South Sudan is the second poorest country in the world. This is mainly due to the years of conflict that still divide the country today. Children and young people are the main victims of the civil war in South Sudan. Many of them are orphans or neglected by their parents, who are so traumatized by the war that they can hardly take care of their children.
As a result, the children often find themselves in an emergency situation. The civil war and its aftermath have already torn them deep wounds at a young age and deprived them of their childhood. Left to their own devices, with no occupation or daily structure, they spend their days on the streets, exposed to many dangers, losing their zest for life, hope and dignity. In their desperate situation, they become easy victims. Boys in particular are strongly exposed to the temptation of leading a supposedly self-determined and better life as child soldiers with a weapon in their hands.
Traumatized by experiences of violence
According to the UN, more than 20,000 children are currently affected in South Sudan. Some of them were lured in with empty promises of a better life. Many, however, were forcibly recruited on their way home from school and must now participate in the conflict as child soldiers. In this way, they are not only putting their own lives at risk, but also those of those close to them.
Years of experience with violence severely traumatize the children and young people. Many who try to escape from the troops or mercenary units are shot. But even if they manage to free themselves from this terrible situation, the way back to a normal life is very difficult for the former child soldiers. Last but not least, they often suffer from a huge gap in education.
Protection and education for affected children and adolescents
Since 2002, the Muhaba Centre in Renk in the north of South Sudan has been providing protection and education for particularly vulnerable children and young people. The children's center offers them a safe haven where they experience a structured everyday life, characterized by peace and security.
Schooling is a top priority at the Children's Center. The children who are new to the center are first cared for individually and receive professional, yet loving, trauma care before being taught along with the others. The Muhaba Children's Center has an elementary school that follows a South Sudanese curriculum and prepares children for secondary school and some even for postsecondary education. In addition, the young people are further supported in attending secondary schools.
But the children at the Muhaba need much more than education, which is why the children's center attaches great importance to a structured daily routine in which there is also room for psychosocial care of each child, joint devotions are held, but also a lot of playing together is allowed. The aim is to give back to the children what they have been deprived of.
Construction of a girls' house in the Muhaba Centre
So far, only boys can live in the Muhaba; only some girls currently have the opportunity to attend school during the day in the children's center. However, they have to take a kilometer-long and dangerous way to school every day, with the constant fear of being attacked or even raped.
Through the construction of a girls' house, these and many other girls will now also have the opportunity to live in the Muhaba Children's Center and thus receive more protection and better access to education. This is a dream come true for them, as very few girls in South Sudan have the chance of education, especially secondary education. The opportunity to live in the girls' house at the Muhaba Children's Center helps the girls to actively shape their lives by being able to exercise their right to education.
Text: Babice Schlumpf-van Waardenburg
â–º Donate now for a better future for children in South Sudan
â–º Read here more about the Muhaba Children's Center in South Sudan
â–º Look here a film about the children's center Muhaba
â–º Look here a film by UNICEF about the situation of child soldiers in South Sudan
