Sierra Leone is on the rise with the number infected with the virus each day nine times higher than it was two months ago, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO data in early November shows that there have been 4,862 cases of Ebola with 1,130 deaths in Sierra Leone alone. Transmission also appears to be increasing rapidly in Freetown, the capital city, where the average number of daily cases is six times higher than two months ago. The WHO says Ebola transmission remains widespread and intense across West Africa including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The virus has so far infected over 13,000 people and claimed at least 4,951 lives.

Starvation is a concern in the affected countries. A new bulletin on the economic impact of Ebola from the International Growth Centre (IGC) has warned that the number of rice traders in some areas of Sierra Leone affected by Ebola has fallen by almost 70 percent. According to reports from Salesian aid workers in the field, local markets have been shuttered and many farmers have died. Children who could previously count on at least one meal a day at Salesian schools are left hungry because schools have been ordered closed by the government in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

“Because of the Ebola health crisis, the price of food has risen in some areas and many people are at risk of starvation, especially orphaned children who are no longer in the care of their parents and other relatives” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The partnership with Stop Hunger Now allows us to feed those most in need and provides us other necessary supplies to help prevent the further spread of Ebola.”

The most recent shipment of emergency food aid has allowed Salesian missionaries to provide meals for more than 150 poor youth three times a week. Many of the children relying on the food aid have few options to turn to for meals and are very hungry. The lack of proper nutrition has left them susceptible to getting sick and at a faster rate. Salesian missionaries are also providing education about Ebola and medicated soap for preventive measures.

The Salesian Missions partnership with Stop Hunger Now was developed in 2011 and since that time, 58 shipping containers, including more than 16 million rice meals, have been successfully delivered to 19 countries around the globe. Recent Stop Hunger Now shipments have provided food aid and emergency medical supplies to Salesian missionaries working to help Ebola victims and their families in Sierra Leone and Liberia. These donations provided an avenue for educational workshops about Ebola prevention and preparedness.

Salesian-run Don Bosco Fambul, one of Sierra Leone’s leading child-welfare organizations, has been on the forefront of the efforts to help prevent Ebola in local communities and provide care for those children left orphaned. Promoting the welfare of children has remained a top priority for staff at Don Bosco Fambul as they work to tackle issues affecting street children, in particular educating them on Ebola prevention. Social workers from the organization have been meeting with homeless children on the streets of Freetown in the evenings while other staff offer group counseling, mediation and family tracing services in an effort to return children to their relatives. Following the outbreak of the disease, Don Bosco Fambul has provided much-needed items for children affected, including those living in quarantined homes.

“There are more than 1,560 children in quarantine because they have lost their parents or because they have been rejected by their families,” says Father Crisafulli, provincial of the Salesian province of English-speaking West Africa. “They are children who have experienced trauma such as the loss of family members, have been discriminated against, separated from their families and in some cases, accused of being the cause of evil. Although Salesians remain focused, it has not been easy to start a center for children orphaned by Ebola.”

Headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, Salesian Missions has launched an Ebola Emergency Fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign and is issuing an urgent appeal for donations. Go to www.SalesianMissions.org/ebola to give.

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Sources

International Growth Centre – Economic Impact of Ebola

WHO – Sierra Leone Ebola Outbreak 

The post SIERRA LEONE: Food Aid Helps Ebola Orphans Thanks to Partnership between Salesian Missions and Stop Hunger Now first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Salesian missionaries already living and working in affected West African regions, including Sierra Leone, are working with local communities to provide food aid and education about Ebola while disseminating protective clothing including long-sleeve shirts and cleaning and disinfecting agents such as chlorine. Missionaries are also working to care for the children who have been affected by the outbreak, many of whom have lost parents to the disease.

Recently, Salesian-run Don Bosco Fambul, one of Sierra Leone’s leading child-welfare organizations, provided twenty mobile hand washing basins to Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs for use in Freetown. The mobile hand washing basins are fitted with taps and hygiene-related products. Brother Lothar Wagner, director of Don Bosco Fambul, noted that the mobile hand washing basins will be placed in strategic locations around Freetown to act as a reminder that good hygiene practices are some of the best methods to prevent the contraction of the Ebola virus.

Promoting the welfare of children is a top priority for staff at Don Bosco Fambul as they work to tackle issues affecting street children, in particular educating them on Ebola prevention. Social workers from the organization have been meeting with homeless children on the streets of Freetown in the evenings while other staff offer group counseling, mediation and family tracing services in an effort to return children to their relatives. Following the outbreak of the disease, Don Bosco Fambul provided much-needed items for children affected, including those living in quarantined homes.

“There are more than 1,560 children in quarantine because they have lost their parents or because they have been rejected by their families,” says Father Crisafulli, provincial of the Salesian province of English-speaking West Africa. “They are children who have experienced trauma such as the loss of family members, have been discriminated against, separated from their families and in some cases, accused of being the cause of evil. Although Salesians remain focused, it has not been easy to start a center for children orphaned by Ebola.”

Salesian missionaries are noting the spread of Ebola in places that were once free of the deadly disease and are recognizing the need for medical supplies and emergency food aid after having reported the deaths of 15 people in Tikonko, a village in the Bo District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Residents of the village are poor and have no medical supplies or knowledge of the disease or how to prevent it.

Salesian Missions has launched an emergency fund to assist Salesian missionaries in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are working to help contain the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. To raise money for the fund, the Catholic nonprofit aid organization is issuing an urgent appeal for donations.

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Sources

ANS – Sierra Leone – Don Bosco donates mobile hand-wash basins to Children’s Ministry

ANS – Sierra Leone – Ebola out of control: 80 new cases a day

WHO – Sierra Leone Ebola Outbreak 

The post SIERRA LEONE: Don Bosco Fambul Donates Mobile Hand Washing Basins to Help Prevent Spread of Ebola first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Close to 35 percent of El Salvador’s population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Youth in the country are confronted not only with poverty, but with instability, high levels of violence and inadequate access to educational opportunities. Despite ranking high for economic indicators, the need for practical education is more important than ever with 12 percent of youth ages 15-24 unemployed and 41 percent underemployed.

El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in Central America, along with Honduras and Guatemala. The murder rate in El Salvador rose more than 44 percent in the beginning months of 2014, when compared to the same time last year. Gang violence is a leading cause of violence in the country and it’s estimated that some 60,000 young people have gang affiliation. Gang involvement often offers a sense of belonging and a sense of family that counters the lack of education and employment opportunities offered in the country.

