Homesickness

I write this having been on a job hunt outside of Sudan for a month or so.
Economic hardship and a bleak looking future has forced myself and many many young{and not so young} people to leave their homes and search for better opportunities.
Keeping up with local Sudanese news has become a hardship.Every idiotic statement from an official's mouth,every story of hardship from friends and family{bread queue's being the latest},cuts deep.
No wonder so many youth are disenchanted with not only politics but the idea of Sudan itself.To care is to hurt.
I've come to the conclusion that it is much easier for me personally to criticize and lament our situation than provide answers/solutions/alternatives.
So I now want to look for solutions.
It can't be the only way to bring change is through a bullet{the ballot has failed us}.

Its universal children’s day (nov 20th)

And a quiet reminder that south sudan still needs to ratify the convention on the rights of the child.

As a matter of urgency and priority.

I guess I’m mainly thinking about the issue of child labour.

And here I do not mean household chores (e.g. fetching water, which is surely every African child’s nightmare but is also a necessity in the home. I guess I consider this as a responsibility/chore, not as ‘work’)

However, I see so many children on the streets of Juba hustling for a living.  Actually hustling to earn money – I don’t know if this is to support their family or if they have no family and are making money to support themselves… or. Kids as young as 5-6 years old, walking around selling air freshener’s (for cars, mainly. We gotta keep the V8s freshly scented), or shining shoes – very prevalent around the Ministries… including around the ministry of gender, child and social welfare, children washing cars, children collecting money in the public transportation taxis (I’ve seen a kid who looked all of 5-years doing this work. I felt guilty giving him my fare). This, usually in the middle of the day when said children should be in school.  Its almost as though schooling is not compulsory – even though it is in our constitution as the right of every child.

This is not just in Juba. When I was in Terekeka, there were so many children, outside hotels, waiting for clients to finish their food and leave the plate on the table, then they would very quickly dash in and finish whatever was left on the plate.

 

We must do better, south sudan