Day of the African Child

A school girl stands outside VIP latrines, Iltumtum, Narok North district, Kenya. Source: GHARP/KRA

June 16th is the International Day of the African Child.  It began in 1976 in Soweto, South Africa with thousands of black school children taking to the streets to march in protest of the inferior quality of their education and to demand to be taught in their own language.  Hundreds of children were shot down by security forces and in the following two weeks of protests more than 100 were killed and a thousand injured.  To honor the memory of those fallen and to draw attention to the plight of 30 million street children across the continent every June 16th since 1991 has been recognized as Day of the African Child.  The theme for June 16, 2011 is to spread awareness of the dangers street children face, promote the protection of them, and determine effective strategies for child care and protection.

What Can You Do?

What can you do?  Sometimes it seems like there are so many issues taking place all over the world that are out of your reach and there’s nothing you can do about them from where you stand and you don’t have the resources to make a dent in such a huge problem.  Of course fiscal donations are always helpful to small non profits but raising awareness is sometimes an even better way of helping those in need.  Spreading knowledge and being informed about the world around you by telling a friend, or two, or ten about a problem that means something to you could impact an issue that may be half a world away. Did you know, that despite its exclusion in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights there is a movement to add a 31st clause to the declaration that states: ‘Everyone has the right to clean and accessible water, adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and family, and no one shall be deprived of such access or quality of water due to individual economic circumstance.’ Let’s hope this is not too far in the future!

Kenyan Context

In Kenya, as a result of climate change, persistent droughts have plagued many semi-arid environments (SAE) culminating in water scarcity, food security, and diminishing sources of income.  These issues hurt the community as a whole and children in particular.  When farmers experience crop failures as a result of these droughts they are unable to produce enough food to feed their families or generate enough income to afford to purchase vegetables, therefore malnutrition rates amongst children soar on a cyclical basis, dependent on the rainy seasons. Assessments show that while most schools in the SAE of Kenya have inadequate water supply others have no on-site access to water at all.  The lack of clean water sources leads to water borne illnesses such as diarhoea and typhoid.  Since many of these schools do not have reliable sources of water within a reasonable distance children are made to walk many kilometres to the nearest water kiosks to collect water for drinking, supporting the school feeding programme, and classroom cleaning, leading to tardiness and decreased school attendance.

What Is GHARP Doing?

KRA, one of the GHARP members, is working hard to implement rainwater harvesting and management (RHM) projects to help schools access safe, reliable, and sustainable water supplies and improve their sanitation. KRA is installing roofwater catchment systems with 50m³ water tanks. Each tank has a foul flash component which flushes the initial dirty water away when the first rains come to ensure clean water in the tank. In addition, KRA is providing schools with 50m³ farm ponds and micro-irrigation systems so that they can store water for growing vegetables to supplement the school feeding programme. Of course, safe and gender-sensitive sanitation facilities are very important for school children, and KRA is installing ventilated improved (VIP) latrines for boys, girls, and teachers. Finally, environmental conservation helps to preserve the water catchment and so tree seedlings are being provided to schools to encourage tree planting and environmental awareness.

[Post adapted from an original blog post by Micah Branaman, GHARP/KRA Partnership and Fundraising Officer]