Grateful to those who help children

I am not from the USA, but I could not fail to notice all the posts for Thanksgiving! It just happened that the facebook status for my charity, CHW, was based on thankfulness and being grateful today. This was a nice coincidence! Here is the status:

We are grateful to all of our supporters and volunteers! This photo is from New Life in Ghana, the first organisation we started working with. The children are siblings and came to live at the orphanage earlier this year. They are sponsored by two of CHW's supporters. CHW raised the money to build the playground that they are in. Thank you so much to each of you who make it possible for us to support different children's projects around the world!

What matters at Christmas

I am thinking of Christmas today... and not just because there are already Christmas displays in some of the shop windows here in London! Today, I came across a great blogger, who is also doing the NaBloPoMo challenge (to write a blog post each day during November), called  Glorius Mettle. It made me reflect and want to write a post on Christmas too (although, yes, I do realise it is still quite a few weeks away!)

As well as this, I create an update for a child rights advocacy organisation each week, so they can pick up on all the latest news. Yesterday, I saw that according to the charity, Shelter, 80,000 children will be facing homelessness in the UK, this Christmas. I am so shocked by this figure.  Shelter’s chief executive, Campbell Robb said that such things should not be happening in twenty-first century Britain and that:

"No child should be homeless, let alone 80,000. But tragically, with more people struggling to make ends meet and homelessness on the rise, we’re bracing ourselves for an increase in demand from families who desperately need our help."

I have spent Christmas in some very different places, and each time I had the opportunity to be working with people who truly cared about children, and gave them the help they desperately needed. Without those inspirational people, those children would not have had a very happy Christmas. Staff running children's homes in Ghana and Romania made sure the children had a great day, with food, music, a party, and of course, a Christmas tree! An organisation in South Africa made sure the children who came to its creche each had a gift to take home for Christmas.

Last Christmas, I was in London, and I volunteered for Crisis, a charity for single homeless people, and helped at one of its shelters. Whilst homelessness is a huge issue all year round, there is something extra poignant about Christmas. It is not an issue of material items and presents. It is the fact Christmas is often a time that people spend together, and that is why it felt so important to be able to create a space where people could do just that, at one of Crisis's shelters. The guests could eat a Christmas meal and do various activities, like art, watching films, and playing games. Crisis also looks to the future - there were services at the shelter, from hairdressing, to help with putting CVs together, and getting free legal advice. People have been able to turn their lives around using these services. (Some of my fellow volunteers were once guests at a Crisis at Christmas shelter.)

I have seen that some people seem to truly believe in the 'spirit of Christmas' and want to help others in need, and I am so lucky to know people like that. It has also been such a positive experience to volunteer over Christmas, and I would definitely recommend it. For anyone who might want to make a donation instead, Crisis and Shelter both do great work!


Some of my Christmas photos!

Romania:

Christmas party and a visit from Santa arranged for the children at the home, Casa Mea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helping to take some of the younger children at Casa Mea to see the big Christmas tree in the nearest city!

Ghana:

With the tree, and then dancing on Christmas Day, at New Life

South Africa:

Christmas play, by children at Seawind Educare

All of these organisations are supported by my charity, CHW.

Back from Ghana!

I have spent part of the summer in Ghana, and am now back in London.

With some of the school children at New Life

It was really good to visit CHW's projects in Ghana. This was the first country where I set up links for the charity and started to fundraise. The projects CHW supports there are close to Cape Coast. The children had all grown so much and it was just so great to see them again! However, it was also a very difficult trip for me, as the founder of New Life, Madam Ruby, had passed away in June. She was someone who had truly inspired me. I met her when I was eighteen and I think I would have taken a different path in life if it wasn't for her. I was able to spend time with her family, which I am grateful for, as I stayed with them during my trip. Madam Ruby's vision and inspiration live on, as the children she was so determined to help continue to have shelter and an education due to her work.

As well as spending time in Cape Coast, I also went to Accra, and caught up with some former colleagues. I did some legal research there, and in the past, I have also worked in a law firm and at an advocacy centre. I visited the Human Rights Advocacy Centre. If you have studied, or worked in, human rights, it is possible to do internships there. They do very interesting work. 

