n 1948 The UN Declaration of Human Rights set forth a set of standards to which every man, woman, and child should have the opportunity and rights to live with and by. These standards include everything from adequate living conditions, to the right to employment and education. Yet, today our world still struggles to provide these rights to each and every person. Those that struggle most are the vulnerable populations of developing countries, and the most vulnerable are those unable to fight for their rights. Today more than ever new innovations and proactive organizations are fighting to address the daunting issues that children in developing countries are facing. Questions surrounding the well being of our future generation are beginning to be answered. Sadly the slow process of development hinders many of these resources. Development cannot happen over night, and each country has its own process and time-span while developing. Thus how does the process of “development” obstruct resources and the lives of children in developing countries, particularly in Senegal? Are resources available for youth adequate? What are their strengths, what weakens them? My time in Senegal has brought a few steps closer to these questions that have been lingering for the last 3 years of my academic career.
Senegal a county of over 12 million inhabitants is considered upscale in development in comparison to most African countries. Though on it’s way to becoming a developed nation, Senegal still struggles to climb its way to the top. Evidence of its third world status is ostensible not only in the rural cities and villages, but also inside the bustling capital, Dakar. Often in countries where resources are scarce, education and resources for children are not on the top of the list of priorities. Senegal having a literacy rate of merely 39.3 % proves that access to education is not at the hands reach for all. Also the fact that only 5% of the countries GDP is expended on education, reinforces that the education system is not emphasized, as it should be. Surprising despite the low literacy rate the nation, Senegal claims to focus a great amount of energy to education. Also being 94% percent Muslim education is highly valued in Islam. With the 21st century also came a new emphasis on education and early childhood development. NGO’s concerning the well-being and education of youth began to emerge more and more, and governmental policies and funding also arose to fuel this new prospect of improving conditions for youth. Despite steps in the right direction, the country is still mired by its third world status, and development still prevents many organizations to reach their full potential.
The state of childhood care and education was far from brilliant in the start of the 21st century and according the Ministry of Health and Medical Prevention “childhood until today had been considered a matter of subsidiary importance.” Because of this lack of concern towards early childhood care and development, Senegal was experiencing problems with an uneducated population, high malnutrition rates and high unemployment rates (for the middle age generation-whom were not educated as children). Concern about the future generation was not stressed. In the year 2000 with the newly elected president more of an emphasis began to surface. President Abdoulaye Wade began to weigh the pros and cons of traditional societies attitudes and acts towards education and childhood development and use them for the formation of an early childhood development program.
Traditional societies were and are said to have a very “pro-birth attitude” pertaining especially to agrarian societies where children are seen as “value capitals and guaranteers of economic might.” Proper nutrition was not emphasized and education and socialization were at the hands of the entire community. Education includes tales, riddles, and proverbs. “Any progress towards modern education was seen as making one a stranger to ones own cultural heritage” (Little Children’s Home). Wade’s new vision towards early childhood development wanted to see a shift in education but also embody some of the important traditional values, such as lessons from elders and communities, to maintain the sense of “terranga” that all Senegalese people pride themselves on. In 2000 Wade started The Integrated Programme for Early Childhood Development. He began to construct what he named “The Little Children’s Home,” this home emphasized on education, health, and nutrition- all to create harmonious childhood development. These Little Children’s Homes eventually branched off into schools called La Case des Toutes Petites. These schools provided education and nutritional assistance (vitamins, one meal a day, vaccines etc) for pregnant women and children 0-6 years of age. The schools were supported and funded by many national and international actors, and Wade made it his goal to “have these children live by his side, under his protection, and his contributions are voiced readily throughout every aspect of this organizations.
The visions of La Case du Petites cannot be said to be backward and it is difficult to find any flaws within its description.
“Education should enable a child to affirm its personality, develop its talents as well as mental and physical faculties. “Education should prepare the child for a life as an adult in an open society and encourage it to respect its parents, identity, language and cultural values, as well as the cultural values of others. “Aims to prepare and raise a new type of citizen able to address the needs of our nation and the African continent, and the challenges of globalization and development (Wade).
