Speak Truth To Power ("Courage Without Borders") - Marian Wright Edelman (US) "Children and Poverty"
http://www.scribd.com/full/51195256?access_key=key-2dbl2u9kxgojq7jxvohv
Showing posts with label Children issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children issues. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday, January 28, 2008
Women in Cambodia Lead the Way for Change
January 2008
Care USA
Care USA
Clearing for the future
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)
Cambodia's Pailin province is one of the most land mine and unexploded ordinance affected areas in the country. Poverty rates are high with many people trying to make a living on land filled with mines.
Han, a mother of four, has worked with CARE's Australia-Cambodia Integrated Mine Action program for over a year. She de-mines with a team of other women who work with metal detectors and safety equipment to remove and detonate the mines.
"I have two reasons for working in the de-mining program. The first is that I am poor and I have to take care of my children. The other is that it gives me the chance to participate in clearing the mines.
"Before I became a Locality De-miner, I just focused on farming. It was very difficult – I couldn"t grow enough food, especially in times of drought or flood and my standard of living was very bad. Now things are better.
"Even though I am a woman and doing the job of a de-miner I am trying to keep strong and be careful all the time. I spend from six in the morning until three in the afternoon de-mining then I go home and take care of my children. Sometimes my neighbours take care of them too. One of my children cooks now. She is a great help."
Communities for communities
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)
CARE's Highland Community Education Program works with people from ethnic minority groups in the remote province of Ratanakiri to establish community schools, conduct teacher training, create bilingual resources, and support community-run school boards.
Varina, a 29-year-old teacher trainer from the Krung ethnic group, tells her story:
"I was born in a difficult time – the time of Pol Pot. I nearly died because there was nothing to drink and not enough food. My mother tried hard to find me things to eat but I became very thin. Then she passed away.
"I have had a dream since I was ten years old that I would be a good mother and a good leader. Because I have had this commitment since I was ten, I feel that I have already reached my dream.
"I wanted to help the indigenous people here to have a school and to have education. I also wanted to strengthen myself and to build my capacity to help all of them. So when I saw CARE help the indigenous people with education I was very happy. When CARE helps indigenous people, they also help me. I try to learn more so I can help people, too."
Making the children smile
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)
CARE works with local partners in Cambodia on projects like Orphans and Vulnerable Children so that children are able to get access to nutritious food and hygiene kits.
Dina is 21 years old and works with New Hope for Cambodia Children, one of CARE's partners. This is her story.
"I used to go to the riverside where I saw how difficult it was for children living there – so I decided to work with them. I like to see the children smiling.
"Most of the children like joking so when I visit them they always tell me a joke. One of the girls is very clever. She is the little one in the house but she knows everything. She is four years old – a lovely girl. Now she has gone to study at the kindergarten and, through the project, I have given her study equipment and a hygiene kit to help her.
"We tell the parents that nutritious food is very important for the children because even if they get their medicine, if their diet is poor, they cannot get better. I work with 27 families and go to each house every week. It's good to develop a relationship with the families; then they know they can trust us."
Small health, long lives
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)
Le is 29 years old. In her work as a peer educator, she promotes family planning and information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to friends through Small Health Promotions, part of CARE's Strengthening Capacity for Improved Community Health program. CARE runs the promotions though a partner organization at garment factories in Phnom Penh, providing training, peer educator support, condoms and clinic services to thousands of girls.
"In my village, many girls go to Phnom Penh to find work. I've worked in the garment factory for two years. My family doesn't have much education and are very poor. So, of the US$50 that I earn each month, I send US$20-$25 back to them.
"At the garment factory we get a lot of benefit from the Small Health Promotions. They're good for sharing ideas and getting access to the clinic. I help to prepare the health promotions and encourage friends to come, too.
"Because of my training, I have talked to my boyfriend about STIs and the benefits of condom use and, if my friends have husbands, I can explain to them about family planning."
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)Cambodia's Pailin province is one of the most land mine and unexploded ordinance affected areas in the country. Poverty rates are high with many people trying to make a living on land filled with mines.
Han, a mother of four, has worked with CARE's Australia-Cambodia Integrated Mine Action program for over a year. She de-mines with a team of other women who work with metal detectors and safety equipment to remove and detonate the mines.
"I have two reasons for working in the de-mining program. The first is that I am poor and I have to take care of my children. The other is that it gives me the chance to participate in clearing the mines.
