Yesterday marked the 20th Anniversary since the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Since it’s beginning over 193 countries have ratified the convention apart from the United States and Somalia.
In Simple terms the rights of the child mean that every single child has the right to:
- Be born alive
- Have a name
- To not be hurt or mistreated by adults or other children
- To education
- To healthcare
- To be with your family if they do not hurt you or it is not possible and then you have the right to be with a family
- To not do work which is bad for you
More can be found in this poster here
These seem so simple and yet, the very sad reality is that:
- Over 25,000 children die every single day – usually due to starvation, bad water and AIDS
- In the US alone it is estimated that almost 1 million children a year are the victims of child abuse, if you think of what this would mean worldwide it is staggering
- There are 147 million orphans in the world
- There are hundreds of thousands of children who could be adopted or are waiting to be adopted but there isn’t the infrastructure or families coming forward.
- There are children in every single country in need of a family because they have either lost theirs or theirs simply can not care for them (due to abuse etc)
- There are millions of children working in factories, being paid peanuts which doesn’t even properly feed them, so that we can buy more stuff cheaply
- There are hundreds of thousand of children forced into the life of a child soldier
- There are millions of teenagers on the streets, they are vulnerable, hungry, sick and alone, they do not get to experience school sports, proms, a hug from someone who loves them or a warm meal
- In the US alone, it is reported in a new study that 47,000 people die each year because they can not afford health care and several hundred families go bankrupt!!!
Today one of my best friends in the whole world shared with me that she is 6 weeks pregnant, I am beyond elated for them, I have spent 8 weeks on my knees praying for them and feel nothing but elation and thanksgiving. Yet I also know, while this baby will be received in love, this baby will have milk, clothing, a family that will move mountains to make sure he or she is safe and loved and cared for properly, there will be thousands of babies born the same day that will die before they are born, die before their first birthday, starve to death, lose their parents, die from preventable diseases, be abused and neglected at the hands of those who are supposed to love them. Having previously fostered and doing the work I do I see it every single day.
I write this post more for a reminder to me, but also to share with you, to remember that there are thousands of things we can do to improve the lives of children! While we all have different skills and abilities, here are some ways that we can truly make a difference in the lives of those suffering
- Sponsor a child or community – World Vision and Compassion have great programs to sponsor children and I know many people reading this blog have written to me to tell me they’ve begun sponsoring!
- Help those at risk in your community – perhaps you could volunteer at a foodbank, baby-sit and provide food for a family you know is struggling, mentor a young person in care, take a minute to buy a homeless young person a meal and chat to them.
- Volunteer – become a scout leader or volunteer at a youth centre for vulnerable children. You too will feel the joy I do when a kid comes to you with a question, you give them the answer and they say “I just knew you’d take the time to answer my question, I’ve been waiting all week to ask you”
- Take alternative holidays – Could you take a volunteer holiday instead of the normal 2 weeks by the sea? There are many opportunities for families as well as singles and couples
- Buy Fairtrade food and clothing where possible
- Support the Red Cross
- Teach your children to care for others
- Consider fostering or adoption
- Stop criticizing or questioning people who want to foster or adopt, I can not believe how many people face people condemning them for not wanting to have biological children or not accepting if they can’t. Fostering and Adoption truly saves lives and allows wonderful families to be formed. I am an auntie thanks to the miracle of adoption and while in a perfect world it wouldn’t be needed, in this world for some it is their only hope!
- Boycott shops where they have a bad track record in how they treat and pay their overseas employees
- Give up 1 thing and instead give the money to an organization that supports children or the elderly
- Find out if there are local grandparents raising their grandchildren and see if you can help them (many age concerns have visiting schemes)
- Make a donation each Birthday and Christmas to a charity
- Read about the persecution children face, the more you know the more you will be empowered to act! Education is a powerful tool!
- When you get your immunizations for yourself or your children, remember that millions don’t have acess, so donate an immunization to someone in need to remember how blessed you are to get one!
- Donate Blood
- Become an organ donor
- When you sell something on ebay or at a car boot sale, donate 1/3 of the profits to a charity
- See if your work has a charity matching scheme
These are just some of the ways you can help, there are thousands upon thousands of ways you can make a difference in the life of a child. While I certainly can’t do everything, there are so many little things I can do each day to help!
In closing I was chatting with a friend yesterday who said she finds it so hard to teach children about those who have less than they do, one book I would suggest is a wonderful book by UNICEF that is sensitive while allowing you to explain, in child appropriate ways, just what they need to know!
You know, I’m pretty sure we can all do something so that 20 years from now the world looks a very different place for those who are most vulnerable!
It is so sad that there is so much suffering in this world, especially for children. You are so right that if we all did something we could make big change.
I have no doubt if everyone did something and made some commitment that things would improve greatly!
Did I read that right, that the U.S. has NOT ratified this? If so, I have a stream of letters that need writing. If we haven’t ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, that’s appalling.
Yes Kris, sadly it is true and very hard to understand…!
good and valid points. there is always something that we can do.
Great post – lots of ideas there on how we can help.
We sponsor a little girl in South America through World Vision. She is the same age as my daughter and it has provoked lots of talks about what Esmerelda (the sponsored child) has and doesn’t have and how her life differs to my daughters. It has been good for raising the kids awareness…although that wasn’t and still isn’t my motivation for doing it.
FT, I used this topic today in one of my classes. Here’s a sad stat for Canada, the child poverty rate has increased 20% since 1989. One in 6 lives in poverty here! Kids go hungry all the time. I’m trying to raise the awareness of my students to not only worry about themselves but about the bigger picture. It’s a definate work in progress.
Thank you for the shout-out to people who would consider adoption before biological parenthood. I’m one of them, and I’m tired of being treated like there’s something wrong with me, even by people who may have good intentions at heart.