Don Bosco University is working to provide opportunities for advanced education and employment for disadvantaged youth in El Salvador. The university offers degrees in engineering, social sciences, humanities, economics, technology and aeronautics, among others. The donated furniture, shipped late last year in preparation for a new faculty building, was installed in October. The furniture will help provide students and faculty a better working and learning environment.

In addition to this donation, Salesian programs around the globe have received school and office furniture as well as workstations thanks to the partnership between Salesian Missions and IRN. In recent months, IRN has sent shipments of furniture and workstations to Salesian sites in Haiti, the Philippines, Liberia and the Dominican Republic. Additional shipments have been sent to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and Togo.

“IRN donations have furnished Salesian schools and development offices in Central America, South America, Africa and Asia,” explains Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer for Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “We plan to continue working with IRN because they are a reliable partner who is eager to assist in our mission and provide quality donations to our programs.”

Salesians are known for their education programs for youth around the globe. With countless elementary, secondary and university level educational centers as well as training and certification programs, Salesians are helping to provide a direct path out of poverty for many youth and their families. Programs rely on donations such as those provided by IRN to keep facilities functional for students and staff.

The Institution Recycling Network was started in 1999 to match surplus items that need to be recycled with organizations and people who need them. Every educational, commercial and healthcare organization in the U.S. has surplus furniture and equipment. Hundreds of millions of people living in poverty or recovering from natural disasters worldwide are in desperate need of the kinds of surplus goods these very organizations are discarding. IRN makes the match and facilitates the distribution of the surplus into the hands of the organizations and people who need it most.

“There is a clear match between Salesian Missions’ need for furniture and equipment for their worldwide projects, and the supplies of surplus to which IRN has access,” says Mark Lennon, principal of the Institution Recycling Network. “Salesian Missions has been an excellent partner.”

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Sources:

Don Bosco University El Salvador

World Bank – El Salvador

Institution Recycling Network

The post EL SALVADOR: University Students, Faculty Benefit from Furniture Donated by Institution Recycling Network first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The ILO launched the World Day Against Child Labor in 2002. Each year on June 12, the day brings together governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, civil society and millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child laborers and what can be done to help them.

The movement is succeeding in its ambitious goals. In the late 1990s, the estimated number of children in various forms of child labor was nearly 250 million. Today, that figure has dropped to 168 million. The decline has particularly benefitted girls; total child labor among girls has fallen by 40 percent since 2000, compared to a drop of 25 percent for boys.

Child labor is defined as work that is hazardous to a child’s health, education, or physical or mental development. Too often, it traps children in a cycle of poverty. Too many children in the world still work instead of going to school. For example, an estimated 98 million children worldwide work in agriculture. Children harvest tobacco, cocoa, rubber and other global commodities. Children also work in dangerous industries like shipbreaking in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and in services such as construction and restaurant work. However, the U.S. Government has made a substantial contribution to ending this vicious cycle for tens of millions of children.

What have we learned about what works?

Social mobilization and awareness-raising: Like so many of the world’s ‘wicked’ problems, addressing child labor requires a concerted effort by multiple stakeholders acting together. Work to promote awareness of child labor among citizens and consumers in developed countries, and among families and communities in developing countries where children are at risk, has proven to be an important part of the solution. U.S. Government agencies, in particular the U.S. Department of Labor, have produced important reports documenting the issues thoroughly. Recognizing that raising public awareness also requires compelling photo and video documentation, in the mid-2000s USAID supported the creation of a photo and video repository, in particular to document conditions faced by girls. This material was ultimately turned into a film, Stolen Childhoods. The film documented not only the problem but examples of what interventions could help working children – such as a new USAID-supported schoolhouse in communities of coffee pickers in Kenya, creating opportunities for children who had been working on coffee farms to attend school for the first time.

Another very important part of the solution is mobilizing communities and empowering them to work at a grassroots level on practical solutions to address root causes of child labor. For example, through our Global Labor Program, USAID has helped workers in the rubber sector in Liberia to organize, mobilize and negotiate with their employer to end exploitative wage practices that compelled rubber tappers to bring their children to work. In the early 2000s, the problem of child labor on the world’s largest rubber plantation in Liberia came to light. Adult tappers were compelled to bring their entire families to work with them just to meet their daily quotas. Following the exposure of this problem, a transnational campaign emerged, linking civil-society organizations and trade unions in Liberia with consumer, labor and human rights groups in the United States. Through USAID’s Global Labor Program, the Solidarity Center was able to work directly with rubber workers in Liberia and assist them to organize, join unions and negotiate better wages and working conditions for themselves and their families. Today, thanks to the combination of effective awareness-raising, campaigning in the United States and the work of trade unions in Liberia to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, there is a school on the rubber plantation where all children attend school while their parents, the adult workers, are paid a living wage.

Businesses are also an important part of the solution to the child labor problem. Awareness-raising campaigns have succeeded in flagging this as a business issue for many companies worldwide in many industries, and those companies and industries are working on innovative new approaches to ensuring their supply chains do not exploit workers. Goodweave is one of the best-known examples of a program effectively addressing child labor in a sector where it was endemic, the carpet-weaving sector in India. Goodweave is a certification system that works with retailers, rug importers and exporters, and looms to ensure that child labor is not used in carpet production. The program is active in the ‘carpet belt’ of India and Nepal, and recently extended into Afghanistan. The program provides educational transition programs and works with schools to ensure that children that are found working receive the assistance and support they need to go to school. By building awareness about the widespread use of child labor in the rug industry and creating an effective market-based solution, GoodWeave is ending child labor one rug at a time. Since 1995, 11 million child labor free carpets bearing the GoodWeave label have been sold worldwide, and the number of ‘carpet kids’ has dropped from 1 million to 250,000. GoodWeave’s work in Afghanistan is supported by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Finally, governments also have a very critical role to play in addressing child labor, through their role in establishing laws and policies to protect children, and equally important, their role in ensuring that all children have access to basic education. USAID’s Education Strategy is working to increase access to education for all children worldwide, and in particular for children in crisis and conflict environments. To achieve these goals, USAID is committed to working closely with host country governments and civil society to contribute to shared goals. For example, we are supporting a multi-million dollar initiative in Haiti, Room to Learn, that is working to provide universal, compulsory access to education in Haiti. USAID works closely with the Government of Haiti to build up the education system and provide safe, equitable education to children. USAID and the Government of Haiti are planning to work together to offer schooling to working children. Last March, USAID Assistant Administrator Eric Postel visited Haiti to set priorities for the design of the program. Postel visited an evening school for working children with former Minister of Education Vanneur Pierre. A study commissioned by the USAID/Haiti’s education office estimated more than 24,000 children work as domestic servants. Most of them are teenage girls whose education level is low. The Room to Learn project will work with the Haitian Ministry to offer improved services for these girls.

