Wisseh is an 11 year old boy who lived with a better-off non-African family as a worker because his own family was unable to support him. A few months ago we received a call from one of the neighbours who was worried about the treatment he was receiving. When the field worker from our Child Welfare Unit went to investigate he was not allowed to see the boy and after three visits and much discussion we were forced to remove the boy with the permission of the Justice authorities. He was found to be suffering from severe malnutrition, a hernia, an infection of the stomach and the chest as well as severe bruising of the back, legs and feet. The family concerned are presently in court being prosecuted for their treatment of the boy.

In May we received a report from a monitor in the Community Child Welfare Monitoring System about groups of children being used in hazardous labour, crushing rocks manually. In the space of time from receiving the report and taking action two children had already died on the job. Within the next few days we had our lawyer on the job and all the children had stopped working and the owner of the site was under investigation. We managed to get some of the children into training and some onto a sponsorship scheme which meant they could get on with going to school without having to do dangerous work.

At the same time as this case was going on our outreach workers had received a complaint from a woman who said she had discovered her nephew and niece in a local orphanage. The children aged 8 and 6 had been brought there when their mother had died and no other family member could be found. The aunt had been out of the city for a long time but since her return had been looking for the children. Unusually in a society where poverty often forces parents to give up their children she desperately wanted the children back. Unfortunately when she went for them the owners of the orphanage refused to release them for fear of losing income. The children wanted to go, she wanted to take them but she was being blocked. Once again we had to intervene and do what we could to get the children released. After a long wrangle which involved visits by our social workers and eventually the intervention of the relevant government ministry we were finally able to take the children and reunite them with their aunt. The orphanage is being closely monitored and we hope may soon be closed completely.

Three different stories, all of them true, and all of them involving children. Sadly, of course, stories like that could be repeated many times over in countries throughout the world. In telling these stories I am very aware of the dangers of presenting these simply as “stories” and somehow basking in the reflected glory of doing something about it. But that is not the point. Perhaps in all our work and ministry with young people we can get too involved in the activities and forget to reflect on the issues. How in touch are we with the issues facing young people in the area we work?

In the cases I have mentioned some of the issues are:

• The care and protection of children in families and communities.
• The economic and social factors forcing children into work that is dangerous and inappropriate.
• The best kind of care for children forced to live outside the family situation.

In considering these and other issues we are inevitably forced to examine what other groups and agencies are doing and to consider what special contribution we can make.

Our experience in Liberia was that we had a powerful network through the parishes and associated groups, a network previously untouched. While other agencies were working with government groups or local community groups we were able to speak to hundreds of people through our parishes, to explain the various ways we were trying to protect children and to encourage them to become a part of this. The response has been very encouraging. Suddenly instead of dealing only with individual cases we are dealing with issues and encouraging other groups to think about these issues. If issues can be addressed then the needs of individual children can also be better addressed.

Equally important it changes the work from being the lone crusade of one person, the super-hero changing the world by himself (only not really doing that at all) to being a genuinely empowering, self sustainable activity.

At a meeting a few months ago of one of the projects the team wanted to conduct awareness workshops for the children in a particular institution. Not wanting to rock the boat too much with this institution I disagreed and said we should wait. The team leader then reminded me of what I had said to them about looking at the issues in the bigger picture as well as the individual cases, and they proceeded to outvote me - a relatively new experience for me! The workshops went ahead and did cause a storm and maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. When the storm had passed some very positive changes took place in that particular institution - good for the staff and good for the children.

Considering the issues is often complicated and messy, but perhaps the only way to bring about a real and lasting change for children; that surely is what we are about.

Fr Joe Glackin SDB