With such strong visions one would hope that this program could be the answer to many of the key issues pertaining to early childhood development, but like any other Case du Petite has its hindrances and flaws. Because the Little Children’s Home and La Case du Tous Petites have been Wade’s special projects, the organization seems to be very well funded- from its main hub, to its individual’s schools, no resources seem to be lacking. While I favored the teaching styles, the discipline, the focus on language and creativity that the schools displayed, I was left wondering exactly what demographic these schools were reaching out to.
It was Wade’s vision to put needy mothers and children under his wings, yet from what I experienced and perceived the children attending the school seemed to be upper to middle class. There is no mention how these families pay for this early child hood care, just mention of governmental aid, and his excellency Wade’s contributions. How are the vulnerable populations of Senegal being reached and informed about these resources? La Case du Tous Petites does not have a recruiting process, instead you must visit to enroll your children. Will families whom truly need this resource be aware of it, and if so will they have the time during their day of work to complete the long process of enrolling their children? The reason I mention the length of the process is because to me this is where development is severely undermining this organization. While waiting at La Case du Tous Petites headquarters one day, I witnessed couples waiting for over two hours to be addressed and begin the process of enrolling. If you count travel and lag time potentially 4-5 hours of ones day could be lost, simply waiting. To take that much time away from a workday for anyone, is taking just even more of what is probably already a very small livelihood- if the people accepted into the school are truly the vulnerable populations of Senegal. I witnessed one mother who waited for two and a half hours, who was constantly looking down at her watch, and eventually had to leave without being addressed. I believe the slow pace of the country and many organizations truly is a crucial hindrance to why “development” may also be slow moving. While La Case de Tous Petites has a great vision, they are still affected by, one, what I perceive more as promoting a president rather than education. Also affected by lack of knowledge about running an organization smoothly and efficiently-a knowledge that will come with time-but for now a detour in the road to opening up adequate and efficient resources for youth. La Case de Tous Petites is just one resource available for youth within in Senegal. The others share their fair share of strengths and weakness as well. Early childhood care and education are extremely important for our future generation, where are those from the generation who lacked this care today, are there resources available for them?
Another place I had the opportunity to visit was Centre Nationale de Sauvegaurde (CNS). CNS is a middle school and high school for adolescences that have committed petty crimes, or have trouble in a traditional academic setting, or those who are having issues with family life. These children are referred to this school by a wide variety of people; mothers, fathers, judges, or teachers. CNS focuses on education but also job training- attempting to cater to the needs of each child and finding what they feel confident in and are most likely to excel in. CNS also focuses on social activities- creating confidents and bonds for the children. CNS’s main mission is to remove children from the streets before they reach delinquency. This organization strives to attend to the children that are being ignored or forgotten by the rest of society. Another great stride this organization is taking, unlike that of publically funded schools, is they are partnering with GEEP to teach sexual health education to these children, focusing on some key aspects of GEEP including HIV/AIDS, and early pregnancy. The youth of CNS have been involved in various conferences, and events working to combat these crucial issues. CNS in theory is a wonderful organization and resources available to the youth population of Senegal, but like every organization it struggles to reach its full potential due to many roadblocks standing in its way.
Because CNS is a private organization it is only partially funded by the government, and only so because of the state required curriculum it teaches. The moments you arrive at CNS you can sense the severe underfunding the organization endures. What you would expect to look like a school looks more like an industrial sheet metal atmosphere, and until you talk with someone nothing would lead you to think otherwise. Because of underfunding this school lacks the appropriate staff to teach and train these children, and often they come and go, due to better opportunities arising. The founder of CNS said her self that the vocational skills being taught are not sufficient when its time for these children to take what they have learned and apply it to a real job setting. The teachers are not educated and trained enough to teach these skills, thus the children are not educated enough to use them, it becomes a vicious cycle, one that this very organization started, in hopes of breaking. Although Wade claims to emphasize the importance of education for all, CNS is a perfect example to how Senegal’s education system is not entirely developed, and how at-risk youth are ignored. I left CNS wondering, if the education system of Senegal is not fully developed, and education being an extremely crucial factor in development, where does Senegal as a country remain? What is a developed education system, and who do should we compare it to? Again I try not to let my western views intrude on my thoughts, but I wonder will an education system only be acknowledged as developed by the rest of the world when it resembles that of a western system? I struggle to separate my western standards, and simply standards that should be available to all. These questions plagued my mind throughout my time and experiences not only within the organization world of Senegal, but every time I walked down the street or every time we drove down the rural highways of the country. The last organization I will talk about, being the best of the three in terms of running efficiently again remains having numerous and commendable strengths but also issues that may overrun those strengths at times.