This year’s theme for World Day is Social Protection: Keeping Children Out of Work. This theme builds on last year’s World Report on Child Labor [PDF]. As we learn more and more about the root causes of child labor, we also are moving further back toward addressing those causes and preventing child labor from taking place at all. We now know that poverty and shocks play a significant role in driving children into work, and also in driving adults into forced and trafficked labor. Development assistance will have a very significant role to play in addressing these issues. With more support for social protection programs that have been proven to play an effective role in helping poor families cope with various types of shocks, we can keep even more children in school and continue to ensure children receive other basic protections.

Support for the World Day grows every year and today we look forward to even wider support from governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, NGOs and civil society, international and regional organizations and active citizens worldwide. You can add your voice to the millions worldwide that will celebrate our continued progress toward ending child labor.

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Posted by Bama Athreya on Thursday, June 12th 2014

Photo © U. Roberto Romano

See this Article at its original location >

The post USAID: Ending Child Labor first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Those living in rural areas make up close to 75 percent of the country’s poor and the World Bank classifies Liberia as a low-income, food-deficit country, reporting that half of the population is food-insecure or highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Orphans, street children and adolescent ex-combatants often find themselves on their own facing adult responsibilities with little support and no education.

Salesians have been working in Liberia since starting a vocational institute there in 1979. Since then, Salesians in the country have been developing programs with a focus on providing youth with the education and skills necessary to transform their lives and their country.

Recently, Salesian-run Don Bosco Technical High School and Mary Help of Christians Catholic High School, both located in the capital city of Monrovia, received desks, chairs and other furniture thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and the Institution Recycling Network (IRN). More than 1000 students at both schools benefited from the new furniture in their classrooms, libraries, laboratories and school offices.

“The children have comfortable tables and chairs to use and students, especially those in the elementary grades, are very happy with the improvement,” says Father Sony Joseph Pottenplackal, rector and principal of Don Bosco Technical High School. “The furniture has contributed greatly to their discipline and learning environment, and has brought a smile to the faces of many of the young students. This has been a great contribution to the school.”

Desks and chairs help to provide a more dignified and organized educational environment for students to complete their studies. As a result, students are often more focused on their classroom work and more prepared for their lessons.

Salesian Missions’ partnership with IRN has provided valuable furniture to equip Salesian classrooms, offices and administrative buildings around the world, including desks, bookshelves, workstations, chairs, whiteboards, filing cabinets, auditorium seating and more.

“There was a clear match between Salesian Missions’ need for furniture and equipment for their worldwide projects, and the supplies of surplus to which IRN has access,” says Mark Lennon, principal of the Institution Recycling Network. “Salesian Missions has been an excellent partner.”

The Institution Recycling Network was started in 1999 to match surplus items that need to be recycled with organizations and people who need them. Every education, commercial, and healthcare organization in the U.S. has surplus furniture and equipment they need to get rid of. Hundreds of millions of people living in poverty or recovering from natural disasters worldwide are in desperate need of the kinds of surplus goods these very organizations are discarding. IRN makes the match and facilitates the distribution of the surplus into the hands of the organizations and people who need it most.

IRN partners with nonprofits who are known to be reputable and effective providers of relief and development assistance, and who are able to use the types of surplus that IRN can provide. The organization has a “wish list” from each of its nonprofit partners of the types and quantities of surplus they can use.

In addition to the donation in Liberia, IRN has sent shipments of furniture and workstations to Salesian sites in Haiti, Guatemala, the Philippines, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Togo as well as other sites around the globe.

“IRN donations have furnished Salesian schools and development offices in Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia,” explains Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer for Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “We plan to continue working with IRN because they are a reliable partner who is eager to assist in our mission and provide quality donations to our programs.”

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Sources

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Liberia

The post LIBERIA: More Than 1,000 Students Benefit from New School Furniture first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Those living in rural areas make up for close to 75 percent of the country’s poor and the World Bank classifies Liberia as a low-income, food-deficit country, reporting that half of the population is food-insecure or highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Orphans, street children and adolescent ex-combatants often find themselves on their own facing adult responsibilities with little support and no education.

Salesians have been working in Liberia since starting a vocational institute there in 1979. Since then, Salesians in the country have been developing programs with a focus on providing youth with the education and skills necessary to transform their lives and their country.

Recently, four Salesian programs in the capital city of Monrovia received donations from individuals, Salesian volunteer programs and Catholic schools that have helped more than 2,300 students and their families. The donations ranged from carpentry tools, clothing, textbooks and school supplies, including school desks and chairs.

“Salesian Missions accepts donations from individuals, businesses and other organizations and our donors work hard to provide donations that best fit the needs of youth in Salesian programs around the globe,” says Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs. “These particular donations came from many sources but we were able to coordinate all the items and send one large container to the Salesian programs in Liberia to help enhance the learning environment for students there.”

One recipient of a donation of student textbooks was the Salesian-run Mother Patern College of Health Sciences at Stella Maris Polytechnic. The college provides degrees in several disciplines in the health and science fields and graduates go on to be lab technicians, nurses, physician’s assistants, social workers and nursing educators. More than 400 students received the donated textbooks to assist them in their studies.

Another recipient was the St. Theresa Convent School where 1,100 students benefited from donated school desks, chairs and textbooks. A sander, table saw, wood planters and other carpentry materials were donated to a third recipient, the Don Bosco Technical High School, where more than 500 students benefited. These two Salesian-run educational facilities provide poor youth with secondary education and training, enabling them to join the workforce or go on to college.

A Salesian-run HIV/AIDS program was the recipient of a fourth donation. The program is designed to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS and the its risks through training and outreach actives. People living with HIV/AIDS can access the program for treatment that includes home based care and support groups for emotional and social support. The donation provided clothing to 300 people living with the disease and their families.

