This World Children’s Day, James Baldwin’s famous reflection ‘the children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe’ becomes ever more pertinent. Across the world, the lack of access to adequate healthcare, basic sanitation and hygiene, clean water, food and shelter means many are deprived of a genuine childhood, instead living in war zones, experiencing violence and struggling to survive.
In rural areas of Malawi, there is sometimes no medical clinic closer than a day’s walk away. In Rwanda, children as young as two require end-of-life care due to serious health issues. In Sudan, half of the population, including almost 13.6 million children, are in need of urgent assistance due to the escalating humanitarian crisis (Unicef). In the Democratic Republic of Congo, tens of thousands of children have been displaced. In a single year, more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than in any other recent conflict (Oxfam). Many of these children are orphans, forced to grow up too soon, and often without all their limbs; Gaza is now home to the most child amputees in modern history.
Today, we highlight some of the children we have had the privilege to serve, in different ways, across a multitude of projects. Whilst data of those wounded, displaced, and martyred fill our screens, we must not forget that each one of those numbers is someone just like us. Someone that could have been us. A child that should be playing with their toys, chasing a football down the street, and hugging their parents goodnight. Not someone walking for miles to reach clean water, unable to afford a few pounds a day to pay for life-saving medication, or digging through rubble with their bare hands in the hopes of finding a family member.
Rwanda, Prince
Prince is a 2-year-old child receiving palliative care, and he is the youngest of three siblings in his family. He was diagnosed with bilateral Wilm’s tumour shortly after birth. Prior to his illness, both of his parents worked hard to provide a good life for their children. However, Prince’s condition has caused significant financial strain, with his mother having to leave her job to care for him full-time.
When Prince joined our palliative care program, he was malnourished. Thanks to the monthly nutritional support, including food packages and nutrition counseling provided through our holistic palliative care services, he is now healthier and no longer malnourished. Additionally, Prince receives assistance with transportation costs for his chemotherapy treatments at the local hospital, and he is currently doing much better.
North Syria, Psychosocial Support Tent
Since the devastating earthquakes in Feb 2023, we have been supporting the Jindires Medical Clinic in North West Syria to provide healthcare to the surrounding community and local refugee populations. This has included psychosocial support activities for children in a dedicated space, with games, crafts, lessons and other activities offered daily.
Malawi, Reina
Emma and her daughter Reina visited our healthcare facility in Mangochi to access the under-5 services, as Reina had been experiencing a persistent cough. This wasn’t their first visit to the facility; just the week before, they had also utilized the under-5 services for Reina’s monthly check-up. The journey from their village to the facility takes approximately 40 minutes in total, consisting of a 30-minute walk followed by a 10-minute bicycle ride.
Gaza, ‘Hope Clinic’
We are supporting a grassroots nonprofit organisation to run five medical tents including a specialised breastfeeding tent and mental health support in the middle of the Gaza Strip (Deir Al-Balah, Al-Zawayda and Khan Younis). The mental health support tent, named ‘Hope Clinic’ was launched at the end of August to provide mental health support specifically for children who have lost relatives to the attacks in Gaza. The Hope Clinic currently offers individual consultations, group consultations and daily debriefing activities.
Turkiye, ‘Friendship Tent’
Post-Feb 2023 earthquakes, a ‘friendship tent’ was set up in Kahramanmaras as part of wider psychosocial support activities offered to those affected, allowing children in the community to play and have fun together amidst the devastation and destruction they had just experienced.
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