Tragic Numbers and a Somber Reality

INTRODUCTION

Recently, UNICEF released its latest annual report, titled "The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World," which examines the plight of children and young people living in urban environments. A rather cold, aseptic foreword, considers the scandalous reality that emerges from the report. Reading through it, we perceive, beyond the numbers, the suffering of millions of children, their tears, and their cries for help. This data should upset us and commit us to the pursuit of radical change.

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The data contained in the report makes quite an impression. To note a few observations from the report: there are now more than one billion children and young people – both male and female – living in urban areas. By 2020, the number will be close to a billion and a half, and we can deduce that, at least, half a billion will live in the so-called “informal settlements,” better known as slums or shantytowns. Cities are now the main theaters for social injustice and inequality, and children are the most vulnerable victims in such situations. Disparities in access to sanitation, education, property rights, protection and a healthy environment are growing rather than diminishing. A third of all children living in urban areas do not officially exist because they were not registered at birth, a percentage that in sub-Saharan Africa touches 50%.

There are 215 million “workers” aged between 5 and 17 years across the world. Among these, 115 million are “employed” in hazardous jobs. In urban and degraded areas, families are unable to pay for the education of their children and choose to send them to work. In 2010 alone, nearly 8 million children died before reaching the age of five, most of them born in slums. The highest rate is recorded in Somalia, at 180 deaths per 1,000 live births, while in Nairobi – where two thirds of the population lives in slums – the rate is 151 deaths for each 1,000 live births. In the poorest urban neighborhoods in most large African cities, a liter of water costs 50 times more than it does in the wealthier neighborhoods. Inadequate access to safe drinking water and the insufficient availability of water for sanitation threatens the health of children living in slums and promotes the spread of various epidemics.

The humanitarian tragedy – the suffering of hundreds of millions of children who were already half hidden by the cold figures – is ultimately diluted by the jargon of experts, by words that seem to soothe rather than to spur to action. Will these mild proposals be enough to mobilize us, all of us, because it is only when we all act together that we will be able to find a solution? Yet, here is the test to show we believe that human beings are one family, that we are all tied to a single destiny. If we could bravely face this challenge and provide education and medical care to these half-billion children suffering around the globe, in twenty years we will have also defeated underdevelopment, environmental degradation, nationalism, racism, war and uncontrolled population growth. Education – true education that makes everyone aware of his or her human dignity and her or his place in Creation – is the main road towards improving our future.

In the meantime, I recently received a much shorter report from one of the “street workers” of Koinonia in Kibera, the biggest of all slums in Nairobi. It lists all the children who were rescued from the streets last year, and the first comments of the teachers in the schools where they have been placed. The report tells me of the days and nights spent on the streets looking for children in difficulty, and of the small gains made so far: Njiru now trusts the social worker because she has been able to heal his wound; Shikuku, the albino boy, finally agreed to play football with the others. But is it possible that we – people who think that we must invest more in brotherhood and peace – are so few? Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana, MCCJ

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