“Our partnerships with donors are very important to us,” says O’Connor. “The carpentry materials, textbooks and schools supplies help to enrich the educational experience for youth in Salesian schools who are there to learn skills that will enable them to gain the education they need to find and retain stable employment.”

Whether working to provide rehabilitation to former child soldiers or assisting young women overcome barriers to education, Salesian programs in Liberia are providing youth the opportunity to live up to their potential through both academic and social programs.

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Sources:

Stella Maris Polytechnic/ Mother Patern College of Health Sciences

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Poverty in Liberia

The post LIBERIA: Donations Help Support Education and Health for More Than 2,300 Students and Families first appeared on MissionNewswire.

“IRN donations have furnished Salesian schools and development offices in Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia,” explains Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer for Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “We plan to continue working with IRN because they are a reliable partner who is eager to assist in our mission and provide quality donations to our programs.”

The Salesians are known for their education programs for youth around the globe. With countless elementary, secondary and university level educational centers as well as youth training and certification programs, the Salesians help to provide a direct path out of poverty for many youth and their families. Programs rely on donations such as those provided by IRN to keep facilities functional for students and staff.

The Institution Recycling Network was started in 1999 to match surplus items that need to be recycled with organizations and people who need them. Every education, commercial, and healthcare organization in the U.S. has surplus furniture and equipment they need to get rid of. Hundreds of millions of people living in poverty or recovering from natural disasters worldwide are in desperate need of the kinds of surplus goods these very organizations are discarding. IRN makes the match and facilitates the distribution of the surplus into the hands of the organizations and people who need it most.

“There was a clear match between Salesian Missions’ need for furniture and equipment for their worldwide projects, and the supplies of surplus to which IRN has access,” says Mark Lennon, principal of the Institution Recycling Network. “Salesian Missions has been an excellent partner.”

IRN partners with nonprofits who are known to be reputable and effective providers of relief and development assistance, and who are able to use the types of surplus that IRN can provide. The organization has a “wish list” from each of its nonprofit partners of the types and quantities of surplus they can use.

When a project comes to IRN, it makes a match against these wish lists and offers the surplus to the most appropriate nonprofits. At this point it is first-come-first-served; the first nonprofit(s) to express interest in the surplus project is the one to receive it. In many cases a single nonprofit will claim the entire project but in some cases, the surplus will be split among two or more nonprofits.

“There is almost infinite demand in the U.S. and worldwide for good quality surplus so IRN’s surplus program will continue to grow,” says Lennon. “The school or company that supplies the surplus pays IRN for the service of matching their surplus with our nonprofit network. In almost all cases they pay IRN much less than they would pay to bring in dumpsters and throw the surplus away.”

There is a three pronged benefit to the work that IRN does. The generating organizations profit by disposing of their surplus for less than the cost of throwing it away, while the recipient organizations profit from a very low cost source of quality furniture and equipment. Impoverished and disaster-stricken people benefit from furniture and equipment they otherwise would have no access to. And finally, the planet benefits from reuse of important resources.

“We know of no other organization in the country other than IRN that is able to match large quantities of surplus with qualified recipients, and then manage the entire project to remove and load the surplus for shipment,” adds Lennon.

About Institution Recycling Network (IRN)

IRN is headquartered in Concord, NH and is a cooperative recycling organization that works with more than 350 colleges and universities, hospitals, K-12 schools and private companies to improve the performance and economics of recycling. IRN negotiates transportation, processing and marketing of recycled commodities and provides a single point of contact to recycle dozens of different materials. IRN handles over 75 commodities – everything from cardboard and fluorescent lamps to concrete and Astroturf. IRN is known particularly for its effective recycling of unusual and complex commodities such as electronic equipment, construction and demolition wastes and surplus property. For more information about IRN, visit www.IRNSurplus.com.

About Salesian Missions

Salesian Missions is headquartered in New Rochelle, NY. The mission of the U.S.-based nonprofit Catholic organization is to raise funds for its international programs that serve youth and families in poor communities around the globe. The Salesian missionaries are made up of priests, brothers and sisters, as well as laypeople – all dedicated to caring for poor youth throughout the world in more than 130 countries, helping them become self-sufficient by learning a trade that will help them gain employment. To date, more than 3 million young people have received services funded by Salesian Missions. To learn more visit www.salesianmissions.org.

The post GLOBAL: Salesian Missions Partners with Institution Recycling Network, Benefitting Programs Around the Globe first appeared on MissionNewswire.

“The rise of the South is unprecedented in its speed and scale,” says the Human Development Report 2013, which uses the term “South” to mean developing countries and “North” to mean developed nations. “Never in history have the living conditions and prospects of so many people changed so dramatically and so fast.”

Meanwhile, the slowdown in economic growth, austerity measures and rampant unemployment in the industrialized world has brought pressure to bear on governments and societies in the North. Global economic and political structures are in flux and the sustainability of the growth spurt in the South is subject to the interrelated issues of governance and public investment.

The year’s report, entitled The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World, emphasizes that this change represents a global rebalancing far greater than that experienced during the Industrial Revolution, with the South becoming the main driver of economic growth and societal change for the first time in centuries.

“The Industrial Revolution was a story of perhaps 100 million people, but this is a story about billions of people,” said Khalid Malik, the report’s lead author.

The Human Development Report, released annually by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), assesses the state of human development on the basis of health, education and income indicators, as an alternative to purely macroeconomic assessments of national progress.

The initial report was published in 1990 by its authors, the late Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, and introduced a Human Development Index (HDI), which had been calculated by UN economists from 1975, and was essentially a ranking of countries based on strides made with a people-centric model of progress.

The HDI became an influential paradigm that would prod economists, government agencies, planners and development experts to rethink the income-based indicators that were in standard use to measure development success.

Launched today in Mexico City by UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, this year’s report singles out big economies which have shown significant growth over the past 20 years, namely China, India and Brazil. It estimates that by 2020, the combined output of these three countries will surpass the aggregate production of the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada.

However, the ‘rise of the South’ goes well beyond these economies as more than 40 developing countries have made greater human development gains in recent decades than what was predicted.

Countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Yemen all registered significant growth, while nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan had some of the fastest growth rates in the world with 3.9 percent and 1.7 percent over the past 12 years, respectively.

How has the South achieved such dramatic growth levels?

