children - The African Mirror

Sep

2022

Modern slavery: how a drama project in Ghana educates communities through the stories of survivors

AN estimated 40.3 million people around the world are trapped in slavery. One in four victims are children, with women and girls affected most. Modern slavery occurs when people are forced to work through violence and intimidation. According to the most recent figures from the Global Slavery Index, there are 133,000 people living in slavery in Ghana. Our ongoing research seeks to tackle the issue by using performance to bridge the gap between survivors and people at risk of becoming victims by developing a conversation about 21st-century slavery. How the Ghanaian government responds to this issue affects the amount of…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Children find lost families as Congo conflict rages

NEWS

JASON Kandeke and his sister Esther got out of the van and rushed into the arms of their weeping uncle and grandmother - the children's first contact with their family since Congolese fighters killed their parents six years ago. Militias raided their village of Mingele in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo - a region where militia groups have clashed for years, fighting over land and resources. Jason, now 12, and Esther, 14, both fled to another village where they were taken in. Earlier this year their carers were also killed in another attack. A friend passed their details onto the…

Feb

2022

By The African Mirror

Eswatini: how social pressures and poverty affect the ability of children to navigate school

EDUCATION

THE population of Eswatini (previously called Swaziland) is slightly below 1.2 million people, and about 58.9% of the people live below the nationally defined poverty line – living on less than US$1.9 a day. For years Eswatini has also had the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world. In 2019, about 27% of the country’s population was HIV positive. Author NCAMSILE MOTSA, Post Doctoral Researcher, School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal One of the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, coupled with poverty, has been the escalating numbers of vulnerable children in the country. For example, in 2012,…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Children and screens – making it through the holidays

NEWS

IT comes as no surprise that children are spending more time watching screens as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents and caregivers in many parts of the world – including South Africa, where I have done research on children’s healthy behaviours – have had a hard time managing their children’s screen time in these last two years. Juggling working-from-home commitments, online educational activities, economic challenges, and illness and grief have been realities, to varying extents, across most households. Screen time can offer a welcome relief when it has all become too difficult to manage. Author CATHERINE DRAPER, Associate Professor,…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Children are losing caregivers to COVID-19: they need support

COVID-19

CHILDREN have a very low risk of death or severe disease from COVID-19. As a result, they have not been a core focus in the pandemic response priorities of prevention, detection, and response. But this approach doesn’t take into account the secondary impacts of the pandemic. These include children being orphaned or bereft of their caregivers. LORRAINE SHERR, Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology, UCL LUCIE CLUVER, Honorary Professor in Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town Children are among the most vulnerable members of any society and are thus disproportionately affected by the devastation of this pandemic. If…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Children learn in class, and outside. But, over time, they learn more at school

EDUCATION

SCHOOL is a key component of our societies. In school, children learn to read and write. And being able to read is meant to help people of all ages to think at a higher level and make their lives better. SYMEN A. BROUWERS, Extraordinary Research Scientist, North-West University It is not surprising that literacy is thus an important goal for global development agencies. The “multiplier effect” of literacy is believed to empower people, enabling them to participate in society and improve their livelihoods. The truth is, learning basic skills such as solving arithmetic problems at school doesn’t necessarily make you…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

The heartbreak behind children leaving school

EDUCATION

ZANDILE BANGANI A young boy’s education is stopped when it has barely started, all because he’s from an impoverished family who hardly survived even before Covid-19 brought added burdens. Luyanda Khofu, 8, has been forced to drop out of school owing to his parents’ dire financial situation. His mother, Elizabeth Khofu, 29, has been unemployed for the past five years and his father, Mongezi Silwane, 32, lost his job as a panel beater at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown last year. Khofu says Luyanda constantly asks when he will return to school. “I tell him, ‘My child, I don’t have…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Our little ones must go to school

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MOSIBUDI MANGENA ALTHOUGH one has always been aware of the parlous state of our education as a result of Covid-19, it was still alarming to listen to a Stellenbosch University academic saying on TV the other day that it will take no less than ten years for learning to recover in South Africa. For almost a year now, our learners, from the kindergarten right up to university, have not had normal learning. Those in advantaged homes, have had better opportunities than their poorer counterparts through the use of technology. But even with them that is not an optimal way for…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Children with hearing problems: why acting early can make all the difference

HEALTH

EARLY hearing detection and intervention is the gold standard for any practising audiologist and families of infants and children with hearing impairment. KATIJAH KHOZA-SHANGASE, Associate professor, University of the Witwatersrand The goal of early hearing detection and intervention programmes is to identify, diagnose and take action early in a child’s life. The ideal sequence of events is: screening by six weeks of age, diagnosis by four months of age and commencement of intervention by eight months of age. This offers a much better chance of helping children develop and achieve at the same level as their hearing peers. Research has…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Children seen at risk of recruitment in C.A.R fighting

NEWS

EMELINE WUILBERCQ ARMED groups have recruited nearly 3,000 children in Central African Republic (CAR) since violence flared over a December 27 election result and more are at risk as aid fails to reach many people driven from their homes, aid workers said. More than 210,000 people have been uprooted by the fighting, with children increasingly vulnerable to forcible recruitment as humanitarian supplies are cut off by widespread violence and attacks on aid convoys, leaving tens of thousands in dire need. "Children are increasingly exposed to recruitment by armed men for about $30, and many carry the scars and trauma from…