GEEP or Group pour l’Etude et l’Enseignement de la Population is an organization which aims at informing youth on their rights and responsibilities towards the population and their own reproductive health. It started with the history and geography department of L’Ecole Normale Superior (the university I studied at.) The professors from this department came together because they saw that there existed no emphasis on sexual education and health in the national school system and created a program which focuses on sexual health and AIDS. With this they focused on spreading information and organizing youth to discuss many of Senegal’s daunting issues including; HIV/AIDS, STDs, early pregnancy and marriage, gender based violence, female genital cutting, and more. Because, not part of the national education curriculum GEEP started what they call EVF clubs, an after school program for individual schools to discuss these very issues. At certain points during the year these clubs come together to form conferences to discuss these issues; they set up role playing, dialogues, movies, and debates in order to express their opinions, feelings, and knowledge about these issues, and of course to spread these things as well, in hopes of creating a greater and wide range understanding for all. Each activity they do is structured in a way in which youth can understand, relate, and feel comfortable discussing. Some may argue that the way these activities discuss these issues, using dialogues and role-playing are just ways around discussing the real issues, in my opinion it is the opposite. Because HIV/AIDS and issues overall about sexual health are extremely stigmatized subjects, not only in Senegal but throughout the world it is often difficult to talk about (which I also experienced through a day at the hospital), especially for youth. Finding creative ways to truly address the issues and ways that will leave no one frightened or guilty is one of the best ways of combating these issues.
GEEP has been extremely successful in organizing youth, and these events held by the EVF clubs have astonishing attendance rates, the ratio of male to female being nearly equal every time. Children for once are excited and eager to talk about these issues. Through reading some of GEEP’s material it seems that becoming open about these issues at school has created an easier transition about discussing these in the home with parents, siblings, partners, etc. GEEP has also become successful in branching out to other organizations to receive funding but also spread their ideals to the greater population of Senegal. GEEP works closely with School Net Africa an organization that uses technology to facilitate education. These two organizations have become very triumphant in aiding each other’s efforts. Along with School Net Africa, GEEP also works with CNS, discussed earlier, in hopes of spreading their awareness again to the greater population of Senegal, not only to traditional middle and high schools. ANS-Alliance National Contre le SIDA an organization focusing only on HIV/AIDS, helps fund and works with GEEP on their events pertaining directly to HIV/AIDS.
As you can see GEEP has become very victorious in creating networks, which I believe is very important in the NGO world. It is all about working together to create a better environment for all. GEEP success rates with getting youth involved and active are truly commendable. And like every organization GEEP’s success could be far greater if some crucial barriers did not obstruct efforts.
Although while in GEEP’s headquarters at l’Ecole Normale Superior, you would think that the organization was very well funded, it indeed is not. GEEP is affected by underfunding just like numerous NGOs’; in fact GEEP only has two paid employees, the rest working from the goodness of their heart, right? Wrong again, although GEEP’s employees truly care about the issues and conditions of youth, what is their main objective working for the organization? Medemba an employee in charge of numerous EVF clubs stated in an interview “we love working here, but for many it is a resume builder, if a better higher paid opportunity comes along, we will not hesitate to take it.” While many would condemn one for saying that, I believe the employees are not to blame. Making a living is a top priority for nearly every person in the world, and when living in a developing country even more so, if these professors truly did not care, they would not haven given GEEP the time of day. Many of the employees at GEEP are middle school, high school, and college professors, who while not teaching, come to GEEP afterschool, on the weekends, and during vacations. They dedicate a great amount of their personal time and truly seem passionate about what they are doing, which I derived from interviews with Mdemba and Eleman. But again if a paid position opens up, it is what they will accept, as was shown through Eleman’s acceptance of a position with USAID and his resignation to GEEP.