A lot of my colleagues were talking about issues raised from the Care Reform Initiative (CRI). Currently, children's homes usually accept abandoned children, as well as orphans. As a result of the implementation of the CRI, more children living in homes are being reunified with their families, if possible. This may be with parents, or with other family members. Some people who work with the children say that the children's families often want them to stay in homes (or orphanages), as the children live in better conditions and are guaranteed to get regular meals and have access to an education. This is a very big issue - globally, not just in Ghana - as ideally every child should have a family, and there are serious problems regarding institutionalisation, which will have lifelong effects. At the same time, struggling families may see children's homes as a way to give their children more opportunities in life. Further problems are raised as some homes may have different standards, and if not registered, may not be regulated. It seems that the policy-makers, those working on the ground, and parents have very different views. Ultimately any action must be in the best interests of the child. I would like to explore these issues further and I invite anyone to get in touch with me if they would like share their views on issues of children's homes and reunification (not just in the Ghanaian context, but in general. I am interested in hearing about all regions and countries, and how people are working to solve these problems for children.).

I now hope to post more regularly as I am back home! Wishing you all a nice weekend!

Challenges of Running a Children's Charity

Today has been a hard day. There are a lot of challenges involved with running a children's charity. Some are much more difficult to deal with than others. The organisation I started, CHW, is based in London, and we currently support locally run children's initiatives in five countries. Below are three of the most challenging things I have found in running CHW, in order of the least to the most difficult.

Fundraising

Firstly, raising funds is itself difficult, but you accept that this is a challenge that comes with the nature of this work. Since the recession hit, we have had less donations - an issue faced by most other organisations in the charity sector. As we are a small organisation, this has been difficult. It is frustrating not to be able to help the local organisations CHW supports as quickly as I would like. We have tried to hold more fundraising events, since individual donations decreased. These are difficult economic times, but this is a challenge we must rise to.

Volunteer and student at a "Clothes Swap" fundraising event 

at University College London

The Children's Struggles

The second thing, which is much more difficult, is trying to understand the backgrounds of the children we help. I have personally been to, and vetted, every organisation that we decided to support and have met the children they help. The children have had to face circumstances in their short lives that I couldn't have imagined when I was growing up - from walking to collect water from a well everyday (Ghana), to facing constant discrimination (Roma in Europe) and the constant threat of violence (South Africa) and a lot of other issues. This has opened my eyes to many harsh realities and I feel compelled to act, as I was given many opportunities in life, just by chance - for example, I have always had food and water; I was able to complete my education, etc. I would like to use all the opportunities I have had to help give opportunities to others who have not been so lucky.

To think of the challenges many children face is awful. However, in my field of work, there is also hope. I met these children through the local organisations that support them. These organisations are doing very good work, that we hope to contribute to, and will give these children a better childhood and more opportunities for their future. We support a range of projects from one which helps orphaned babies in China that need life-saving surgeries, to an organisation in Argentina which runs eighteen houses for children and teenagers who have been orphaned or abandoned, with three of the houses caring for those with disabilities.  I just wish that local organisations, like the ones we support, could somehow reach all the children out there that need help, in every country.

The Most Difficult Times

The third thing, which is the most difficult, is experiencing the illness, or death, either of one of the children you have been working with, or of someone who is close to the children. I started CHW in 2007 and until 2010, nothing like this had ever happened. Even though we were a small organisation, we had been doing well, fulfilling the appeals from the local organisations, and building our networks within the five countries where we work. Everything was very positive.

Early success: one of our first projects in 2007 was to fund the purchase and installation of a water tank, which New Life International Children's Home in Ghana had asked us for.

In 2010, something happened which I will never forget. It was my last day in Cape Town and a little girl we were hoping to help through a local organisation, called The Future Factory, passed away in a road accident. The accident was avoidable - the driver of a minibus full of children overtook a line of waiting cars at a railway crossing, dodged the security barrier and went straight into the path of an oncoming train. Most of the children were killed. The little girl I knew, Lisle, was eleven. She had been through so much. When she was seven she was sexually abused, stabbed, hit over the head with a rock and set alight, by a family friend. She survived, and showed great determination to get past this. She became an inspiration to her community. The director of the Future Factory, Anne, supported Lisle and her family greatly. Anne and I were with Lisle's family when they had to identify her after the crash. I wrote about Lisle recently on the second anniversary of the accident. You can read more about her here. I raised money for her funeral, which was the saddest appeal I have ever had to run.

