After the immediate emergency response, an emergency or crisis doesn’t end for children. Often, they find themselves in desperate circumstances, cold and at risk of hunger, disease and violence.
As we enjoy our time with the family on Christmas Day, there will be children who are suffering, their lives torn apart by emergencies such as the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar or the recent earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.
These children have already lost so much, they shouldn’t have to lose their childhood too. Below we’ll tell you a little bit more about the children living in crisis, and how you can help them overcome it.
Children Need Stability and Support in Indonesia
On 28 September 2018, an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck central Sulawesi in Indonesia. This was followed by a tsunami that devastated the west coast.
The natural disasters have reportedly killed 2,088 people and displaced 78,994 others, who are spread over 110 different evacuation centres. Access to basic services and necessities is a challenge, and children and their families have limited access to electricity, water and sanitation services.
ChildFund is assisting the emergency response to make sure children have enough clean water, food, blankets, and tents. Our other primary concerns are making sure they are able to resume their schooling and access psychosocial support as soon as possible.
Keep Evacuated Children Safe In Laos, Cambodia and India
Vavine is a farmer from Kore – a small, rural community in Papua New Guinea sometimes referred to as the Valley of Watermelons. When the trucks from Kore arrive in rural marketplaces loaded with fresh fruit, market sellers who make a living transporting fruit and vegetables to the capital of Port Moresby are quick to negotiate a sale.
“I always look forward to selling my watermelons,” says Vavine. “It is the fastest selling produce I have ever sold compared to other vegetables. Every time we go to the markets they are sold out within an hour or two. And we earn a good income from our sales.”
Vavine started planting watermelons on a small scale a few years ago. He was surprised to see how much income they yielded in such a short period of time – especially when compared to crops such as yam, cassava or bananas which can take years to grow. His first watermelons were ready after just three months.
The land around Kore is also very fertile, and is largely uncultivated. Vavine says: “We depend on the weather to cultivate land. Using our traditional knowledge, we plant different crops according to the wet and dry seasons. We planted watermelons just like any other food crop –often integrating them with other crops.
“We never really thought beyond our traditional methods until ChildFund Papua New Guinea and the Nationals Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) started a new project in our community: working with our Community in 2015 through the project.
