Ithuteng

Recently I finished watching Ithuteng, a moving documentary about the Ithuteng Trust School in Soweto, Africa. The school tries to reach troubled kids by, for example, teaching them about the realities of prison and encouraging them to dramatize their own personal stories of trauma (sexual abuse is rampant in South Africa as is AIDS). Unfortunately, the film ends with a disclaimer that it was made prior to allegations about Ithuteng's leader Mama Jackie appearing in the South African press. Apparently she is accused of fabricating stories for the documentary and living in luxury accommodations. Disturbing. I recently read a couple stories in the NY Times about the tragic plight of kids in Africa. The first, from October 29 by Sharon LaFraniere titled "Africa's World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old's Eyes,":

...part of a vast traffic in children that supports West and Central African fisheries, quarries, cocoa and rice plantations and street markets. The girls are domestic servants, bread bakers, prostitutes. The boys are field workers, cart pushers, scavengers in abandoned gem and gold mines. By no means is the child trafficking trade uniquely African. Children are forced to race camels in the Middle East, weave carpets in India and fill brothels all over the developing world. The International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, estimates that 1.2 million are sold into servitude every year in an illicit trade that generates as much as $10 billion annually. Studies show they are most vulnerable in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

A 2002 study supervised by the labor organization estimated that nearly 12,000 trafficked children toiled in the cocoa fields of Ivory Coast alone. The children, who had no relatives in the area, cleared fields with machetes, applied pesticides and sliced open cocoa pods for beans. In an analysis in February, Unicef says child trafficking is growing in West and Central Africa, driven by huge profits and partly controlled by organized networks that transport children both within and between countries.

In a region where nearly two-thirds of the population lives on less than $1 a day, the compensation for the temporary loss of a child keeps the rest of the family from going hungry. Some parents argue that their children are better off learning a trade than starving at home. Indeed, the notion that children should be in the care of their parents is not a given in much of African society. Parents frequently hand off children to even distant relatives if it appears they will have a chance at education and more opportunity.

And, so tragic that it's true:

To reduce child trafficking significantly, said Marilyn Amponsah Annan, who is in charge of children's issues for the Ghanaian government, adults must be convinced that children have the right to be educated, to be protected, and to be spared adult burdens - in short, the right to a childhood.

The second, by the same author, "Sex Abuse of Girls Is Stubborn Scourge in Africa":

Even as this region races to adopt many of the developed world's norms for children, including universal education and limits on child labor, one problem - child sexual abuse - remains stubbornly resistant to change. In much of the continent, child advocates say, perpetrators are shielded by the traditionally low status of girls, a lingering view that sexual abuse should be dealt with privately, and justice systems that constitute obstacle courses for victims. Data is sparse and sexual violence is notoriously underreported. But South African police reports give an inkling of the sweep of child victimization. In the 12 months ending in March 2005, the police reported more than 22,000 cases of child rape. In contrast, England and Wales, with nine million more people than South Africa, reported just 13,300 rapes of women and girls in the most recent 12-month period.

Africa is not unique in its high rates of abuse. While a survey of nine countries last year by the World Health Organization found the highest incidence of child sexual abuse in Namibia - more than one in five women there reported being sexually abused before age 15 - it also found frequent abuse in Peru, Japan and Brazil, among other nations. Relatives are frequent perpetrators in Africa, as in much of the world. But this continent's children face added risks, especially at school. Half of Malawian schoolgirls surveyed in 2006 said male teachers or classmates had touched them in a sexual manner without their permission.

But medical and legal authorities say the vast majority of families still hew to a tradition of accepting payment from perpetrators. The few who press charges are plunged into a criminal justice process that Mr. Mouigni calls deeply frustrating.