Thus one of GEEP’s main problems is that employees are constantly coming and going. With that, means more money and resources needed to train each new employee that must be hired because another left. In effect GEEP lacks not only human resources but also adequate training for its staff. Though with my lack of knowledge I am unable to judge, I wonder if GEEP’s funding and resources could be used more wisely than they are being used currently. Along with those problems GEEP presently works in only four out of the fourteen regions of Senegal, and though aspiring to work in all, underfunding and lack of staff is encumbering its desires.
All of these issues left behind, I feel the greatest issue is that GEEP only works with youth who are in school, and once again the children on the street, the most vulnerable are left to perpetuate the cycle GEEP is trying to breach. Where are the resources for these children? Again this shows the underdevelopment of not only the organization but more so Senegal, why are their children on the street begging in the first place? Why is some sort of education whether it be job training or schooling, not required for all children? Will any of these organizations truly be able to succeed if youth who need them the most are not able to access them? These questions circle my mind, and will continue to until I take my experiences one step further and spend more time in this country and the world of NGO’s and governmental organizations. GEEP and the other organizations simply introduced me to the resources available to youth, and the problems that continue to exist.
My experience in Dakar was different than most. While everyone else was set to one internship, creating relationships with one group of people, and having a sort of structured project or end goal, I was able to experience of range of unique objectives, opinions, ideas, and organizations. What I was initially disappointed with turned out to be a learning experience unlike any other, where I was able to really get a feel for the non-governmental and governmental sector of Dakar’s infrastructure and organizations. I believe that I was able to experience both sides of the spectrum, and in the end walked away with a very valuable experience. While seeing the issues with these organizations was extremely frustrating at points, I also became enlightened to the goodness of people, and a culture that prides its self on helping one another. I learned a lot through this experience but I acknowledge that I am still ignorant and naïve to most aspects of Senegalese culture, life, and society and the only way to break that is to continue to experience and learn.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Where are they left?
Today there are approximately 150 million orphans in the world (UNICEF). To often many of these children are left to the streets, the lucky ones are placed into orphanages, where most of their basic needs are met, and where often they await adoption from loving families, if of course the country is open to adoption. Every country has to face the fact that children will be abandoned, they will loose their parents, or simply their families do not have the means to support them, thus they become orphans.
Each country has their own feelings on what happens to these children. Some countries have government-funded orphanages, group homes, and some, no resources at all. The countries most plagued with high numbers of orphans today are the developing nations of Africa. Though Africa is home to the highest number of orphans in the world, currently only four countries are open to international adoption; Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Liberia. Although it is happening in other countries it is extremely frowned upon, very difficult, and or illegal. As for domestic adoption, it simply does not happen frequently or even exist at all. Cultural standards do not see adoption highly. “Why adopt when you could have your own children, one that has your blood, and one that looks like you,” a statement from one Senegalese student at l’Ecole Normale Superior. Again adoption of any sort seems to be highly frowned upon, whether it be domestically or internationally.
The number of abandoned children remains important in Senegal.” (Kergal). With approximately 560,000 orphans, Senegal has a pressing issue to address and fight. Two resources available to house orphaned children in Senegal include; The Rescue orphanage and The Pouponniere. In Senegal Islam is behind the vision of both structures, yet is not a priority when admitting children. While these two institutions do not have the same objectives, they share a common feeling, to come to assistance of abandoned children. The founders of each structure had unique, yet alarmingly similar experiences that inspired each to dedicate their lives to the well being of these children.