"Before I became a Locality De-miner, I just focused on farming. It was very difficult – I couldn"t grow enough food, especially in times of drought or flood and my standard of living was very bad. Now things are better.
"Even though I am a woman and doing the job of a de-miner I am trying to keep strong and be careful all the time. I spend from six in the morning until three in the afternoon de-mining then I go home and take care of my children. Sometimes my neighbours take care of them too. One of my children cooks now. She is a great help."
Communities for communities
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)CARE's Highland Community Education Program works with people from ethnic minority groups in the remote province of Ratanakiri to establish community schools, conduct teacher training, create bilingual resources, and support community-run school boards.
Varina, a 29-year-old teacher trainer from the Krung ethnic group, tells her story:
"I was born in a difficult time – the time of Pol Pot. I nearly died because there was nothing to drink and not enough food. My mother tried hard to find me things to eat but I became very thin. Then she passed away.
"I have had a dream since I was ten years old that I would be a good mother and a good leader. Because I have had this commitment since I was ten, I feel that I have already reached my dream.
"I wanted to help the indigenous people here to have a school and to have education. I also wanted to strengthen myself and to build my capacity to help all of them. So when I saw CARE help the indigenous people with education I was very happy. When CARE helps indigenous people, they also help me. I try to learn more so I can help people, too."
Making the children smile
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)CARE works with local partners in Cambodia on projects like Orphans and Vulnerable Children so that children are able to get access to nutritious food and hygiene kits.
Dina is 21 years old and works with New Hope for Cambodia Children, one of CARE's partners. This is her story.
"I used to go to the riverside where I saw how difficult it was for children living there – so I decided to work with them. I like to see the children smiling.
"Most of the children like joking so when I visit them they always tell me a joke. One of the girls is very clever. She is the little one in the house but she knows everything. She is four years old – a lovely girl. Now she has gone to study at the kindergarten and, through the project, I have given her study equipment and a hygiene kit to help her.
"We tell the parents that nutritious food is very important for the children because even if they get their medicine, if their diet is poor, they cannot get better. I work with 27 families and go to each house every week. It's good to develop a relationship with the families; then they know they can trust us."
Small health, long lives
(Photo: Laura McKay/CARE 2007)Le is 29 years old. In her work as a peer educator, she promotes family planning and information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to friends through Small Health Promotions, part of CARE's Strengthening Capacity for Improved Community Health program. CARE runs the promotions though a partner organization at garment factories in Phnom Penh, providing training, peer educator support, condoms and clinic services to thousands of girls.
"In my village, many girls go to Phnom Penh to find work. I've worked in the garment factory for two years. My family doesn't have much education and are very poor. So, of the US$50 that I earn each month, I send US$20-$25 back to them.
"At the garment factory we get a lot of benefit from the Small Health Promotions. They're good for sharing ideas and getting access to the clinic. I help to prepare the health promotions and encourage friends to come, too.
"Because of my training, I have talked to my boyfriend about STIs and the benefits of condom use and, if my friends have husbands, I can explain to them about family planning."
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Cambodia cannot afford to neglect its children
Child picking up trash for a living
A boy selling water bottle water to tourist for a living
Children pushing merchandise cart for a living
A girl and her younger sibling beg for a livingSARADA TAING
Posted on UPI Asia Online
Guest Commentary
In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia and decimated its government, economy and society. The extremist communist group forced people out of the cities and into the countryside to forcibly work in labor camps. The Khmer Rouge killed nearly two million people through overwork, starvation and murder from 1975 to 1979. Cambodia was in the dark -- completely isolated from the world.
Although it has been three decades since that genocide, Cambodia is still struggling to recover from the misguided and fatal policies of the Khmer Rouge. It is one of the 50 poorest countries in the world as a result of years of civil war. It has remained in this impoverished state, however, because of corruption and the absence of the rule of law.
Cambodia's children are among the most vulnerable victims of this poverty. Thousands of them live in slums. Others are homeless and sleep on the sidewalk. They face starvation, illiteracy, diseases, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation, gang rape and human trafficking.
They are at risk, as no system exists to protect them. There is no government welfare system, for example, or free health care services. No one is alert to the ill-treatment of abusive parents. These children live without hope; they live in fear of their unknown future.
