Families are suffering greatly and many, mostly women and children, are at risk. Of the more than 330,000 people that have fled their homes in Mali, a fifth of them are children. A July 2012 press release by UNICEF noted that while the vast majority of malnourished children live in the southern parts of Mali the recent conditions in the north have reduced access to food, water and basic health care. Due to the prolonged drought, about 560,000 young children in Mali are at risk of acute malnutrition this year and between 175,000 and 220,000 of those will require life-saving treatment.

In addition to facing severe malnutrition, this same UNICEF release noted that violence against children in Bamako, Mali is rising. There is evidence that children are being killed and injured by explosive devices as well as recruited into armed groups and trained as guerrilla fighters. UNICEF noted that at least 175 boys ages 12-18 have so far been recruited into these armed groups. UNICEF also noted that eight girls have been raped or sexually abused in the region.

Access to education has also been affected, the press release said. The vast majority of schools have been closed in the region and close to 300,000 are without basic education. Children out of school are at a higher risk of recruitment, violence and exploitation.

“These numbers are reason for alarm especially because they represent only a partial picture of the child protection context in the north – an area where access for humanitarian workers is limited,” said Theophane Nikyema, UNICEF’s Representative in Mali, in the release. “Children in the North are witnessing or becoming victims of violence and they must be protected.”

Salesian Missions is among several organizations responding to the crisis in Mali. The Salesians have opened up one of their centers in order to take in refugee families. In addition, Salesian missionaries in Mali are organizing food distribution to remote areas where many victims are on the brink of starvation.

The Salesians have a long history of helping refugee and displaced populations. Salesian-run programs offer assistance in refugee camps throughout the world, often in the form of technical vocational training and job placement services, which empower refugees and internally displaced persons with marketable skills. Such training and assistance is provided in safe and supportive environments, enabling youth and their families to slowly rebuild their lives.

“As the crisis in Mali continues to unfold, youth remain at risk in Mali and in many other unstable regions around the world,” said Fr. Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions – the U.S. fundraising arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “We need your support to help ensure that the Salesians are able and prepared to accept and care for refugees victimized by war and violence and to assist us in caring for children and families in need.”

Donations are urgently needed to help feed and shelter displaced youth and their families. To make a donation please visit SalesianMissions.org.

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Photo: Reuters/Adama Diarra

Sources:

UNICEF: Violence against children is mounting in Mali

Salesian Missions: Crisis in Mali: Salesian Center Takes in Refugees

The post MALI: Salesians Assist Displaced Children & Families as Political Instability Continues first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The Child Hotline 116 is an around-the-clock counseling hotline staffed by social workers—along with other trained professionals—offering hope and prospects for the future for children suffering from the ravages of war. Many of the children live on the streets of Sierra Leone’s largest cities and unable to read or write, they struggle to survive. Sierra Leone‘s brutal civil war has resulted in 500,000 displaced families, 60,000 orphans and thousands of street children. Two-thirds of the population is impoverished and unemployment rates are at crisis levels.

The counseling hotline was launched by Don Bosco Fambul, in partnership with Sierra Leone’s telecommunications providers, Airtel, Africell, and Comium, who have guaranteed that every call will be free of charge. With cell phone use surging in Sierra Leone, the hotline is a perfect vehicle for connecting children to the many vital services provided by Don Bosco Fambul. It is the outgrowth of an initial pilot known as the Basics Mobil, initiated after it was found that many street children, especially girls in the slums, were unable to reach the Don Bosco Fambul or family home in Freetown.

Don Bosco Fambul, a Salesian-run center in Freetown, is committed to providing street children prospects for a better future, along with helping to strengthen families and enable youth to become responsible citizens.

“By means of all our projects, we want to be there for children and youths facing personal crisis,” says Brother Lothar Wager, director of Don Bosco Fambul. “We devote our time to them. and we do so without exception—24 hours a day, weekdays and weekends, working days and holidays, day and night.”

The hotline creates an essential link in connecting children in need to the variety of life-changing programs offered by Don Bosco Fambul. All of the programming directly addresses issues facing street children—including emotional trauma from the war and lost family. With the goal of reuniting with their families, youth participate in a 10-month program which includes counseling, medical care and education.

The brutal civil war in Sierra Leone not only caused death and destruction, it destroyed the economic fabric and infrastructure of the country and made rebuilding difficult. Families were torn apart, with many children recruited as soldiers and worse, as slaves. Nearly a decade after the war’s end, Sierra Leone is still struggling to rebuild schools, train teachers and reach children who have never seen the inside of a classroom. Coupled with the aftermath resulting in harsh child labor, rape, child trafficking and sexual abuse, the Child Hotline 116 is working to resolve many resulting issues. Other agencies, like UNICEF and its partners are working to improve education and bring opportunities for schooling to all the country’s children.

“We want to prevent children from ending up on the streets,” Bro. Wagner adds. “We want to strengthen them and provide possible solutions to enable them to regain control of their lives within a short period of time.”

Education is one of those solutions—and the focus of the work of the Salesians in Sierra Leone and around the globe in more than 130 countries.

Don Bosco Fambul has been helping street children and unemployed youth as well as their families in Freetown for more than 10 years. Apart from working with street children, the organization offers a 10-month rehabilitation program for 70 street children and 1,500 former street boys and girls—supported by the Family Tracing Department, whose goal is the reunification of families separated by conflict and war.

Additionally, scholarships and training programs are available and a youth center is open daily, offering support for families. This center and a number of shelters provide food and drinks, showers and laundry, a place to retreat and sleep, and the opportunity to connect with other children in similar circumstances.

Don Bosco Fambul is a member of the Child Helpline International, an organization whose work is grounded in a firm belief in the rights of children—as explicitly laid out in such internationally recognized and binding documents as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions

Don Bosco Fambul

ANS (Salesian Info Agency)

The post SIERRA LEONE: New Child Hotline Offers Hope to Children Affected by Civil War first appeared on MissionNewswire.