The Poupenierre of Medina started a longer time ago in 1955 by four French sisters. These sisters were requested by influential Muslim leaders, and began by assisting in the pediatric departments of hospitals. Working there and seeing children abandoned day to day in front of the hospital fueled their work and visions in a different direction. Their work at the hospital evolved into creating resources for children abandoned on the streets, and places to house them in times of need. Eventually abandoned children became the minority of children admitted into The Poupenierre, instead most are fathers surrendering their infants when the mothers became deceased. “They are poor and do not have the time or resources to deal with these infants,” stated one sister. What differentiates the Poupenierre of Medina from other orphanages is that its main priority is to reintegrate children back into their families, and they are very resistant towards adoption. “We believe in keeping children with their families, no matter what it takes. If one family member is unable to care for their children, then another family member will assume responsibility. We believe in family and helping one another, terranga. That is why we are so against adoption” explained Mbacke Fall another student at the University in Dakar. Yet, sadly children are still often left without any family members at all, or forced to be given up because sickness or economic means of a family are unable to support the child, and that is where the Poupenierre and the sisters step in.
One of the largest focuses of the Poupenierre is to house infants and children whose mothers are sick, and or hospitalized. Once the mothers are healthy and able, the children are reintegrated back into their families. While children are still surrendered, they make up only 15 % of whom the Poupenierre houses. The Regional Court of Dakar entrusts these children that are found on the street to the sisters. The children are only permitted to stay at the Poupenierre for the period of one year, during which the family keeps in contact with their children with required visits every two months, but many more come for weekly visits. Thus when time for departure comes, the children are easily integrated back into their families. This year is to simply allow the family to get back on their feet, and find the means to provide for their children. For two years after reintegration the families are permitted to return to the Poupenierre to receive food assistance. Disabled children are surrendered permanently because most families have no means of caring for them properly. Along with disabled children, if families miss so many monthly visits and do not return after one year; then only are the children applicable for adoption. Thus adoption within Senegal is very difficult, and only 18-20 children are adopted from the Poupenierre each year, and not without a lengthy process.
Aissatou Diagne founder of The Rescue Orphanage in Dakar started her Islam based orphanage project in May 2005 after a gruesome experience, which changed her life forever. “Six years ago, I was changed. I saw a dead infant, intertwined in a plastic bag. This baby was not just anywhere; it was in front of a house.” Unlike The Poupenierre, Diagne’s orphanage or rescue home is only able to house 25 children at a time, being newly established its finances and infrastructure do not allow for any more. The children are admitted from 0-5 years of age and remain until they are 18 years of age. “We signed a convention with the state. Once here, it is obligatory that we keep them until they are no longer adolescences” (Diagne). Thus within this orphanage children are not eligible for adoption. They are educated from early child hood to maturity, in order to one day become productive members of Senegalese society. Daigne exclaims; “The objective is to prepare them to become autonomous. They will receive an academic laic instruction of quality. Some of them will reach the higher realms of the State. One of them will become perhaps president of the Republic!”
The Rescue’s vision is to help these children thru out the span of their life. They highlight not only immediate needs, but emphasize on their future. If we help them only at the beginning of their existence, we do not know what they become, nor what their families do”, insists the director. Again adoption does not exist for this orphanage, for they want to provide an entire education until 18 years of age. Unlike the Poupenierre where most families entrust the children with the sisters, the children of The Rescue are children from the streets brought to the orphanage by the police force or people who know of the orphanage. Yet similar to the Poupenierre, the Rescue wants to reduce the amount of abandoned children, thus it set up an assistance council for women in distress. Diagne states that “women should not be giving up or killing their own children, if they are, then there are serious problems, and we want to address those.” As you can see both The Poupenierre and The Rescue have their own objectives, but both are available to help the needs of children, mothers, and families. Equally each would like to see children remain within their families, hence the assistance each organization gives to mothers and families. But with most organizations in developing countries both are suffering from underdevelopment and underfunding.
For The Poupenierre the majority of funding comes from private contributions from various foundations and companies. The state allocates a certain amount of money, but it isn’t even enough to cover electricity costs. With The Rescue it is the same situation, “the state does not give any subsidy, city hall gives us rice bags, but it is not sufficient.” The rest of the funding again comes from various private organizations. Thus these orphanages are lacking in funding, which makes it difficult to give the children the appropriate care. I wonder if adoption would open more opportunities up for these children? Despite the fact that I commend these organizations and the state of Senegal for wanting to keep families together, and allow these children to be educated in their own culture, I wonder if the children from the Poupenirre will end up in the same situation after assistance stops. Also should any child have to live their entire lives without a family? If family is so important, a main reason for the resistance toward adoption, then why do the children at The Rescue live years with no real family? I asked these questions to various Senegalese students and got mixed answers.
