Increasing street children in Masaka worries leaders
Ms Adah Nkorenta (in yellow T shirt) , the programmes manager for Child Restoration Outreach with some of street chidren in Masaka City on August 15, 2021. PHOTO | WILSON KUTAMBA
What you need to know:
- Records at Child Restoration Outreach indicate that the organisation has more than 300 children rescued from streets in the slums of Nyendo, Kijjabwemi, Kimaanya and Kyabakuza.
Activists and leaders dealing with children’s affairs in Masaka City are worried about the increasing number of street children.
They have implored the government to allocate enough resources to address the problem.
Ms Adah Nkolentah, the manager of Masaka Child Restoration Outreach, a voluntary organisation that reintegrates street children with their families, said most of the children flocking the streets are from Masaka City slums such as Nyendo, Ssenyange, Ssaza and Katwe while others hail from the neighbouring districts.
“These numbers are shocking and mirror the extent of the problem. Such numbers come during the grasshopper harvesting season, which attracts a large number of them because of glaring poverty levels in villages, but they come and don’t want to go back,” she said during the commemoration of the International Day of Street Children in Masaka at the weekend.
Ms Nkoletah also revealed that they rescued 140 children last year.
“We implore our leaders to put in place policies and laws meant to protect children,” she said.
Ms Maurine Ibanda Leticia, the probation officer in charge of Nyendo Mukungwe Municipality, said through different platforms, they are sensitising parents on their roles.
“Domestic violence and intolerance among partners, mistreatment by stepmothers and abandonment of children by relatives after the death of parents and misconduct of some children are among the leading factors fuelling street children,” she said,
Ms Rosemary Namwanje, the officer-in-charge of the Child and Family Protection Unit at Masaka Central Police Station, said: “Partners rarely utilise our offices yet we can mitigate some of these challenges. Children should report any challenging experiences at home to us.”
At the same function, at least 15 children sought re-integration with their families.
Records at Child Restoration Outreach indicate that the organisation has more than 300 children rescued from streets in the slums of Nyendo, Kijjabwemi, Kimaanya and Kyabakuza.