The report attributes many of the achievements of the South to smart national strategies that have allowed them to engage in the global economy while at the same time implementing social programmes that protect those most vulnerable.

“Economic growth alone does not automatically translate into human development progress,” Miss Clark says in the report’s foreword. Southern States are therefore not just tapping into global trade, but they are also improving health and education services, which have allowed them to sustain their growth. This comes in contrast to policies adopted by many developed countries which include austerity measures and cutting social programmes due to the economic crisis.

In Latin America, many countries have put in place programmes to eradicate poverty and address inequality such as Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, Mexico’s Oportunidades, and Chile’s Chile Solidario. These are conditional cash transfer programmes which offer to increase people’s income as long as they fulfil certain conditions such as visits to health clinics and school attendance.

This combination of policies has allowed the middle class in the South to expand and, by 2030, the report projects that more than 80 percent of the world’s middle class will reside in developing countries and account for 70 percent of total consumption expenditure.

Increasing online and mobile connectivity in the South

Increasing connectivity thanks to greater access to technology is also a factor that has contributed to the South’s growth. Globally, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico have more daily social media traffic than any country except the US. China also has more than half a billion people accessing the Internet daily through smart phones.

Indonesia, for example, invested extensively to connect its large cluster of far-flung islands to open the country to the outside world, and as of 2010, 220 million mobile phones were registered in a country of 240 million people.

In Africa, Asian-built mobile phones have made cellular banking cheaper and easier, while leading to better market performance and increased profits by small farmers, as seen in Kenya, Niger and Uganda.

Increasing incomes and the diffusion of technology have also given way to a more informed middle class that has social and political expectations, Mr. Malik said in a press briefing on Tuesday, which means that “the relationship between the State and its citizens is changing.”

He warned that if States are not mindful of these expectations, it could lead to social instability, as was the case in 2011 in various countries across the Middle East.

“The turmoil in several countries in the Arab States is a reminder that people, especially the young, who are better educated and healthier than previous generations, put a high premium on meaningful employment, on exercising a voice in affairs that influence their lives, and on being treated with respect,” the report says.

Booming South-South partnerships

The report highlights the increase in South-South trade and partnerships and projects that trade between them will overtake that between developed nations.

“Emerging partners in the developing world are already sources of innovative social and economic policies and are major trade, investment and increasingly development cooperation partners for other developing countries,” Miss Clark said.

China is already influential in Africa through trade investment as well as through assistance and cooperation. Between 1992 and 2011, China’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa rose from $1 billion to more than $140 billion.

India is increasingly playing a larger role as a supplier of affordable capital goods to other countries of the South. For instance, Indian firms are supplying affordable medicines, medical equipment and information and communications technology (ICT) products and services to many countries in Africa.

In addition, migration between developing countries has recently surpassed net migration from South to North. “In our changing world, solutions are moving across the South, not from the North to the South,” said UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Ajay Chhibber.

However, a substantial share of South-South trade is driven by demand in the North. For example, since 2007, US exports to China and Latin America and the Caribbean have grown two and a half times faster than US exports to traditional markets in the North. A growing “app economy” supported by companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google employs more than 300,000 people whose creations are exported across borders, and developing country economies continue to be sensitive to shocks in the industrialized world.

Women’s education as a silver bullet for sustainable growth

While there has been remarkable progress, the report warns that there are still many challenges ahead for countries in the South, including an aging population, environmental degradation and inequality. Poverty and inequality are particularly worrying, as an estimated 1.57 billion people, representing 30 percent of the population in the 104 countries studied for the report, still live in multidimensional poverty.

The report provides a series of recommendations and, in particular, highlights education for girls as “the closest thing to silver bullet formula for accelerating human development.”

Many of the countries in the South still have dramatic gender disparities, and their challenge will be to boost efforts to allow women to participate freely in all aspects of their society.

“Gender inequality is especially tragic not only because it excludes women from basic social opportunities, but also because it gravely imperils the life prospects of future generations,” the report says, referring to findings which correlate women’s education to greater child survival, healthier children and better access to contraception.

The report also notes that the global system will need to adjust itself to the rise of the South, which is currently largely underrepresented in global institutions. For example, China, which is the world’s second largest economy, has had a smaller voting share in the World Bank than either France or the United Kingdom.

“Stronger voices from the South are demanding more representative frameworks of international governance that embody the principles of democracy and equity.”

Meanwhile, it merits mention that not all countries in the South are racing ahead. Of the world’s 49 Least Developed Countries, many are lagging behind in this revolution. Even as some are beginning to benefit from Foreign Direct Investment of the emerging giants like China, India and Brazil, there is much more to be done in terms of development transformation.

The report observes that there are three drivers of transformation: a proactive development state, tapping of global markets and determined social policy inclusion. Looking back at the inception of the HDI, it appears that countries that started at the same level – India and Pakistan, or Chile and Venezuela, or Liberia and Senegal – have ended up with different outcomes.

“History and initial conditions matter, but they are not destiny,” according to the report.

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See this United Nations article at its original location >

Rice fields in Sichuan, China. UN Photo/John Isaac

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According to UNICEF, it is estimated that as many as 250,000 child soldiers – some as young as eight years old – are involved in more than 20 conflicts around the world. It notes that children are too frequently used as combatants, messengers, spies and cooks, and girls in particular are forced to perform sexual services. Some youth are forcibly recruited or abducted while others are driven to join by poverty, abuse and discrimination.

Millions of children, according to UNICEF, will be injured and face life long disabilities caused by armed conflicts and political violence. More will be added to their number because of the risks of landmines in areas where armed conflict has ceased. Children in war torn areas are exposed to and involved in acts of extreme violence.

The Salesians provide services to youth in war torn localities, particularly to child soldiers, bringing them hope and healing through rehabilitation programs, education and job training.

“Childhood should be a time of innocence and education,” says Fr. Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions – the U.S. arm of Salesians of Don Bosco. “But that’s not the reality for many youth around the globe living with war and recruited as child soldiers. We provide a foundation of education for them to have better lives and a productive future.”

The Salesians have a long history of making an impact in the lives of children living in war torn areas. The emotional support, education and job placement services provided play a large role in helping youth come to terms with their circumstances while preparing them for a brighter future.

