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Phillipa Mukome-Chinhoi-Youth Interactive Correspondent
Tomorrow Sunday is a day set aside for our beloved orphans.
Let’s take some time to pray for them for the Lord Jesus Christ is the only spiritual comforter, we also need to pray for those who look after them, those who give them support and help in any way they can so that they also feel loved.
It might not only be this Sunday but let’s always remember them in our prayers.
As we approach the festive season, take a moment just to visit them and shower them with sweets, biscuits, chocolates, teddy bears, clothes and just to offer them words of comfort.
Let’s also remember to pray and support those who sacrifice to take care of these children.
A special thanks to vana Gogo who are supposed to be enjoying their pension while relaxing in their homes but they sacrifice everything just to look after these lovely bundles for the sake of their late children.
In the view of the World health organisation(WHO) as of today 157 million children worldwide are orphans.
An orphan is a child who has one or two deceased parents.
Of the 132 million orphans who live in developing countries, an estimated 13 million have lost both parents.
One of the major causes of children being orphaned is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Even worse still the Covid-19 pandemic came and made it even worse. It has been a painful era ever since the pandemic was detected in 2019.
Most children became orphans due to these viruses.
There have been serious consequences for the rights and development of such children.
Some children have become parents at a very early stage leading them to drop out of schools, some children have had their properties taken by relatives leading them to go into the streets, some had to go and look for work so that they can provide food for their siblings.
Some orphans look for jobs just to escape their dire situations.
All too often, they are exploited through all kinds of degrading and dangerous work.
The International Labour Organisation (2019) reports that more orphans work in commercial agriculture, as street vendors and housekeepers, and in the sex industry, than other children.
However some have lost their parents due to natural disasters, famine,and war.
The latter factor also contributes to the displacement of children across borders.
Extreme poverty, illness, abuse and incest has led to the tearing of nuclear families apart and, in the end, lead to abandonment.
Orphans experience serious violations of many of their rights but they choose to keep quiet so that they can be fed in order to survive since they do not have the means to properly feed themselves.
These children usually live homeless in the streets.
In most cases, education is sacrificed first. Orphans usually meet not only their own needs but often those of younger siblings in their care.
Orphans are rarely primarily concerned with their own health, above simple food and shelter.
Yet their living conditions and daily activities are highly dangerous to their health, with the risk of street fights,drugs, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, malnutrition, and poor working conditions.
Gogo Fatima Kute from Mufakose says she takes care of 13 children in her three-roomed core house, she is a widow.
“I was left with these children by my two daughters and son who died due to AIDS and Covid-19 in 2021, I have forced the eldest children to drop out of school because I can not afford the fees since l am widowed and retired, most of them are now vendors at the shopping centre and they bring food at the table” she said.
Tayana thanked Gogo Kute for taking care of her since their father remarried and never came back to check on them when their mother passed on.
“I thank my grandmother for giving us shelter and food, our father now has other children with his new wife, they hardly check on us which pains me a lot to see an old woman like Gogo suffering for us while we still have one parent who is able bodied” she sobbed.
Online Reporter