Then, this summer, another terrible thing happened. Last year, one of our biggest projects was to fundraise for a local Romanian organisation, FAST, to build a carpentry workshop for one of the families it worked with. The family had eleven children, and they were living in abject poverty. The father Sorin had carpentry skills, but nobody wanted to employ him because he is Roma, and there is much discrimination against the Roma people. The director of FAST, Daniel, believed that, with his organisation's help, Sorin could start a furniture business and support all his children. As the children grew up, they could join the family business and end the cycle of poverty they would otherwise be stuck in. Sorin and his eldest son, Lucian, who is seventeen, helped the builders construct the workshop. I visited last year, when it was nearly complete, and Sorin seemed so hopeful.

Sorin with Lucian and one of the younger children, 

during the construction of the workshop.

I was devastated to receive an email from Daniel at the beginning of the summer to say that Sorin had been having stomach pains and Daniel had taken him to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Everything happened so fast after this, and Sorin's condition rapidly deteriorated. I am waiting for further news on Sorin. Lucian will now be in charge of providing for the family, as his father is in hospital and is very weak. Lucian is so young, and has so many people to support. Sorin was going to pass on his skills to Lucian and the other children. Now, if we are able to raise the funds (two hundred pounds per month for about a year) Daniel says that Lucian can have an apprenticeship with FAST (which has builders and carpenters within its team) and will be able to run the family business well. I hope that we will be able to support this.

Today, I received some sad news from one of the physiotherapists, Gabriela, at a project we support in Argentina. The organisation, Bethel, is the one I mentioned previously, which runs eighteen homes for children. Gabriela works at one of the houses for those with disabilities, and this is the house where I usually volunteer, if I am in Argentina, so I know all the people there very well. The residents have a range of disabilities. All have some form of mental disability and each have differing physical issues too. They are looked after very well and will be able to reach adulthood, if their condition does not have complications. One little girl, Luz, was able to do very little for herself. She could not talk. She had been given a wheelchair as she was too weak to walk and she was fed through a tube in her stomach each day. She was very much loved by the staff, and I could see how well she was taken care of - not just each day while I was there, but also by how much she had grown every time I went back to Argentina and visited. Today Gabriela told me that Luz had passed away in hospital. I think Luz must be twelve years old by now. I am so sad, but I do realise that Bethel gave her the best life she could have had for those twelve years.

Keep on Going...

People tell me how rewarding it must be to run CHW. They are right - a lot of the time it is. However, sometimes, it is really tough, especially when there is nothing more that you can do for someone. Then, maybe, what you must do is carry on being inspired by those people, and keep their memory alive through what you do. I won't ever forget Lisle or Luz and I must carry on working on CHW's projects to keep on reaching children who can benefit from our work.

Photos of some happy children at the projects we support in Ghana (above) and China (below). It is important to keep going, and help to meet their needs.

Vital Needs and a Good Idea - in Ghana

I have just spoken to the director of an initiative my organisation, CHW, supports in Ghana, David. He is the founder of Sankofa Mbofra Fie, which runs a school and an orphanage. I wrote about this here.

One of CHW's volunteers said she would like to arrange a collection for Sankofa at her work. This was great news! I phoned David to clarify what the latest needs are. Firstly, he would use money to pay for food for the children. Secondly, he needs to pay money to rent the orphanage building. The contract he had has just run out. He either needs to rent that building again, or move to another one. What a responsibility to have! He is doing such great work looking after these children, and I hope people will contribute to support this.

David also told me, last time I phoned, that he needed funds to photocopy exam papers for the children that attend his school. This time he told me that it would be great if he could have a photocopying machine. That way, he could use it for the school pupils, but there would also be another benefit. Sankofa is based in a small village called Eguafo. If anyone needs to have anything copied they go to the nearby towns of Cape Coast or Elmina. David could then have a small business in Eguafo, as people there could come to him and pay to use the photocopier.

David has to put the other needs - food and rent - first, but I hope it will be possible for him to get the photocopier too. It is a great idea as it will help with the school's needs, and can also help raise funds for Sankofa.

David also mentioned that it would be good if people could donate secondhand football jerseys. It would be possible to post them to Sankofa.