Liberia: Don Bosco Rehabilitation & Skills Training Program provides youth with rehabilitative skills training and counseling. Through classes, youth can make up for the years lost as a result of the war by gaining marketable skills enabling them to contribute to rebuilding the country. Teenagers to young adults in their mid-twenties train in carpentry, masonry, agriculture, plumbing, auto mechanics, metal works, and electricity. The program was founded in 1991 through a joint initiative with UNICEF.

Sierra Leone: More than 60,000 children were orphaned or left homeless during Sierra Leone’s civil war. Don Bosco Fambul was one of the first organizations during the war to offer shelter and food to street children and continues its work today to help reverse the effects of war. Boys ages 8-15 years are invited to become part of the program, which includes food, shelter, education and counseling – all with the goal of being reunited with their families.

Uganda: Don Bosco Children & Life Mission offers hope to at risk boys, ages 8-17, through a variety of programs. Boys attend primary schools and technical education courses to learn job skills, engage in different sports activities to keep them fit and well balanced and take part in Youth Alive Club to learn about HIV/AIDS awareness and sexuality. As they grow and develop, boys move through different stages until they reach the final of goal of an independent, productive life.

Sri Lanka: Mary Help of Christians in Sri Lanka is home to 173 girls who were soldiers during the country’s civil war. They are the innocent victims of a 25-year civil war that ended in 2009 and generated more than 200,000 young refugees. Today, these girls are safe and headed on the long path to recovery. Few people realize that 40 percent of the children kidnapped by guerrilla fighters and forced to fight in the war were girls. The youngest were enslaved as maids to cook and clean for the soldiers. As they got older, the girls were forced to act as spies and informers. By the time they reached puberty, many of the girls were trapped into abusive and humiliating marriages with guerrilla leaders.

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Photo: Students of Don Bosco Fambul in Sierra Leone.

Sources:

ANS – Education, a means for peace

Salesian Missions – Our Work

UNICEF – Child Soldiers

UN – Secretary-General’s Message on the International Day of Peace

The post INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE: Salesians Provide Education as a Means of Peace for Youth first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Among the several Salesian-run programs in Liberia, the Mary Help of Christians School and the Don Bosco Youth Center both provide a foundation of education and support for young students who would otherwise have limited opportunities to better their lives.

“Our school started in 1993,” says Father Matthew Udoka, Principal of Mary Help of Christians School. “It now serves just over 560 students and includes a feeding program which serves a little over 100 of those students. This program ensures that youth in need receive a nutritious healthy meal.”

After school, from 4 to 6 p.m., students have access to the Don Bosco Youth Center. Located in the capital city of Monrovia, the center gives former child soldiers and other young people the opportunity to experience some of the joys of childhood.

“Many youth lack inherent skills and haven’t been given much of an opportunity,” explains Father Udoka. “We are here for them. This is the only youth center of its kind here in Monrovia. Youth are here to play games but also to share with one another.”

Youth can participate in recreational activities and sports. They receive recreation counseling each day in activities from chess to football. Some participate in a cultural troupe where they sing, dance, act, practice African acrobatics and even perform at local functions.

But it’s more than just play and recreation at the youth center. In addition, youth have access to vocational training and academic courses. The center also offers a women’s development program for women to learn self-reliance.

“We help youth take responsibility for their own lives,” adds Father Udoka. “We don’t want to be here to give them everything they need. We want them to take responsibility for their own lives if only in some small way.”

Sources

Salesians of Don Bosco in Libera – Video

Salesian Missions – Liberia

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Up to 300,000 children are still involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

In April 2011, the UN listed dozens of groups that continued to recruit or use children in its annual report on children and armed conflict. This bid to “name and shame” countries into cooperating with the law has only a limited effect, however. While fewer children are being used as child soldiers today, it is thanks to conflicts having ended, not the practice of recruiting and using children.

“Despite some examples of progress, the bigger picture remains essentially unaltered: the recruitment and use of boys and girls by armed groups remains widespread,” according to the latest report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in 2008.

Gender is no protection, as girls are recruited into armed groups or abducted for forced labour or sex. Age also proved no barrier; in Columbia, the FARC militia announced it would recruit all children over the age of eight, reported the UN Secretary-General in April 2011: “In one characteristic use of children, a child was used by FARC-EP to carry out an attack against a police station using explosives. The explosives were attached to the child and activated as he approached the police station, killing him instantly.”

Defenseless

“Many children have few alternatives to, or defenses against, joining armed groups,” states the 2008 Coalition report. It cited poverty, discrimination and social exclusion, lack of access to education, and limited job prospects as some of the factors pushing minors to join armed groups.

Not all children associated with armed forces are used as fighters. Minors have been seen manning checkpoints, acting as scouts and guides in battles, running errands, cooking and cleaning for forces during the Côte d’Ivoire election conflict,  according to government social workers, UN agency and NGO staff, as well as direct testimonies from children. Social workers in Duékoué, in the west, told NGO Save the Children they saw children involved whom they estimated to be as young as 11.

Suicide bombers

Children have also been made to carry explosives between Afghanistan and Pakistan, conduct military operations in the DRC, Philippines, Myanmar and Somalia, carry out arson attacks and collect kidnap ransoms in Haiti; they were used as suicide bombers in Iraq, according to the Secretary-General’s 2010 report, as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN Augustin Habyaremye was forcibly recruited into one of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) armed groups, the Mai-Mai PARECO, at 15, and tasked with quizzing local villagers about the movements of militia forces because of his knowledge of Kinyarwanda, an official language of Rwanda. He cannot remember how many skirmishes and battles he was involved in during his six years with them, but in July 2011 he managed to slip away and was brought to the demobilization camp in the eastern DRC city of Goma, in search of “a normal life”.

According to a Foreign Policy Association blog: “The use of child suicide bombers appears to be increasing, and while many children are educated and reared into this deadly fate, many are thankfully saved or removed before their actions have deadly consequences. Many have seen the images of infants and toddlers dressed in mock suicide bomber outfits in Palestine, and while they may not commit such acts when they grow up, their fate is one undoubtedly leaning towards violence.”

Laws not applied

There are various instruments outlawing the recruitment and use of children for combat in human rights law, humanitarian law, labour law and criminal law – but a chasm exists between these standards and their application. The Coalition report cites ineffective government and a lack of enforcement mechanisms as reasons why armed groups continued to operate with relative impunity.