Many children moreover do not have enough food to eat. They sniff glue instead of eating breakfast, lunch or dinner. The glue takes away their hunger and makes them forget the pain in their stomachs.
Furthermore, many families in Cambodia are too poor to send their children to school. They cannot afford to buy school uniforms or to offer extra payments to poorly paid teachers to supplement their income, which can result in discrimination against the child. These families make their children work to earn money for the family. Most of them are scavengers who collect plastic bags or soda cans from the street or from the trash bin to sell, receiving about US$.50 a day for their labor. The children also pick up food from the street or the dump to eat. Sometimes they save this food for their entire family.
In Phnom Penh, many of the beggars at gasoline stations and restaurants are children. Most of their parents are from the countryside where they could not produce any agricultural products because of drought and land-grabbing. Consequently, the poverty afflicting adults becomes the poverty of children.
This reality is perhaps best comprehended by understanding the lives of adult beggars in Phnom Penh, many of whom sold their land to pay debts. In the countryside many poor families are forced to borrow money from private businessmen to pay for medical services or medicine when one of their family members gets sick or is injured.
Moreover, it is difficult for people in Cambodia to find a place to live. Land-grabbing, for example, has been a serious issue since the end of the 1980s. After the Khmer Rouge fell, Cambodians left the labor camps and went to look for a place to live. Everyone tried to get a piece of land; people grabbed whatever they could find.
Unfortunately, land is still being grabbed, but now powerful businessmen and government officials are taking the land of poor, powerless people. Those with economic and political power pay local officials to secure illegal land titles to valuable property and pay soldiers to evict the villagers from the property. The villagers are rarely compensated. If they refuse to leave their homes, officials use bulldozers to crush their small houses. Any further resistance by those who are forcibly evicted is met by the police and military with assault rifles and electric batons.
In these circumstances, Cambodia's judicial system is of little use: it is not transparent, and it rarely helps the poor. As a result, Cambodia lacks institutions to uphold the rights of those without influence. Those who are poor remain poor and, if anything, become more impoverished.
Cambodia's children are a product of this unjust environment. If Cambodia's children and, indeed, Cambodia itself are to have a future, the government must introduce and implement measures to quickly transform this scenario. The creation of rehabilitation centers for the children of the poor that provide food and clothes as well as organize sports activities for the youth would be a logical step in this direction.
Health care for the poor in both urban and rural areas would also be a welcome development, as would immediate steps by the government to end the practice of land-grabbing, especially the seizure of the land of the poor. In this regard, all land concessions should be cancelled and the land returned to landless or homeless families.
A comprehensive solution though entails support for the families of poor children so that they can receive adequate care from their parents and society. Education is a vital necessity for the children and the country so that child beggars do not become adult beggars in a few years. The children of today can become a valuable human resource for Cambodia instead of a weight on its future economy.
Having ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Cambodian government has indicated its intention to its citizens and the international community to uphold the rights of its children and meet their needs.
Cambodia has even expressed this intention in its own Constitution as it has inserted the provisions of the U.N. convention in Article 48 of the Constitution, in which it declares that the state shall protect the rights of children to life, education and health, that they shall be protected against economic or sexual exploitation and the violence of war.
While these actions by the government are positive developments, it is not enough without creating a domestic law and ensuring that this law is implemented. The government thus should enact a domestic law as soon as possible to rectify this shortcoming.
The international community in general, and the United Nations in particular, should assist the Cambodian government in achieving these goals, not just with aid, which naturally is a valuable contribution, but even more importantly with advice and encouragement to make the necessary legal changes that offer an institutional framework to support the other essential policies.
In addition, the international community should help strengthen Cambodia's civil society to enable it to better promote these changes and to monitor the actions of the government. Cambodia has lost a generation to the Killing Fields. It would be a further tragedy if another generation is lost in Cambodia to apathy, neglect and a lack of action by the government to serve the needs of its children.
--
(Sarada Taing is a program assistant for the Cambodia project at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously a human rights investigator and radio reporter for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.)
Although it has been three decades since that genocide, Cambodia is still struggling to recover from the misguided and fatal policies of the Khmer Rouge. It is one of the 50 poorest countries in the world as a result of years of civil war. It has remained in this impoverished state, however, because of corruption and the absence of the rule of law.
