In the shade of a teak tree, teenager Kenyi John sits on a mat with his four siblings and raises his arm. He throws a dice on to a colourful board and the children laugh and cheer. He has scored a six and their board game can start.
Last year, an unprecedented number of South Sudanese refugees arrived in Uganda, now estimated at more than one million. The number of unaccompanied children or those separated from their parents has also continued to grow.
“The number of child refugees travelling alone to escape fighting is rising in alarming levels. Many of these children saw family members killed or were separated from them when they went on the run. They have been forced into adult lifestyles, by having to become responsible for themselves and their siblings,” says Suwedi Yunus Abdallah, a UNHCR child protection specialist.
On arrival at the Ugandan border, UNHCR and its partners, including the non-governmental organization World Vision, identify unaccompanied children, interview them and determine their status. UNHCR partners such as World Vision, Save the Children and the Danish Refugee Council send out case workers to monitor child-headed households.
Staff shortages and the size of the settlements make it difficult to provide regular, coordinated visits. As a result, children risk being exposed to hazards and abuse, such as illness, rape, pregnancy, forced marriage and forced recruitment into sexual slavery or armed groups.
UNHCR’s child protection partners have worked with communities and child welfare groups to create foster banks, families who are willing to care for young children unable to look after themselves. Foster parents who volunteer are vetted and sign an agreement to care for the children.
In order to improve conditions for the most vulnerable families in the Imvepi settlement in northern Uganda, UNHCR decided to make cash payments to some 463 households by the end of 2017, including foster families and child-headed households. A first payment helps pay for necessities and a second goes towards training and funding families to start their own businesses.
As war rages on in South Sudan, the Ugandan government and UNHCR are seeking increased funding from the international community to cope with the refugee influx, to provide schools, as well as medical and psycho-social care for children who make up more than 60 per cent of new arrivals. At Kenyi’s plot of land, where the board game is in full swing, he and his siblings have temporarily forgotten their troubles. As they move their counters around the board, they are children again, safe in a place they now call home.
Original source: UNHCR
Published on 27 February 2018
