• Who Cares about Children, They are here to build special cells for holding them in police stations and prisons while Earning Big time.
EDITORIAL
This editorial is an original publication of the Hornnewspaper.com
It is disgusting to see children from poor families and those of Internally Displaced Persons-IDPs and refugee communities suffer through want while purported humanitarian and development workers continue to grow fat on funds donated for the welfare of these children.
During two days activities briefing to the public by donor organizations held at a Hargeisa hotel last week, revelations were galore as pertains to both the external and internal workings of humanitarian and donor agencies registered in the country including UN agencies, international and local Non-Governmental Organizations.
While all and sundry were in accord that these agencies have for 21 years had a positive impact on the fast paced country’s reconstruction and ongoing development phase, the exorbitant salaries earned by staff of these organizations and their personal expenditure raised eyebrows.
The effect of these huge payments to staff thus entails the agencies to utilize 70% of their respective budgets on internal expenditures while their numerous programs are allocated the remaining 30%. “How can you justify the payment of salaries worth $20,000 while those you purportedly serving live on less than a dollar?.” quipped Vice president Sayli.
Another anomaly that was because of the briefing concerned the implementation of never ending assessment surveys and workshops whose result is never availed.
Most briefings had a semblance of clarity but the one by save the children fund Alliance
Left a sour taste not because of what they SCF have done/are doing but because of what THEY ARE NOT DOING.
The streets of Hargeisa that exemplify the rest of the towns in Somaliland abound with glue sniffing children who sleep in unmentionable conditions at street corners devoid of basic materials.
Dubbed XABAGLEYAL-Glue sniffers the kids of both genders survive through rummaging garbage, shoe shinning and other menial work that are not only inhuman but against the fundamentals of the rights of children.
The kids who also engage in child Labour in order to earn bread for their destitute families are thus in the process of becoming future destitute themselves owing to their lack of education opportunities.
The sorry state of the XABAGLAYAASHA weakened by poor diets (irregular) coupled with unhygienic living is most sorry when they fall sick.
The suffering of the street children and other vulnerable children is further amplified by the tragic death of a number of them through drowning while drawing dirty water for family consumption at a dam in Jigjiga yar estate in Hargeisa.
The irony of this incidence is that it happened at the doorsteps of the internationally acclaimed Save the Children Fund whose main mission in the country is child welfare. To add salt to injury SCF ignored the incident and went deaf to the pleas of the bereaved families whose poverty made it impossible for them to afford burial costs.
SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND, have you forgotten loud cries of sadness from city residents after the Jigjiga yar dam drowning incident? If so
Is it possible that the SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND is blind, having not seen the drowning that happened next door? In addition, is it possible that deafness prevails at SCF since they never heard the families’ pleas for help nor the citizen’s cries of sadness and helplessness?
The main question is, in 20 years of operations how has the SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND, with its millions of dollars budget, failed to facilitate a perimeter fence for the dangerous dam that continues to wreak havoc on the lives of destitute children?
It is worth to mention that the only memorable contribution the SCF Alliance to children welfare to date is the construction of special cells for delinquent children thus their separate confinement in police stations and prisons. How convenient, Clear them off the streets, make them comfy in custody while we grow fat!!!
It is therefore imperative that the save the Children fund Alliance rethink its mission, expend 70% of their budget on projects with tangible benefits for the vulnerable children who are their charges or leave the country all together.
Save the Children Fund Alliance PULL up, YOUR PROGRAMATIC SOCKS for the problem is HOW MUCH YOU SPEND on YOURSELVES thus, WHAT YOU ARE NOT DOING
For the sake of humanity change the EARN BIG AND MAY THE CHILDREN SUFFER dogma to EARN LESS and MAY the CHILDREN FLOURISH
