AMECEA: Stakeholders Set to Sensitize Community on Holistic Care of Children
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Participants in a two-day workshop at St. Charles Lwanga Kankao Parish in Mangochi Diocese, Malawi, have appreciated the ongoing program on Catholic Care for Children (CCC) which advocates for holistic care of vulnerable children in family set-up.
The workshop convened by the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), the Association of Sisterhoods in Kenya, (AOSK), and the Association of Women in Religious Institutes of Malawi (AWRIM) aimed to sensitize Church stakeholders, community members including the local chiefs, government representatives, the clergy responsible for pastoral, Holy Childhood and family coordination on care reforms and family strengthening.
“We have shared ideas during the two-day meeting, and I agree with the fact that we need to care for our children in homes and not in institutions so they can learn cultural values and practices of their society,” The Traditional Authority (TA) representative Mr. Moses Skello shared with AMECEA Online after the workshop Wednesday, February 28 adding, “We thought orphanages were the best places for vulnerable children but after our group sharing, we are ready to change our mindset and resolve to support care for these children in family set-up.”
Mr. Skello who initially dreaded the thought that Catholic Care Reforms aims at closing all care institutions, admitted that in the olden days, an orphaned child could be taken care of by grandparents and relatives but the emergence of institutions instilled laziness in people, “but it is now high time we went back to our previous cultures.”
He promised to call for a meeting and inform the people within his jurisdiction of the new developments concerning care for children at the family level.
Another community leader, Mr. Gift Madyeratu, who is the Group Village Headman in the area, participant in the workshop and shared that the reality of poverty in families is a challenge that at times makes people fearful to support others who are in need, hence finding it an easier solution to take the child to a care institute.
On her part, the Child Protection Officer at Balaka District Social Welfare office Ms. Elizabeth Liston, narrated that the workshop on holistic care of vulnerable children came at the right time and participants have learned a lot about the significance of caring for children in family set-up.
“As a community, we have a great responsibility,” Ms. Liston who has served as a child protection officer for over a decade shared in an interview and explained, “Children undergo six developmental domains for proper growth. If they are kept in the orphanage for long, some of the developmental domains will not be realized, but if they grow up in homes, they will be integrally developed. This will also help the society maintain its culture.”
Expressing herself in the Chichewa language saying mu umodzi muli mphamvu (unity is strength), Ms. Liston said that through collaboration, care reform is possible and wished that all traditional leaders receive the message and support the process by encouraging the community to embrace care reform.