I am so impressed with what David does for the children in Eguafo, and I really hope to be able to offer some more support through my organisation. I was really happy to hear that one of the volunteers wanted to do a collection! My organisation is still small, and we really appreciate everybody's help! If you also want to get involved with David's amazing work, feel free to leave a comment here or email me at catherine "at" chworldwide.org. Together, we can make a difference!

David with some of the boys at Sankofa's school. I was able to bring a bit of sports equipment, like the ball in the photo, during my last trip to Ghana. Now, it would be great to have some more sports equipment and football jerseys, as well as funds for all the things I wrote about.

Volunteering With and For Children: Part 2

Do you want to Volunteer?

It is Global Youth Service Day this weekend! I posted about that yesterday in Part 1 on the theme of volunteering with and for children. I also gave some details about the Service Innovation Summit, which I recently took part in. As well as all this, it will be the fifth anniversary of my organisation, CHW, tomorrow, so no wonder the subject of volunteering has been on my mind!


Although it might be a bit last minute to find a project for this weekend, volunteering at any time is a very positive thing! Here are some links to help you get started. Some have general volunteering opportunities, but you can search specifically for placements with children's projects, if that is what you particularly want to do.


Searching for volunteer placements or projects:

1. Idealist - I post CHW's volunteering opportunities there. Lots of organisations use this site and there are many types of opportunities you can choose from.
2. Betterplace - One of CHW's volunteers told me about this site. So far I have just posted CHW's appeals for donations, but some organisations advertise for volunteers (which I may also do in the future!) and it is worth taking a look.
3. 7 Billion Actions - Organisations have posted their profiles here, with contact details. CHW has been contacted by new volunteers through this site and there are lots of organisations you can look through, to find one you like.
4. Junction49 - This is a site for people aged 13-25 in the UK. It supports young people in setting up their own projects and other young people on the site can volunteer and help out with these initiatives. The site was recommended to me by the Volunteer Services Unit at UCL, when I was a student there.

Links from the Service Innovation Summit:

1. Cuenta Conmigo Blog- This Blog was set up after the Summit and has resources and ideas to do with volunteerism - the focus is on Spain, but there are some blog entries in English too, which may be of interest. 
2. Community Project Grant - Spain only. This is a competition for a grant to finance a volunteer project in Spain. The deadline to apply is 20 May 2012.
3. Global Service Leaders Network - an online community for leaders from around the world who are concerned with volunteerism.

Volunteer with CHW:

1. Your skills! - If you have any skill you want to share with us to help support the children we work with, please let me know. We have volunteers who help publicise appeals and arrange events, as well as those who do translations and have helped with designing our logo! See more on CHW's 'Get Involved' page, under the 'volunteering' section.
2. Cake Sales - To celebrate CHW's 5th 'birthday' we are hoping as many people as possible will have cake sales to support our work throughout the year! If you are able to arrange a cake sale at your work, university, school or community, please get in touch!
3. International Volunteering - Some of our partner organisations in Argentina, Ghana, Romania and South Africa run international volunteer schemes. They set the prices, so they are cheaper than doing placements with big gap year companies. I can put you in touch with the local organisations, if you want to volunteer abroad.
4. Pass on our links! - This is an easy way to volunteer, if you want to help but don't have a lot of time. I have posted our two current appeals on both betterplace.org and kapipal.com. More info about these projects are on the appeal pages and to be successful CHW really needs people to pass on the links. If you are able to share them, by email, facebook, twitter, on your blog, or any other way you can think of, it would be a big help! Here are the links:

         Playground Project in Ghana on betterplace and on kapipal.

         Children's Music Therapy Project in Argentina on betterplace and on kapipal.


If you have other useful links for volunteering, please do add them as a comment below. I hope you find the volunteer opportunity that you are looking for!

Ideas to Help a School and Children's Home in Ghana?

I just had a phone call from the founder of Sankofa Mbofra Fie in Ghana, David. My organisation, CHW, supports Sankofa. David grew up on the streets himself. He started his organisation, which runs both a children's home and a school, to give opportunities to the children in the village of Eguafo. David started Sankofa in 2006 and it was less than a year later when I first met him. Since then I have seen how the number of children helped by Sankofa has just kept growing! There are now fifteen children living at the home and over three hundred attend the school. CHW has given donations, whenever possible, which have been used to buy food for the children and help to pay the teachers' salaries.