Some responded by stating that possibly orphanages like The Rescue are replica’s of families, “one big family” (Mamadou Faye). Pape Fall believes that families will do all they can to support their children and keep them, with the assistance provided by these two organizations-families are able to do just that. He does not believe that after the assistance ends the children will go back to the homes, because he thinks that with the time away the families truly do everything to create means. I asked the students if they believe adoption should be more emphasized and his response was mixed. “Every child deserves a family, a mother and a father, but every family also deserves a child of their own, thus I am torn” (Mamadou Faye). After learning about these organization and listening to the feelings of Senegalese students, I believe the only real way to know what is wrong and what is right, is to hear directly from the children experiencing these things. If adoption is an option, currently it is difficult, and only extreme circumstances permit it.
The two procedures are l’adoption pleniere and l’adoption simple-both created by the family codes of Senegal. With l’adoption plieniere families and children must fulfill several requirements, and the adoption is irrevocable-under all circumstances. L’adoption simples is less constraining then the prior. Children always have ties back to the family of origin-and the family always has the rights to gain back custody of the child. The procedures for both are very different, plenary adoption being a much longer and grueling process, and simple by the name of course being faster and simple. Neither of these adoptions being allowed internationally.
A couple requesting l’adoption pleniere must have been married for 5 years, and one of the two being at least 30 years of age, and both must have a 15-year difference from the child. You mustn’t have children already if you want an adoption pleniere. When the adoption is complete the family of origin has only 3 months to retract the adoption before it is final, after the child has all the same rights a legitimate child would have. L’adoption simple has none of the same perquisites as the prior, yet the adoption is and will never be final. At any point the family has the right to retract their child with justification at any age below 15, if the child is 15 or old retraction is only permitted on serious and justified grounds. “Justification is vague.” Because of the stigmatization and poor perception of people not having their own children, formal adoption is very rare within Senegal.
As you can see with cultural differences, governmental restrictions, and stigmatizations, adoption and orphans are a sensitive subject to Senegal. It is never praiseworthy for a country to admit that there are children on the street without families, but sadly it is a fact all over the world. With only few resources, and no government funding for orphanages or support for adoption-many children are left without families, begging on the streets to survive. With little cultural belief in domestic adoption, I believe international adoption is important for every country. It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that if adopted internationally a child might lose their culture- but the benefits have to be weighed over the costs. Working at an orphanage for the last weeks I have seen both the benefits and the costs to international adoption. Most families want and hope to maintain the child’s culture, but also have come to terms with the difficulty of doing so. What is most important is giving these children and happy and healthy life-with a loving family, how can anything else take priority? I believe that is an opinion that is deep down shared by every person in the world, even if at this point it is difficult to see.
Each country has their own feelings on what happens to these children. Some countries have government-funded orphanages, group homes, and some, no resources at all. The countries most plagued with high numbers of orphans today are the developing nations of Africa. Though Africa is home to the highest number of orphans in the world, currently only four countries are open to international adoption; Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Liberia. Although it is happening in other countries it is extremely frowned upon, very difficult, and or illegal. As for domestic adoption, it simply does not happen frequently or even exist at all. Cultural standards do not see adoption highly. “Why adopt when you could have your own children, one that has your blood, and one that looks like you,” a statement from one Senegalese student at l’Ecole Normale Superior. Again adoption of any sort seems to be highly frowned upon, whether it be domestically or internationally.
The number of abandoned children remains important in Senegal.” (Kergal). With approximately 560,000 orphans, Senegal has a pressing issue to address and fight. Two resources available to house orphaned children in Senegal include; The Rescue orphanage and The Pouponniere. In Senegal Islam is behind the vision of both structures, yet is not a priority when admitting children. While these two institutions do not have the same objectives, they share a common feeling, to come to assistance of abandoned children. The founders of each structure had unique, yet alarmingly similar experiences that inspired each to dedicate their lives to the well being of these children.
