With the closure of the UP MARC project in Zigiti, EKHC and Help a Child marked the end of our 30 years long partnership! It makes us sad to say goodbye, but thankful to know that we affected and improved the lives of thousands of children, families and their communities.
Some of the UP MARC project participants wanted to share their testimony. May God bless the community members, EKHC staff and all others involved in building the future of the children, youngsters and their families in Ethiopia.
Water, soap and trust
“The support of Help a Child has been such a blessing for our community, as our area is one of the most vulnerable and lack such support,” says 32 years old Jane from Gudele, Juba (South-Sudan).
Launch Boruboru games to empower girls
WE NEED CARE!
INCLUDE US IN ALL DESICIONS THAT AFFECT US!
These and other messages were held by the members of Lokoloko Central and Lokoloko West teams right before the very first Boru Boru modernized games in Wau. In this way, the start of the ‘End Marriage Campaign’ in Wau, South Sudan, was launched.
Partnership in Child Protection
Help a Child of India in collaboration with 1098 Child Help Line, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, prevented 64 Child Marriages within the last months. Aditionally, they addressed more than 350 child violation cases such as child sexual abuse, child labour, and child begging.
End of a site; start of restoration
One week ago, Help a Child Burundi, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs, provided temporary shelter and food aid to support the reintegration of 136 IDP families, formerly hosted at Winterekwa IDP location site. “This is the start of restoration for the families and the children that stayed here,” shares Help a Child Burundi Country Director Clément Nkubizi.
SDG Watch highlights EPIC as exemplary SDG1 solution
Today is SDG Action Day 2020, an important occasion to advocate for more ambitious policy and funding to achieve a truly sustainable world in which no one is left behind. On this occasion, SDG Watch Europe has published a special report on how the EU might step up its efforts to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals 2030). In this important report, called ‘Time to reach for the moon – The EU needs to step up action and lead the transformation to sustainability’, Help a Child’s EPIC approach is highlighted on page 41 as an exemplary solution to SDG1, ending poverty.
EPIC stands for Economic Program with Impact on Children (EPIC): a program for fragile, rural communities, with special attention to children’s needs. It combines best practices and lessons learned in relation to social resilience, economic development, and child development, such as holistic child view, integrated farm planning (PIP) and community involvement from the very design of the program.
Download the report here.
Read more about EPIC here.
Help a Child starts activities in Somalia
The ultimate goal of Help a Child is to assist children and families that are most vulnerable. That’s why we are very pleased to be part of the Somalia Joint Response since the start of 2020.
Somalia faces some of the most severe humanitarian and development challenges in the world. At the moment, 2.6 million people are displaced and a total of 5.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. The main drivers of the protracted humanitarian crisis in Somalia are conflict and climate-related drought and floods. With financial support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Dutch Relief Alliance and in cooperation with local partners, Help a Child already served more than 34,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition and health care.
Minister compliments Help a Child South Sudan
“On behalf of the National Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare I wish to convey my word of thanks and appreciation to Help a Child, along with it’s phenomenal staff members.”
This quote is part of the complimentary personal letter, that Help a Child South Sudan received yesterday. The sender of this message is none other than the Hon. Aya Benjamin Libo Wanille, Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare-RSS. The appraisal was written after the Minister officially opened the distribution process of COVID-19 prevention materials at the Saint Mary Church in Gudele (Juba) last week on the invitation of Help a Child.
“Help a Child lived up to its promise”
In the letter, The Minister continues to say that “To be candid the launching of distribution of the non-food items project on August 17th was wonderful, creditable and meticulously organized for that matter.” Most importantly, the Minister expresses that “Help a Child lived up to its promise, therefore in a very short time managed to implement this pilot project, to meet some needs of the vulnerable groups within the targeted area,” and that the Minister looks forward to “…seeing Help a Child implementing similar projects at a wider scale…”. The minister closes her writing by stating: “I will do every effort to help and support Help a Child, need should be.”
The encouraging and warmhearted words of the Minister have inspired Help a Child and its staff even more to live up to our promises and to deliver effective, efficient and timely support to those who need our support the most: in South Sudan and in every place where we carry out our programs. We thank the Minister for her very kind words and support.
Kolkata devastated by cyclone Amphal
The eastern Indian city of Kolkata has been devastated by a powerful cyclone which has killed at least 84 people across India and Bangladesh. Amphan made landfall last week, lashing coastal areas with ferocious wind and rain. Thousands of trees were uprooted in the gales, electricity and telephone lines brought down and houses flattened. Many of Kolkata’s roads are flooded and its 14 million people without power.
Help a Child of India target communities are badly affected by Amphan cyclone though no casualties took place. Around 50 houses’ roofs have been damaged. In one of the target slums called Jhaldermath the community hall has been destroyed completely, where we used to conduct our project activities. It’s difficult to move as lots of trees and electric poles have fallen on the ground. As telecommunications services have been damaged it’s difficult to connect people over phone also.
First-hand information from the target communities found that house roofs needs to be repaired and replaced for about 50 families and Children have lost their school bags, and stationeries. The community has requested Help a Child of India for support to repair and replace house roofing. Most of these houses made with low cost iron sheets or county cement titles. Jhaldermath community leaders are also seeking our help to repair the community hall where children’s activity will continue. Currently some families are staying at nearby relief shelters and other families are made small tents nearby and staying at open places.
The government is supporting the affected families in terms of ensuring food security like dry ration distribution and temporary accommodation in community halls for making sure that safety and protection of women and children. Help a Child of India is preparing a rehabilitation plan to help the families in need.
Help a Child releases corona awareness clip
“Coronavirus ni ikiza casasitse inganda kw’isi. Twese hamwe tuyirinde.” (Corona virus is a pandemic, killing so much people. Let’s protect ourselves). A few lines from the corona awareness clip that has been released in Burundi. The production, initiated by Help a Child, is a strong (and swinging!) message for the people of Burundi in times of the pandemic.
With starring musicians like Vichoux Love, Chany Queen, Emery-sun and many others, this song is a delight for the ear. During national elections, the clip brightened up the day of people standing in queue at a few polling stations in Bujumbura. Within a few days the song has entered the top 20 of the RFM music chart. “This is a great opportunity to make people aware of healthy behaviour in times of corona. People that otherwise would not have been reached, for example because they are illiterate or live in remote areas, internalize the message just by singing along,” Country Programme Director Clement Nkubizi explains. Even his own children fight to play the song in the car or at home, he admits. This might have to do with the fact that Clement and his son play a small role in the clip.
Both song and clip were developed in partnership with Black Pyramid, American Friends Service Committee and a long row of well known musicians. Nkubizi: “So many role models, using their talents and vibes together to raise awareness. That is a very powerful image.