Cambodia's children are among the most vulnerable victims of this poverty. Thousands of them live in slums. Others are homeless and sleep on the sidewalk. They face starvation, illiteracy, diseases, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation, gang rape and human trafficking.
They are at risk, as no system exists to protect them. There is no government welfare system, for example, or free health care services. No one is alert to the ill-treatment of abusive parents. These children live without hope; they live in fear of their unknown future.
Many children moreover do not have enough food to eat. They sniff glue instead of eating breakfast, lunch or dinner. The glue takes away their hunger and makes them forget the pain in their stomachs.
Furthermore, many families in Cambodia are too poor to send their children to school. They cannot afford to buy school uniforms or to offer extra payments to poorly paid teachers to supplement their income, which can result in discrimination against the child. These families make their children work to earn money for the family. Most of them are scavengers who collect plastic bags or soda cans from the street or from the trash bin to sell, receiving about US$.50 a day for their labor. The children also pick up food from the street or the dump to eat. Sometimes they save this food for their entire family.
In Phnom Penh, many of the beggars at gasoline stations and restaurants are children. Most of their parents are from the countryside where they could not produce any agricultural products because of drought and land-grabbing. Consequently, the poverty afflicting adults becomes the poverty of children.
This reality is perhaps best comprehended by understanding the lives of adult beggars in Phnom Penh, many of whom sold their land to pay debts. In the countryside many poor families are forced to borrow money from private businessmen to pay for medical services or medicine when one of their family members gets sick or is injured.
Moreover, it is difficult for people in Cambodia to find a place to live. Land-grabbing, for example, has been a serious issue since the end of the 1980s. After the Khmer Rouge fell, Cambodians left the labor camps and went to look for a place to live. Everyone tried to get a piece of land; people grabbed whatever they could find.
Unfortunately, land is still being grabbed, but now powerful businessmen and government officials are taking the land of poor, powerless people. Those with economic and political power pay local officials to secure illegal land titles to valuable property and pay soldiers to evict the villagers from the property. The villagers are rarely compensated. If they refuse to leave their homes, officials use bulldozers to crush their small houses. Any further resistance by those who are forcibly evicted is met by the police and military with assault rifles and electric batons.
In these circumstances, Cambodia's judicial system is of little use: it is not transparent, and it rarely helps the poor. As a result, Cambodia lacks institutions to uphold the rights of those without influence. Those who are poor remain poor and, if anything, become more impoverished.
Cambodia's children are a product of this unjust environment. If Cambodia's children and, indeed, Cambodia itself are to have a future, the government must introduce and implement measures to quickly transform this scenario. The creation of rehabilitation centers for the children of the poor that provide food and clothes as well as organize sports activities for the youth would be a logical step in this direction.
Health care for the poor in both urban and rural areas would also be a welcome development, as would immediate steps by the government to end the practice of land-grabbing, especially the seizure of the land of the poor. In this regard, all land concessions should be cancelled and the land returned to landless or homeless families.
A comprehensive solution though entails support for the families of poor children so that they can receive adequate care from their parents and society. Education is a vital necessity for the children and the country so that child beggars do not become adult beggars in a few years. The children of today can become a valuable human resource for Cambodia instead of a weight on its future economy.
Having ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Cambodian government has indicated its intention to its citizens and the international community to uphold the rights of its children and meet their needs.
Cambodia has even expressed this intention in its own Constitution as it has inserted the provisions of the U.N. convention in Article 48 of the Constitution, in which it declares that the state shall protect the rights of children to life, education and health, that they shall be protected against economic or sexual exploitation and the violence of war.
While these actions by the government are positive developments, it is not enough without creating a domestic law and ensuring that this law is implemented. The government thus should enact a domestic law as soon as possible to rectify this shortcoming.
The international community in general, and the United Nations in particular, should assist the Cambodian government in achieving these goals, not just with aid, which naturally is a valuable contribution, but even more importantly with advice and encouragement to make the necessary legal changes that offer an institutional framework to support the other essential policies.
In addition, the international community should help strengthen Cambodia's civil society to enable it to better promote these changes and to monitor the actions of the government. Cambodia has lost a generation to the Killing Fields. It would be a further tragedy if another generation is lost in Cambodia to apathy, neglect and a lack of action by the government to serve the needs of its children.
--
(Sarada Taing is a program assistant for the Cambodia project at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously a human rights investigator and radio reporter for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.)
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