The Poupenierre of Medina started a longer time ago in 1955 by four French sisters. These sisters were requested by influential Muslim leaders, and began by assisting in the pediatric departments of hospitals. Working there and seeing children abandoned day to day in front of the hospital fueled their work and visions in a different direction. Their work at the hospital evolved into creating resources for children abandoned on the streets, and places to house them in times of need. Eventually abandoned children became the minority of children admitted into The Poupenierre, instead most are fathers surrendering their infants when the mothers became deceased. “They are poor and do not have the time or resources to deal with these infants,” stated one sister. What differentiates the Poupenierre of Medina from other orphanages is that its main priority is to reintegrate children back into their families, and they are very resistant towards adoption. “We believe in keeping children with their families, no matter what it takes. If one family member is unable to care for their children, then another family member will assume responsibility. We believe in family and helping one another, terranga. That is why we are so against adoption” explained Mbacke Fall another student at the University in Dakar. Yet, sadly children are still often left without any family members at all, or forced to be given up because sickness or economic means of a family are unable to support the child, and that is where the Poupenierre and the sisters step in.
One of the largest focuses of the Poupenierre is to house infants and children whose mothers are sick, and or hospitalized. Once the mothers are healthy and able, the children are reintegrated back into their families. While children are still surrendered, they make up only 15 % of whom the Poupenierre houses. The Regional Court of Dakar entrusts these children that are found on the street to the sisters. The children are only permitted to stay at the Poupenierre for the period of one year, during which the family keeps in contact with their children with required visits every two months, but many more come for weekly visits. Thus when time for departure comes, the children are easily integrated back into their families. This year is to simply allow the family to get back on their feet, and find the means to provide for their children. For two years after reintegration the families are permitted to return to the Poupenierre to receive food assistance. Disabled children are surrendered permanently because most families have no means of caring for them properly. Along with disabled children, if families miss so many monthly visits and do not return after one year; then only are the children applicable for adoption. Thus adoption within Senegal is very difficult, and only 18-20 children are adopted from the Poupenierre each year, and not without a lengthy process.
Aissatou Diagne founder of The Rescue Orphanage in Dakar started her Islam based orphanage project in May 2005 after a gruesome experience, which changed her life forever. “Six years ago, I was changed. I saw a dead infant, intertwined in a plastic bag. This baby was not just anywhere; it was in front of a house.” Unlike The Poupenierre, Diagne’s orphanage or rescue home is only able to house 25 children at a time, being newly established its finances and infrastructure do not allow for any more. The children are admitted from 0-5 years of age and remain until they are 18 years of age. “We signed a convention with the state. Once here, it is obligatory that we keep them until they are no longer adolescences” (Diagne). Thus within this orphanage children are not eligible for adoption. They are educated from early child hood to maturity, in order to one day become productive members of Senegalese society. Daigne exclaims; “The objective is to prepare them to become autonomous. They will receive an academic laic instruction of quality. Some of them will reach the higher realms of the State. One of them will become perhaps president of the Republic!”
The Rescue’s vision is to help these children thru out the span of their life. They highlight not only immediate needs, but emphasize on their future. If we help them only at the beginning of their existence, we do not know what they become, nor what their families do”, insists the director. Again adoption does not exist for this orphanage, for they want to provide an entire education until 18 years of age. Unlike the Poupenierre where most families entrust the children with the sisters, the children of The Rescue are children from the streets brought to the orphanage by the police force or people who know of the orphanage. Yet similar to the Poupenierre, the Rescue wants to reduce the amount of abandoned children, thus it set up an assistance council for women in distress. Diagne states that “women should not be giving up or killing their own children, if they are, then there are serious problems, and we want to address those.” As you can see both The Poupenierre and The Rescue have their own objectives, but both are available to help the needs of children, mothers, and families. Equally each would like to see children remain within their families, hence the assistance each organization gives to mothers and families. But with most organizations in developing countries both are suffering from underdevelopment and underfunding.