David phoned to let me know about some present costs. As well as immediate needs, like food, there are other things, such as having to pay the contract for the house Sankofa uses, renewing its NGO certificate and even getting photocopies of the exam sheets for the school, because the children need to be able to take their exams soon. All of the things are necessary for Sankofa to stay running and for the children to keep advancing in their education.


To be honest, my mind is racing! I am trying to think up some ways to fundraise quickly to get a donation for Sankofa.  CHW has larger, longer term projects that we fundraise for (currently a playground project at another children's home in Ghana and a children's music therapy project in Argentina). However, sometimes the local organisations contact us with issues like David did today. David, like the directors of the other initiatives we support, understands that fundraising can be difficult and we may not be able to help at short notice, but I still hope to be able to do something. He is doing amazing work for these children, and if it is possible to contribute to this, it would be a big help to all those at Sankofa.


If anyone has any ideas, or would like to help out - either by fundraising or donating, please let me know! I am always looking for new ways to fundraise anyway and it would be great to hear from you, if you have an idea to share.

Some of the children in class, during my last visit in 2011.

With David and some of the children - my first visit to Sankofa.

Let's Talk About Rights

The toddler, sitting comfortably in his pushchair, was wheeled close to our table in a café in Amsterdam. My companion exclaimed:

“Look at your children in their wheels!”

By my children, he meant ‘European’. He was the director of an orphanage in Ghana and this was the first time he had left the country. He could now observe the differences between the ways of life for the children here and there. One of these differences, he found, was the sense of entitlement the children he met on his travels seemed to have. He told me,
"If you don't let them have something, they will cry until they get it. They think nothing is out of their reach. Children in Ghana never behave this way."

The view of the street where I stayed in Lome, Togo.
Next to the tree trunk, you can just see a woman carrying a baby on her back, as is common in the neighbouring country of Ghana too. No "wheels" in sight.

Children and their Rights

Thousands of miles away, in Cape Town, I found some parents were also having problems involving children who believed they were entitled to certain things. In this case though, it was their rights, rather than material objects. One mother I spoke to at a children's event in Cape Town complained wearily,
"They come home from school and say they have rights, but if you ask them, 'What is your right?' they don't know! They don't understand, and they use it to argue with us."

This seems to mean that someone at her children's school was trying to teach them about their rights, but perhaps was not going about it in the most effective way. There are international legal instruments which are concerned with children’s rights. One is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which all the countries in the world are party to, except the USA and Somalia (a somewhat unlikely pairing!). Another is the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. You can find more information about the Convention and the Charter on the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) website. South Africa also has national laws concerning children’s rights, which can be seen here. It is important that children know what their rights are, so it is essential that they are taught about this in a way that ensures they have a proper understanding of them, unlike the children of the mother quoted above.

One teenage boy seemed to know at least what one of his rights were, but his father did not like his attitude which accompanied this. He exclaimed,

"Once my son came home from school and said that he has RIGHTS. And his rights meant I couldn't hit him. This infuriated me so much, I actually felt like hitting him!"

Luckily I knew this man was speaking with some degree of sarcasm, and would most likely not hit his son. We were in the middle of a discussion during a conference held by the Working Group on Positive Discipline (WGPD) and this father was firmly in favour of banning corporal punishment. However, he illustrates a very valid point. What is a good way to teach children about their rights? It may be difficult to know how to do this, especially, for instance, with regards to corporal punishment, when the children are part of a society where parents feel that it is socially and culturally acceptable to hit them.


Corporal Punishment and What Children Think

On looking at better ways of disciplining children, rather than using corporal punishment, one participant at the meeting, said:

“Positive parenting and child participation are indivisible. With positive discipline, we are talking about talking to children.”

One point that was made obvious during the conference was that it is essential to engage with children, as well as with parents and teachers, to try to combat the problem of physical punishment, which is so common in South Africa. South Africa has joined the growing number of countries which have banned corporal punishment in schools (although, sadly, the practice still does take place). Like many other countries in the world, it has not yet prohibited corporal punishment in the home.

The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children website has a page dedicated to research on corporal punishment which has involved children. The following are quotes from some of the children themselves.

