Good Hope Foundation
organized sub county dialogue meetings in the two sub counties of Kisinga and Karusandara which
were attended by over 90 people including; the sub-county technical teams, sub
county leadership, religious leaders, teachers and opinion leaders,
representatives from the women and youth community based organizations, cultural
leaders to dialogue on the findings from the baseline survey and on the issues
raised by the community members and the children that increase violence against
children and adolescents.
The issues that were
discussed include; Children are being subjected to corporal punishments by
parents and teachers inform of hard labor, high cases of early marriages and
defilement in the sub county, the increased cases of women going to bars with
their children, Denial of food to children at home and at school, high cases of
alcoholism among the children in the sub county.
During the dialogue,
pupils from Karusandara SDA primary school presented a petition to the sub-county
LC111 which was on the unfair operation of Mendela’s bar, the petition was
undersigned by over 100 pupils. Key issues in the petition included; selling of
alcohol to children, the bar employs children and it operates 24hrs.
According to the
petitioners, the above has resulted into; defilement, early marriages, school
dropout, theft among children, beating and denial of basic needs by parents
because of children’s bad behaviors.
Students from Kisinga
Voc Sec Sch presented a petition on the failure of parents to provide food for
their children in Schools and in homes. The failure to provide food by parents
to children in schools has resulted into the following; poor performance in
class, diseases such as kwashiorkor, ulcers, increase in school dropouts,
increase in thefty among children, increase in early marriages as well child
labor. The petition was undersigned by over 70 pupils of Kisinga Voc Sec Sch
who recommended the sub county to involve and adopt a bye-law on food and
nutrition, behavior change communication on nutrition by different stakeholders
or development partners and then triggering behaviors towards food production
in homes.
REACTIONS AND ACTIONS
FROM THE PARTICIPANTS
Reactions to the
presentations
According to the LC1
chairperson of Kevengye village where the bar is located, he communicated to
the members in the house that it is true the bar has been a threat to all
pupils and students not necessarily those from Karusandara SDA primary school only.
Members agreed to the
submission of the children and they attributed the vice to the women who go
with their children in these bars and then the laxity in the implementation of
bye-laws that were passed by the sub county on alcoholism.
The chairperson LC111
said it is unfortunate that, the sub county leadership has never got any
complaint about the operation of these bars, it is the first time to receive
such a petition even when it has been a serious threat to the lives of our
children.
It was mentioned by the
members that every Wednesday and Sunday women from Karusandara do not sleep in
their homes as they sleep in the markets leaving men alone with the children
and this is increasing incest in the sub county.
They added that it’s
unfortunate that most of the mothers from Karusandara Sub County save for alcohol
not for family development.
Actions from the dialogue,
The sub county
leadership pledged to summon the owner of Mendala’s bar to write a statement
before the end of April.
The sub county
leadership after the swearing in of new elected leaders in the month of May
will call for a meeting for the entire bar operators in the sub-county to
remind them about the bye-laws as well as making them to commit themselves to
bide to the bye-laws.
The police to
strengthen its community policing programs to increase on peoples understanding
about the different laws as well as bringing about law and order in the
community.
Religious leaders,
teachers and the elders to be involved in mobilizing community members towards
preventing violence against children and adolescents especially instilling good
parenting skills as well as popularizing the bye-laws of the sub-county.
The coming council to
pass a motion on increasing taxes on bars to limit children from accessing
alcohol.
Religious leaders
present pledged to commit one Sunday in a month to pass information about good
parenting skills and Violence against Children.
Involving boda-boda
riders in the prevention of violence against children.
The sub county
leadership pledged to pass a bye –law on food and nutrition.
Laws and bye laws
should be put in place to protect the environment
 |
| Area inspector of schools responding to issues presented by students during the dialogue meeting at Kisnga Sub county |
 |
| Participant contributing during the dialogue meeting at the sub county |
 |
| The CDO Kisinga S/C responding to the issues raised by the participants during the dialogue meeting |
No comments:
Post a Comment