This is not really a Christmas
post. There is just something that I wanted to share with you guys and I didn’t
want to wait to do it.
I have come onboard a couple of
linked projects to help in events coordination, fundraiser planning, and
philanthropic efforts. One project supports emerging artists, and as a post
graduate of an arts degree, I’m all about helping out my fellow struggling
artists. The second is a youth-based initiative that focuses on giving
inner-city youth the opportunity to develop marketable and transferable work
skills. Finally, and the one I really want to focus on right now, is called
Mygoma Support.
Mygoma support is an initiative
to help fund the Mygoma orphanage in Khartoum Sudan. I’ve just spent a couple
of days educating myself on the issues that are occurring there and the entire
reason behind this orphanage to begin with. I will start by saying that this is
not an orphanage just like any other orphanage.
The Mygoma orphanage opened in 1961 and now takes in more than 30 babies each month either left on the gate or found at the streets. This is a response to the growing numbers of illegitimate babies being abandoned in Khartoum. Mygoma orphanage is not like other orphanages because it is focused primarily on a demographic that has been outcast and is not socially accepted and monetarily supported, or at least receives very minor support.
Why is there such a growing
epidemic of discarded illegitimate children in Sudan you ask? The answer is
simple, sex outside of marriage is a crime in Sudan and the children that
result from such sexual encounters are evidence of that crime. These children
would bring shame to the entire family of the mother and would be ammunition to
bring criminal charges against the mother as well. These mothers of misfortune,
therefore, feel that they have no choice except to abandon their babies in the
streets. Abortion is obviously illegal in Sudan and perceived as wrong, evil,
and sinful by all, and is therefore not performed and is not an option. There are also no secret adoption networks in place, and this option would not bipass legal charges and punishment placed on the mothers. Of
course only the women are saddled with the “burden of their mistake,” and it is
only the women who have to suffer the consequences and the legal penalties. Women
who are found guilty of having sex outside of marriage are prosecuted under
clause 46 of the criminal law called Zina, which roughly translates to “unlawful
sex.” A case file is opened against a woman who has evidently engaged in Zina and
she is tried in court for her unlawful behaviour. Once she is found guilty her
judgement is to be lashed according to the Sharia. The rise in the abandonment
of illegitimate children, then, is a direct correlation to an attempt to escape
the severe punishment condemning this action (which is both legal and familial).
The orphanage is the only lifeline for these discarded children, but with its limited resources (it is minimally funded by government grants and private donations), it does not have adequate funding to care for the children past the age of five. Those who are not adopted or fostered by then have to move on to much more crowded state institutions wherein they face neglect and an uncertain future with much slimmer chances of adoption.
This becomes the main issue. There
is a serious need for funding for institutions to take care of these children
after they leave Mygoma as well as a need for increased funding for the Mygoma
orphanage itself so that it can extend the care and stay of these children past
the age of 5. The project Mygoma Support that I’m involved with is attempting to
do just that.
If you would like to know more
about this project you can feel free to contact me at amandallabelle@gmail.com.
We also have a book drive happening in March to collect books and educational
materials to send over to the orphanage along with the regular monetary
support. Also, check out this moving video at http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2009/01/2009128103742864375.html
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