In Cambodia, corporal punishment has been legally prohibited in schools, but a study was done before this was the case. The different quotes showed that the children had mixed views on whether or not the teacher should beat them:

“Yes, if I am doing wrong I would prefer the teacher to hit me."
"No, the teacher should ask me to clean the rubbish or classroom or kneel down."
"They should not beat them all, just the lazy ones."

One participant at the WGPD conference drew attention to the fact that some children are in favour of corporal punishment. With regards to child participation, she said children should be able to listen to the arguments for and against corporal punishment, and then make up their own minds. They should not just be told to say what the adults want them to say, as this goes against the whole idea of listening to the views of children.


In Spain, children were asked their opinions on parental corporal punishment. Some of their answers, as follows, are very thought-provoking.

"I liked very much my rights. The one I like the most is not to get raps with knuckles from my parents when I am a bad or a good boy depending who says so, me or my parents."– Boy, twelve years old

"My parents feel, like me, lost many times, the only thing I can't understand is why they refuse to talk about it with me." - Girl, 11 years old

"When they spank us, we cannot explain ourselves, and express our feelings." - Girl, 11 years old

The last two quotes show that these children would much prefer to have a dialogue with their parents, than be physically hit. One woman from Ghana, who has now lived in England for a couple of decades, told me that, although she does not believe that children in the UK are disciplined too well, she does like it that they have more of a chance to express themselves than she did as a child growing up in Ghana.

The next two quotes, from the Spanish children, show some of the negative effects of using corporal punishment as a method of discipline:

"If they hit me, I learn to hit." - Girl, 12 years old

In other words, using corporal punishment shows children that it is acceptable to hit others and that violence can be used to solve problems, rather than talking about them.

"I don't understand why they are spanking me, but I do what they tell me so I don't get the spanking." - Boy, 11 years old

This highlights another issue when corporal punishment is used as a method of discipline. The child will do what he or she can to avoid the punishment. This can involve carrying on with the behaviour in question, but hiding it from the parents. If a parent explained to the child why they had a problem with their behaviour, it is more likely the child will understand what they did wrong, and may then behave differently the next time. By talking with children, parents will be able to impart their values to them… which is probably what they are hoping to achieve through discipline anyway.

Teaching Children about their Rights

As shown with the example of corporal punishment above, it is positive, and necessary, to involve children and hear their views on issues affecting them. During my children’s rights course at UCL, my lecturer asked us to raise our hands if we had been taught about our rights, or the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child, at school. In the class were students from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. One girl from Colombia put her hand up. Nobody else had been taught about their rights as children.

Purely by chance, as I was writing this entry, the director of one of the organisations my charity supports, here in South Africa, asked me to develop a children’s rights volunteer programme for her. The aim will be for volunteers to go in and teach children in the last two years of primary school about their rights in general and also to focus on what happens when children come into conflict with the law (in the hope that this will deter them from committing offences in their teenage years.) I am excited to be working on this, but I understand that it is a very challenging and sensitive area and must be done properly. (It would therefore be great to hear from people with experience in programmes teaching children about their rights.)

Children at school in Ghana.
Is school the best place for children to learn about their rights? If so, what is the best way for them to be able to do this?

Conclusion

As mentioned at the beginning, sometimes children do feel entitled to things. I have heard demands back home in London like:

“I NEED a Nintendo Wii. Everyone else has one! It’s not fair.”

Something I like about the African Charter is that children’s responsibilities are outlined, as well as their rights. According to Article 31, children have responsibilities towards their family, society, state and the international community. I feel it is important that children are given their rights, and the protection, they all deserve. An essential part of this includes teaching children about their rights, although it is vital that this is done in an effective manner. I also think it would be a good idea to teach children about their responsibilities. If we respect their rights and protect them, we are giving them a good environment to grow up in safely. If we teach them about their responsibilities too, we will help them to develop into well-rounded individuals. Then, they would probably be able to create a much better world for all the children who come after them too.

Opportunities and the Accident of Birth

The sun was shining and the trees were blooming against the backdrop of the magnificent mountains reaching into the sky. All in all, it was a beautiful morning in a stunning place: Cape Town. School children walked past the windows of the minibus-taxi I was taking to work, laughing and chatting. Further on, I came to a school. The building looked very run down, but its grounds were teeming with children. Later, I started passing the townships. Glancing down a path in between the shacks made of wood and corrugated iron sheets, I saw more children. Some were sitting in a group; a couple were running around. I wondered what they would be doing for the rest of the day.

