This week, a young girl named Musu embarked on a life-changing journey. Musu’s family is a member of the Child Reintegration Center (CRC) program, and she suffers from a critical heart condition. But thanks to a remarkable collaboration between Helping Children Worldwide (HCW), Mercy Hospital, the Together for Global Health network, and Sick Pikin, Musu is finally getting the specialized surgery she needs. Musu's story is a testament to the power of partnership in global health. When Mercy Hospital, recently equipped with a new EKG machine thanks to our collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina, diagnosed Musu's condition, they knew immediate action was needed. Unfortunately, the necessary surgery wasn't available in Sierra Leone. Here's where the Together for Global Health network stepped in., We were able to reach out to members of the network to see if there were any organizations that we were aware of that helped coordinate medical treatment abroad. We were connected with the Sick Pikin Project, A locally based NGO in Sierra Leone that helps Sierra Leonean children get access to life-saving surgeries abroad. We have worked closely with their executive director through other initiatives in Sierra Leone and knew they would be a perfect partner for this venture. This incredible coalition sprang into action. HCW secured Musu's flights and travel insurance, while the CRC program facilitated passport acquisition for Musu and her mother. Mercy Hospital ensured Musu received the necessary medical clearance for air travel. Finally, Sick Pikin took the lead in obtaining visas for India and arranging the crucial surgery itself. Musu's journey is a beacon of hope. It demonstrates what can be achieved when dedicated organizations join forces. Together, they are not only saving a child's life, but also offering her a brighter future. We at HCW, along with our incredible partners, wish Musu all the very best for a successful surgery and a healthy life ahead. Her story serves as a powerful reminder that even the most complex challenges can be overcome through collaboration and a shared commitment to improving the lives of others.
Please keep Musu and her Mother in your prayers as they travel and as she undergoes surgery. We will keep you all up to date on her progress!
0 Comments
A robust case management system that includes skilled social workers is a critical factor in order to ensure permanence in family for every child. In honor of National Social Work Month, we're highlighting four of the highly skilled social workers of our partner programs, whose photos are shown above. Deborah Kanneh and Abdulai Massaquoi are part of the hardworking Case Management team at Child Reintegration Centre (CRC), Prezton Gonkerwon Vaye serves families in Liberia with Red Meets Green, and Silaty "Keke" Mansaray supports families in Freetown with Child and Family Permanency Services (CFPS). These four exemplary social workers represent all of the skilled and experienced social works doing the often invisible work of strengthening vulnerable families.
Ensuring that vulnerable children find not only families, but permanence within those families, and empower vulnerable families to achieve their own independence and self-sufficiency doesn't happen in a vacuum. When organizations like the CRC, Red Meets Green and CFPS find the families of children living on the street or otherwise separated from care, reuniting them with family isn't the end of the story - it's just the beginning. And the hardest most difficult work is what comes next. The highly skilled social workers of agencies like these address each family's case holistically, identifying not just their needs, but their strengths as well, and building both the capacity of each family and their confidence in their ability to care for one another and to thrive. The relationship between the case manager and the family is a partnership designed to help the entire family grow stronger. This relational practice lets social works provide services working with the poor, rather than for the poor. Research shows that social work has one the highest burnout rates of any profession, probably due to the fact that these dedicate professionals are daily working with families in crisis under some of the most difficult, challenging and heartbreaking circumstances. In the global south, they're often not well-paid, and have large case loads to manage. They also travel long distances to reach families on their case loads that live in remote villages. An African proverb states that "it takes a village to raise a child." Social workers and case managers play a critical role as a part of that village, building the capacity that strengthens families and communities. Today, February 20, 2024, is World Day of Social Justice. Formerly called "Social Justice Equality Day," it's an internationally recognized day to promote social justice efforts that tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights, childhood poverty and social protections.
Many people in the world suffer because of issues of social justice, but it's difficult to think of a group of people more powerless than children living without the love and protection of safe and caring families, and the networks of support that surround them, such as extended family, neighbors, communities, churches and access to social services. Orphaned children and those otherwise living outside of the care of family have no power, no voice, and no agency over their own lives. Even in institutional settings, children can suffer an appalling lack of access to their own rights. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly identifies some of these rights: the right to "...remain in or return to the care of his/her parents, or when appropriate, other close families members," the right to "...freedom of thought, conscience and religion," the right to "...express his/her own views freely in all matters affecting them, and the right to protection... from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation." Micah 7:8 teaches us that what God requires of us is "to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Note that it doesn't say that this is what God wants from us. No - it's not a suggestion, or even a recommendation - it's a requirement. In a world full of division and warfare and violence, it's difficult to figure out how to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly all at the same time, even just for ourselves. But if we're also engaged in the work of child protection and ensuring social justice for children, what does that justice look like, for them? If we're the champions of the least and the lost - how can we find justice for them? Mick Pease and Phillip Williams, co-authors of Children Belong in Families, have said "what children really need is someone just for them....they want to belong to someone, not to something." In 2019, after the CRC had completed its transition to family-based care and reintegrated all of the children back into their families, I visited one family in their two-room mud house, and asked the older daughter how things were different for her at home with her dad, than in the orphanage. She thought for several long minutes, and then she said, "when I wake up in the morning, he's here. We make breakfast and pray together. When I come home from school, he's here. He asks me about my day. He's here." His daily presence in her life, mattered more to her than anything else. I think for a child, justice looks like love, care, protection, identity; the right and ability to know who you are and to whom you belong. |
Follow us on social media
Archive
April 2024
Click the button to read heartfelt tributes to a beloved Bishop, co- founder of our mission!
Post
|