AMECEA/CCC: Catholic Care for Children Launches Regional Study, Sets Stage for Child Care Reforms
Elizabeth Asasha
The Catholic Care for Children (CCC), a visionary program led by Catholic nuns to ensure children grow up in secure environments, and nurturing families has launched a ground-breaking study that offers a framework for the protection of vulnerable children in East Africa.
The document “A Regional Portrait of Catholic Care for Children in Eastern Africa” was officially launched on Tuesday, May 16 and it is designated as the first significant study of its kind that describes Catholic-sponsored care for children in the region using data collected from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia.
The launch served as a watershed moment for the three-day Catholic Care for Children International Conference, which was organized to discuss child protection and safeguarding and ways to fortify families for better child care from the perspective of the Catholic church’s consortium and its partners.
In a speech preceding the actual launch, Sr. Niluka Perera, RGS, CCCI Coordinator of the Union of International Superiors General (UISG) in Rome, said, “We women religious are at the forefront of taking care of children and therefore UISG felt the need to take up the area of care of children by the women religious as one of their main responsibility.”
The Regional Portrait excerpts His Holiness Pope Francis’ document, “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” which was unveiled during his three-day apostolic visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February 2019, and in which the Pope and the Imam affirm that each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression, and action.
“The Protection of the fundamental rights of children to grow up in a family environment and to receive nutrition, education, and support are duties of the family and society. Such duties must be guaranteed and protected so that they are not overlooked or denied to any child in any part of the world,” reads the landmark document in part.
Sr. Delvin Mukhwana, DHM, Catholic Care for Children Kenya (CCCK) Project Coordinator encouraged participants to fly high the CCC flag as they maximize available resources to advocate for better child care.
“We are not stopping here; we need to continue playing our role to ensure that there is ongoing relevance of the Catholic church in organized care efforts in our own small or big ways because there are many opportunities that we can tap on,” said Mukhwana.
AMECEA Social Communications Coordinator
Rev. Fr. Andrew Kaufa, Social Communication Coordinator of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) and a consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication commented on the significance of the regional portrait to the Catholic Church, saying, “As partners, we needed to know the reality on the ground to be able to convince our conferences to support the national associations of Sisters in this mission.”
He added, “The contextual issues in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Malawi as outlined in this portrait are very vital to us, and I am happy that this regional portrait has brought out the details we require as a regional office to play our part.”
As outlined in the Regional Portrait, women and men Religious are committed to rethinking and re-strategizing the care for children in their formative ages as care reforms on children’s rights and safeguarding continue to acquire global pace. The CCC teams are steadfast in reducing the need for institutional care by encouraging and facilitating family and community-based care for children guided by the biblical mantra that every child deserves a loving, caring, and nurturing family.
The tripartite document embodies three chapters: A Global Trend: Care Reform as the prelude chapter, Catholic Care for Children in Eastern Africa as the second, and the third section describing Retooling for Catholic Care for Children for the 21st Century.
The findings of this study, which focuses on vulnerable children, at-risk minors, and youngsters who are estranged from their families, are expected to offer a road map for the much-needed transition from institutional care for children towards a more socially active and close-knit home environment.
International Superiors General (UISG)
The regional portrait is a collaborative effort of the Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI) under the Union of International Superiors General (UISG), Four national associations of religious in Eastern Africa which include Kenya (AOSK), Malawi (AWRIM), Uganda (ARU) and Zambia (ZAS), The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) and the GHR Foundation (USA), a hope-fueled global funder of service to people and their limitless potent potential.
Catholic prelates who were in attendance took to the podium to lead other stakeholders present in launching the Regional Portrait. These were Most Rev. Martin Kivuva Musonde, Archbishop of Metropolitan See of Mombasa and Chairman of the Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Most Rev. George Desmond Tambala, Archbishop of Lilongwe in Malawi, Bishop of Zambia’s Chipata Diocese, Rt. Rev. George Zumaire Lungu, accompanied by his counterpart of Mpika Diocese, Rt. Rev. Edwin Mulanda, Rt. Rev. Peter Adrian Chifukwa of Dedza Diocese in Malawi, Rt. Rev. Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, bishop of Tombura-Yambio diocese in South Sudan and the Rt. Rev. David Nga’ang’a Kamau, the auxiliary bishop of the Nairobi Archdiocese presided over Holy Mass later that evening.