I thought back to my own easy childhood. I happened to be born into a family which could provide me with shelter, clothing, food, water and an education. Actually, my parents gave me much more than that – there were the numerous toys, outings and holidays too. Of course, I did not truly appreciate any of it; rather I grew to expect it of them. I took a lot for granted. For example, I never realised how great it was to be able to turn on a tap and have clean drinking water running from it. Instead, my demands to my parents would go something like, “I want to drink squash… No not THAT flavour. The other kind… and put fizzy water in it…and ice… and a pink straw...” and on and on and on! I had no awareness that there were other children in the world, who maybe had to walk miles to reach a well just to get some water. Some of the children I later met in Ghana had to do exactly that. They had other chores too, like washing their clothes, sweeping and cleaning, looking after younger children, helping to plant crops and preparing food. They seemed so independent. My friends and I back home used to complain if we were asked to tidy our rooms or set the table! The difference was striking.

Children at New Life International Children's Home after planting crops and helping to carry water. There were lots of chores to do in the children's home, but other children I met in Ghana, who lived with their families, also did so much more than the ones I have worked with back home.

.

Whether you are demanding fizzy orange squash or walking miles for water purely depends on where you happen to be born. Back in my home city of London, there are the "nice" areas and the "rough" areas and places which are in between. We have homeless people on the streets and other families living in sprawling mansions in the countryside. The children born into these situations will have very different experiences of life, and, sadly, some will not have very many opportunities compared to others. Here in South Africa, the differences between the way people live are very visible. I spent a lovely weekend with a family living in Camps Bay, in their beautiful home. Their child seemed to be experiencing a childhood quite similar to how mine was. The next day, due to my involvement with the local organisation, The Future Factory, I visited Egoli Squatter Camp. Life could not have been more different for the children there. The lack of the resources they need for the present, and the lack of opportunities they will have in the future, unless drastic action is taken, is very saddening. I have seen a similar situation while in Romania too. You can wander round the shops and restaurants in the picturesque old centre of Brasov, and yet half an hour away, on the outskirts of Sacele, lives a large Roma community in shacks. This article gives an insight into why the Roma community is marginalised, and the common perceptions people have of them. It quotes people at two organisations which I have also had some involvement with: The Atelier Sacelean Association and FAST. The marginalisation of certain communities seriously impacts on life for the children, and greatly affects the kinds of things they will be able to do when they reach adulthood.

A lot of charities and NGOs are committed to assisting those living in need. One aspect of the organisation I set up, is to respond to appeals from the local organisations we work with, to try and support them in the work they are doing to help children in their areas. (Although I suppose it is technically a charity, the idea is not just to dole out resources, but to form partnerships across the world, to link people in a global network, to be able to help support the children of our world. However, we are still quite small and new, and have a long way to go!) I always remember an organisation which had a different aim, Envision. This organisation supports young people who want to make a difference, and some of its volunteers came to my school while I was in the sixth form. At that time, Envision was mostly concerned with environmental issues (although it seems to now take on a more diverse range of projects). A group of us, helped by them, began our own projects around the school and in the local community, to help protect the environment. I think it is really great to raise awareness of world issues amongst young people and let them consider what some possible solutions could be. I wish I had known about other people's ways of lives when I was younger, and I believe it is important to raise awareness of the inequalities of the world. If the next generation grows up with this knowledge, they may be better equipped to solve some of the issues that we have failed with so far.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a World Summit on Food Security held in Rome. This CNN article begins by stating that:

"Somewhere in the world, a child dies of hunger every five seconds -- even though the planet has more than enough food for all."

That there is enough for everybody, I feel, makes this fact sadder than if there was genuinely not enough food to go round. Again, it is purely by accident of birth whether a child is born into a family who is going to be able to provide them with food easily or not. As well as creating structures to help those most in need, it is essential that more awareness is raised of the inequalities and injustices going on right now. As the leaders of tomorrow, it is important that all young people learn about these issues. Tomorrow's world belongs just as much to the children in the townships as it does to children anywhere else. We all need to put in the hard, but necessary, work to stop that statement from sounding like a nice ideal and make it the reality.