Although child soldiers are used all over the world, the largest numbers are in Africa, despite the 1999 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the only regional treaty in the world that prohibits the use of child soldiers.

Most observers agree that the practice continues because children make for cheap and obedient fighters, easily frightened or brainwashed into compliance. The accessibility of light weaponry has also fed into the problem, making it possible for very young children to bear and use arms.

“Any country that has an active armed conflict can expect that troop-hungry commanders will use children to fill their ranks,” said professor, author and psychologist Michael Wessells in a United States Department of State webchat in June 2008.

But all agree that the most obvious reason armed forces take on children is because they can. Despite the regulations outlawing the practice, most of those who violate the conventions and international agreements are not prosecuted.

Children who have been displaced or separated from their parents, have limited access to education, or who have suffered an injustice or emotional abuse, are more vulnerable to recruitment, according to UNICEF.

Among other things, protection involves addressing these vulnerabilities, and identifying non-violent ways for them to contribute to their families and communities. Resources and capacity are particularly needed to extend education and vocational training, as well as to revive agriculture and provide other economic opportunities, according to the UN.

Demobilizing, reintegrating and rehabilitating children who have already participated in armed conflict is as difficult as protecting them. “Children who transition successfully into civilian life are less likely to continue the life of the gun, with its inherent dangers. However, instability in the post-conflict environment can put children at grave risk of re-recruitment and thwart their reintegration,” Wessells wrote in his 2006 book, Child Soldiers: from violence to protection.

The effects on children

Child soldiers are subject to ill-treatment and sexual exploitation. They are often forced to commit terrible atrocities, and beaten or killed if they try to escape. They are subjected to brutal initiation and punishment rituals, hard labour, cruel training regimes and torture. Many are given drugs and alcohol to agitate them and make it easier to break down their psychological barriers to fighting or committing atrocities.

Some speak of having been forced to witness or commit atrocities, including rape and murder. Others speak of seeing friends and family killed. Susan, 16, captures the brutalization children suffered at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda in the following testimony:

“One boy tried to escape but he was caught. His hands were tied and then they made us, the other new captives, kill him with a stick. I felt sick. I knew this boy from before; we were from the same village. I refused to do it and they told me they would shoot me. They pointed a gun at me, so I had to do it… I see him in my dreams and he is saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying.”

“Fighting groups have developed brutal and sophisticated techniques to separate and isolate children from their communities. Children are often terrorized into obedience, consistently made to fear for their lives and well-being,” wrote the UN’s Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. “Sometimes they are compelled to participate in the killing of other children or family members, because it is understood by these groups that there is ‘no way back home’ for children after they have committed such crimes.”

Many child soldiers report psycho-social disturbances – from nightmares and aggression that is difficult to control to strongly anti-social behavior and substance abuse – both during their involvement in war and after their return to civilian life. Others, who held high ranks and were feared and respected by other children, find it difficult to go back to classrooms or family dwellings where they are expected to be subservient.

For that reason, according to UNICEF, successful demobilization and rehabilitation programs not only involve taking the guns out of children’s hands but finding ways to reunite and resettle the children with their families and communities, and provide for their psycho-social care and recovery.

In Burundi, for example, the lucky ones among the country’s 3,421 former child soldiers who went through a demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process returned to school but most languish in poverty, with little to do, officials told IRIN.

Cyprien Ndayishimiye, supervisor of former child soldiers in Bubanza province, said the situation for many former child soldiers was “dangerous” as even those who underwent vocational training during reintegration had yet to find gainful employment or set up income-generating activities.

“Many have even sold the materials they got from the DDR program, such as sewing machines for those who learned sewing, and planes for those who hoped carpentry would help them,” Ndayishimiye said.

Photo: ICRC/W. Lembryk/cd-e-00562 Female combatants are especially stigmatized upon their return from war, especially if they have children by their captors

Tougher for girls

Girls – especially orphans or unaccompanied girls – are especially vulnerable because they are often sexually exploited, raped or otherwise abused, subjected to human trafficking and prostitution, and forced to be “wives” by other combatants. This, in turn, can result in physical and psychological trauma, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS) and social stigmatization.

“Girls are mostly used by armed opposition groups, paramilitaries and militias, but they are also used by government forces,” wrote Dyan Mazurana and Khristopher Carlson in a paper for the UN. “Worldwide estimates suggest girls may account for between 10 to 30 percent of children in fighting forces.”

Girls returning from war are often stigmatized and ostracized by their communities, especially if they return with children.

“Girl soldiers are exploited in all the ways that boys are and carry the added burden of gender-based violence,” wrote Wessells.

Girls in particular continue to be excluded from official demobilization, disarmament, repatriation, resettlement and reintegration (DDRRR) programs, despite their special post-conflict needs.

For example, some 3,000 girl soldiers in Liberia were officially demobilized while as many as 8,000 were excluded or did not register, according to the 2008 Coalition report. In the DRC, only about 15 percent of the girls believed to have been involved in the conflict were officially demobilized as the national programme drew to a close.

For the girls who do not go through the official programs, there is no formal support at all.

Society pays a high price

Military recruitment is not only harmful to the children themselves but to societies as a whole. Children’s lost years of schooling reduce societies’ human and economic development potential. The educational system is further damaged when violent attacks are aimed at schools. The UN reported in 2010 that such attacks are becoming a “significant and a growing trend”.

Tensions may also be high between children returning from combat and those who stayed behind, especially when social support and reintegration programmes are aimed at ex-combatants, seeming to reward participation in violence.

Though child soldiers have committed and continue to commit some terrible crimes in wartime, they are still entitled, as children, to special provision and protection.

Besides criminal proceedings, “other, more age- and culturally-appropriate options exist, including truth and reconciliation commissions, community-based rehabilitation and reintegration programmes and the traditional practice of cleansing rituals”, wrote Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

There is no international consensus on the minimum legal age for criminal responsibility, said Coomaraswamy. International Criminal Court (ICC) Article 26 prevents the court from prosecuting anyone under the age of 18, but not because it believes children should be exempt from prosecution for international crimes, “but rather that the decision on whether to prosecute should be left to states”, says Coomaraswamy’s office   [ Working Paper Number 3: Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict, September 2011  ]. “[The] exclusion of children from the ICC jurisdiction avoided an argument between States on the minimum age for international crimes,” it noted.

