Ugandan government recognizes Karomoja problem

I just got a news article from ECM's Uganda Director. The Minister of Gender in Uganda has asked the authorities to set up check points along the Karamoja-Kampala route to curb child trafficking. The government is aware of the problem of children being sold into slavery (some in the cattle markets!) and ending up begging on the streets of Kampala for someone else's benefit.

I encountered that myself a few years back. I was in a Christian bookstore that has a place to sit and read in front of big windows. Looking out on the street, I observed a young child sitting all by herself on the sidewalk for a long time. It was obvious she was meant to be begging, but she was too young and too uncomfortable to be actively doing so. Basically she just sat there and looked pitiful. No sunshade, no water, nothing. People were just ignoring her and walking around her. I don't usually give to beggars. I've seen too much abuse resulting from well-intentioned giving. But I also felt her pain. I had some bananas, so I went out and gave her a banana, and asked my co-worker to go down the street and buy her a bottle of juice. I figured I'd stay there while she ate and drank to make sure it went into her tummy. There was no one obviously watching her that I could see, but as soon as she got the banana in her hand, a lady appeared. She said she was not the child's mother. I stayed there until the child finished the banana and the drink. I later found out that this was a child from Karamoja who was trafficked to the city to beg on the streets for a master.

I read that the government rounded up 400 of them, women and children, in the past year, and is trying to resettle them. But unless we find a way to stop the trafficking, there will be more. Lord, please allow us to start the Karamoja child sponsorship project soon!

Celebrating Day of the African Child

I was feeling a bit down yesterday, realizing that it was the Day of the African Child and we had been so taken up with the David Lubaale issue that we had not arranged any big celebration.

But as I thought about it, the Lord showed me that it was OK. Every Child Ministries has always been far more about steady, faithful commitment to African children over the long haul than it has been about big events.

It was the Day of the African Child. Our Gayaza sponsorship club met as usual in the garage of our National Ministry Center here in Uganda. In the afternoon, boys met for soccer practice. In Congo, orphans met for Bible teaching and a meal. Sunday school teachers prepared for their lessons in over 2300 churches. In Ghana, our Haven of Hope family played on the playground--50 of them rescued from slavery, street life, and all kinds of terrible situations. Yes, Every Child Ministries DID celebrate the Day of the African child!

Day of the African Child--Slave Children Have Nothing to Celebrate

Day of the African Child. A day to Celebrate the worth of African children. A day to remember how far we have come and how far we still have to go. Many of our sponsored children from the Kamwokya slum here in Uganda where I am writing this participate today in a wonderful program--probably their first. They will sing and dance and recite and smile at officials.

But as I write, I remember those unable to celebrate. Those in ritual servitude in idol shrines in Ghana, Togo, and Benin will not be celebrating. There is nothing to celebrate in their lives. Can they celebrate hunger? Being set apart as less than human? Beatings? Rape?

In Ghana at least the practice (called trokosi there) has been outlawed since 1998. A mandatory three year prison term has been attached. Yet it continues. It continues because people choose to ignore it for the most part, or to blame it only on one tribe, as if other groups could never do anything like THAT! It continues because people let it continue.

God help us. I look forward to a REAL Day of the African Child--a day when ALL Africa's children will have something to celebrate!