APC’s member in Nigeria, Fantsuam Foundation, has launched a vulnerable children’s service as part of its rural HIV/AIDS programme. This innovative project is meant to tackle prevention gaps head-on, with the help of multimedia.
"We are working on a community theatre project that will make regular appearances in our partner communities addressing issues related to children’s rights and protection as well as providing edutainment for children. The various drama sessions will be captured on videos so that copies can be burned on CDs for dissemination to those communities that share problems similar to ours," John Dada told APCNews in August 2006.
A community theatre group, comprising mostly young people is already producing education and entertainment programmes that will make a tour of the local schools.
As this programme gets refined, it will be recorded on VCDs for dissemination and use in other communities. The objective of these education and entertainment videos will be to target specific children issues in health, education, physical and emotional security.
Scape goats
"A 33-year old father of two died in the village three weeks ago. There was no post mortem done. But the human need to apportion blame for such a ‘mysterious’ death had to be assuaged, and that’s how three children, aged between 8 and 10 were accused of having ‘sold’ the deceased in witchcraft," narrates Dada.
Young adults were enraged because they believed the accused children were doing the bidding of the elderly men and women whose names the children, obviously, could not divulge. To calm nerves and reduce the palpable fear, some religious sect that specialised in exorcism was invited, and cash was given for the purchase of incense to be used for the exercise.
Dada explains how this crisis convulsed the village for three weeks, and the children had to be taken into police custody for protection. Fortunately, the children are now safely back in their families.
"The psychological trauma of the three weeks it took to reach some resolution, has left its mark on the children and their families. The village has now gone back to tending the farms again, until perhaps the next death arrives and the cycle of accusations and witchcraft will rend the air again," affirms Fantsuam’s Dada.
Where the battle lies
Dada argues, that "at the bottom of these crises is the frustration of jobless youths, poverty, hunger, high prevalence of HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality as well as endemic typhoid, malaria and tuberculosis."
Nigeria a West African former British colony of 131 million inhabitants is the most populous country in Africa and the ninth most populous country in the world. According to current data, one out of every four Africans is Nigerian.
Although the country has one of the world’s largest proven natural gas and petroleum reserves, like many in other ‘developing’ societies, it has been struggling to resolve the challenges of corruption, crime and military coups.
United Nations figures indicate that Nigeria has been undergoing explosive population growth with some of the highest growth and fertility rates in the world. From the UN’s projections, one can read that Nigeria will be one of the countries in the world that will account for most of the world’s total population increase by 2050.
While the HIV/AIDS rate in Nigeria is much lower compared to the other African nations, because of its large population, Nigeria has a much higher amount of total HIV/AIDS patients worldwide – currently the third highest in the world.
Nigerians also suffers from polio crises as well as from periodic outbreaks of cholera, malaria, and sleeping sickness.
Fantsuam collaborates
Fantsuam’s campaign, while grappling with a complex set of social realities, works with local communities and Save the Children UK to set up Child Protection Committees, or CPCs.
In addition Fantsuam Foundation is working with Owoade Vulnerable Children Foundation to design what it calls "holistic and proactive medium and long-term strategies" that will raise awareness about children’s rights, provide support
for emergencies, and gradually get the community to accord its children the protection they deserve.
The vulnerable children service comes against the backdrop of Fantsuam’s widely-appreciated ‘secure livelihoods through micro-finance and rural ICT deployment’ programmes. [1]
1 ICT stands for information and communication technology.