There are substantial challenges in healing and reintegrating children into their communities when they have been instruments of brutality and atrocities, and whole societies must sometimes be involved in communal healing and acceptance of the returnees.

Somehow, the differing needs for justice and the reintegration in society of former child soldiers have to be accommodated.

Progress update

The past decade has seen a steady commitment to ending the use and abuse of children in conflict, and a strengthened framework to protect minors and bring perpetrators to justice.

By 2010, 129 countries had signed up to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict while 143 had also ratified it.

The Protocol outlaws recruitment of children under 18 years of age, obliges states to ensure that members of their armed forces under age 18 do not take direct part in combat, raises the minimum age for voluntary enlistment into armed forces to 16 years and includes specific measures requiring proof of a wish to enlist.

In 2006, integrated disarmament, demobilization and reintegration standards were created, and the Paris Principles and Guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups were created in 2007 to protect children from being recruited, and helping those who already were. A 2009 policy directive mainstreamed the protection, rights and well-being of children affected by armed conflict within peacekeeping operations.

Photo: Tim Freccia/ENOUGH Project The UN’s Zero Under 18 Campaign seeks universal ratification of the convention protecting children from armed conflict by end-2012

Local approaches to justice and reconciliation are increasingly playing a role in transitional justice strategies, building upon traditional norms to strengthen the protection of children in communities.

In addition, the UN says more attention is being paid to understanding the root causes of child soldiering in an effort to provide more insight into children’s vulnerability and decision-making. There is, for example, increasing recognition of the role that notions of masculinity play in enticing or coercing children into armed groups.

The UN Security Council passed resolutions 1539 in 2004; 1612 in 2005; and 1882 in 2009, which together created a working group and a monitoring and reporting mechanism to systematically monitor, document and report on the recruitment, abduction, killing or maiming of children, rape and sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access. It also led to systematic listing of parties that recruited or used child soldiers, in the Secretary-General’s annual report.

This public humiliation may be effective:  in the last two years, five armed groups have signed special Action Plans with the UN, the first step in being de-listed from the annual report.

“However, the gap between what governments say and what they do remains wide,” says the 2008 Coalition report.

The UN does not monitor and report on every country where children are being used in fighting or these grave violations occur. For example, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is not on the official list of countries monitored by the UN Security Council task force for recruitment of children, yet, as cited earlier, social workers told Save the Children they saw children involved with armed groups who they estimated to be as young as 11.

Other parties pledge to change but do not, despite the “naming and shaming” of the annual report. “More must be done to systematize and activate the full range of options available to the international community to ensure more robust action against recalcitrant violators,” said the Office for the Special Representative for the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. “There are, for instance, 16 such persistent violators who have been explicitly named and listed by the Secretary-General for five years or more and the lack of action against them undermines accountability initiatives.”

And of course, national governments are only part of the problem. The Optional Protocol outlaws the recruitment or participation of anyone under 18 in insurgency groups and rebel forces, but “a wide array of armed groups – with diverse aims, methods and constituencies – continue to use children as soldiers and they have proved resistant to pressure or persuasion to stop the practice”, says the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

“Despite progress, the overall picture is one of armed groups that have ignored international law and standards, that renege on commitments, are resistant to pressure and persuasion, or have so far proved to be beyond the reach of efforts to end the involvement of children in conflict and political violence,” said the Coalition’s 2008 report.

Higher political profile

The UN said national and international tribunals were setting important precedents in the fight to end impunity for grave child rights violations, serving as a deterrent for commanders and warlords all over the world and creating leverage for their compliance with international norms.

Of the 12 individuals publicly indicted by the International Criminal Court at The Hague, seven have been charged with war crimes against children such as using child soldiers. They include Lord’s Resistance Army leaders Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti (since deceased) and Okot Odhiambo. Also on trial or in the pre-trial stage are cases against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a militia leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is on trial for recruiting children under 15. The ICC also has open cases on DRC commanders Bosco Ntaganda, Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngudjolo Chui for their crimes against children.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is nearly finished trying a case in The Hague against Liberia’s Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including conscripting or enlisting children into armed forces or groups and using them to participate actively in hostilities. The trial of a former president is a strong message to the world that even leaders of nations are not beyond the reach of international law when it comes to protecting the rights of children.

Photo: Cornelia Walther/UNICEF Felix, 15, a demobilized child soldier in Bukavu, DRC, wants to become a lawyer “to defend those who can’t defend themselves”

Calls for future action

Tackling impunity remains a key priority for the international community. “Concerted emphasis must be maintained on fighting the impunity of perpetrators,” said Coomaraswamy’s office.

It is also strengthening the data collection and reporting on sexual violence, in the hope it will allow for better identification of perpetrators and better analysis of trends on sexual violence against children. The proliferation of small arms is another issue that the UN would like to see addressed in order to make sure weapons do not end up in the hands of children.

In 2010, Coomaraswamy, with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, UNICEF and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, launched the Zero Under 18 Campaign: a two-year initiative to achieve universal ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict by 2012. The push is premised on the belief that the strongest defence against impunity for child rights violators is to have an international moral consensus that no child should take part in armed conflict – and a strong enforcement mechanism to back it up.

“I think the political will is there. What is lacking is the momentum, and that is what we hope to achieve in this campaign,” said Coomaraswamy.

Ending child soldiering remains a daunting challenge. “The military imperatives of the group and the political, economic and social factors that drive conflicts and cause children to enlist – often underpinned by local cultural attitudes towards the age of majority – can outweigh legal and moral arguments,” said the 2008 Coalition report.

The report analyzed 21 conflicts where children were used or deployed and found that children will “almost inevitably” become involved when armed conflict breaks out.

And no matter how strongly the international community pushes for stronger protection and decreased impunity, national laws have to reflect the same in order for change to take place.

Governments must also remember that the problem has deeper and more human roots than the conflict du jour. Because children are more likely to be drawn to armed groups if they have experienced human rights violations or other forms of violence, “governments and societies that fail to prioritize the promotion and protection of children’s rights – economic, social and cultural, as well as civil and political – share responsibility for driving children into the ranks of armed groups”, says the Coalition report. Understanding these deep-seated drivers of child involvement in conflict will be essential in devising a plan to protect them, and punish those who do not.

For more, visit IRIN’s in-depth on child soldiers

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This report does not necessarily reflect the views of Salesian Missions (the sponsor of this newswire).

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