Soc 3180: Community Development Rebecca Bradley
Section 400 Teshauna McCormick
November 30, 2009
UNICEF Africa: Unite for Children in Congo
Imagine this. There are 66 million people living in Congo, Africa and 31 million of these are under the age of 18. 250,000 of those under 18 live on the streets, 100,000 of these under eighteen are affected by AIDS, one in every five of these children dies before the age of five, 26 percent of the children under five suffer from malnutrition, one-third of them will not complete or attend school, and 54 percent of these children live in poverty. Diseases and infections and complications at birth kill more than 45,000 children every year. These statistics are staggering. However, there is one organization that has a mission to improve these statistics astronomically. There is severe poverty, insecurity, a lack of basic social services, and sexual violence for the children in Congo and it takes a very heavy toll on the children. Therefore, UNICEF Africa and its partners have come to the aid of these children to protect them and make a difference in their lives.
The existence of poverty is a major factor for the street children. Majorities of these children are handicapped and rejected by their families. Poverty has major issues that create devastating circumstances for all families involved such as breaking up homes and leaving no choice for the adults in the situations but to turn kids into means of income or into possessions for sale. 50 percent of these children are boys. They are often offspring of prostitutes or children of previous partners who are not welcomed because one of their parents has remarried. They are a constant reminder of the past. Street children come from the slums or homes where illegal activities abide. They are abused by military police and soldiers and are seen as a nuisance and dangerous mini criminals to their society. These children were left homeless after...