For The Poupenierre the majority of funding comes from private contributions from various foundations and companies. The state allocates a certain amount of money, but it isn’t even enough to cover electricity costs. With The Rescue it is the same situation, “the state does not give any subsidy, city hall gives us rice bags, but it is not sufficient.” The rest of the funding again comes from various private organizations. Thus these orphanages are lacking in funding, which makes it difficult to give the children the appropriate care. I wonder if adoption would open more opportunities up for these children? Despite the fact that I commend these organizations and the state of Senegal for wanting to keep families together, and allow these children to be educated in their own culture, I wonder if the children from the Poupenirre will end up in the same situation after assistance stops. Also should any child have to live their entire lives without a family? If family is so important, a main reason for the resistance toward adoption, then why do the children at The Rescue live years with no real family? I asked these questions to various Senegalese students and got mixed answers.
Some responded by stating that possibly orphanages like The Rescue are replica’s of families, “one big family” (Mamadou Faye). Pape Fall believes that families will do all they can to support their children and keep them, with the assistance provided by these two organizations-families are able to do just that. He does not believe that after the assistance ends the children will go back to the homes, because he thinks that with the time away the families truly do everything to create means. I asked the students if they believe adoption should be more emphasized and his response was mixed. “Every child deserves a family, a mother and a father, but every family also deserves a child of their own, thus I am torn” (Mamadou Faye). After learning about these organization and listening to the feelings of Senegalese students, I believe the only real way to know what is wrong and what is right, is to hear directly from the children experiencing these things. If adoption is an option, currently it is difficult, and only extreme circumstances permit it.
The two procedures are l’adoption pleniere and l’adoption simple-both created by the family codes of Senegal. With l’adoption plieniere families and children must fulfill several requirements, and the adoption is irrevocable-under all circumstances. L’adoption simples is less constraining then the prior. Children always have ties back to the family of origin-and the family always has the rights to gain back custody of the child. The procedures for both are very different, plenary adoption being a much longer and grueling process, and simple by the name of course being faster and simple. Neither of these adoptions being allowed internationally.
A couple requesting l’adoption pleniere must have been married for 5 years, and one of the two being at least 30 years of age, and both must have a 15-year difference from the child. You mustn’t have children already if you want an adoption pleniere. When the adoption is complete the family of origin has only 3 months to retract the adoption before it is final, after the child has all the same rights a legitimate child would have. L’adoption simple has none of the same perquisites as the prior, yet the adoption is and will never be final. At any point the family has the right to retract their child with justification at any age below 15, if the child is 15 or old retraction is only permitted on serious and justified grounds. “Justification is vague.” Because of the stigmatization and poor perception of people not having their own children, formal adoption is very rare within Senegal.
As you can see with cultural differences, governmental restrictions, and stigmatizations, adoption and orphans are a sensitive subject to Senegal. It is never praiseworthy for a country to admit that there are children on the street without families, but sadly it is a fact all over the world. With only few resources, and no government funding for orphanages or support for adoption-many children are left without families, begging on the streets to survive. With little cultural belief in domestic adoption, I believe international adoption is important for every country. It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that if adopted internationally a child might lose their culture- but the benefits have to be weighed over the costs. Working at an orphanage for the last weeks I have seen both the benefits and the costs to international adoption. Most families want and hope to maintain the child’s culture, but also have come to terms with the difficulty of doing so. What is most important is giving these children and happy and healthy life-with a loving family, how can anything else take priority? I believe that is an opinion that is deep down shared by every person in the world, even if at this point it is difficult to see.
A Blessing in Disguise.
Since I have written in a while, there will be a lot crammed into this little blog, so get ready. I guess I haven’t talked much about day-to-day life when not on excursions or going out on the weekends. Don’t worry not missing much, a normal week here is not full of any real excitement, and actually more frustration than anything. There are twelve us here and in pairs we are supposed to have internships that we go to from 8:30 am- 12:00 pm. When we were told what we were placed in, all of us were pretty excited. There were positions in radio stations, HIV/AIDs organizations, Anti Corruption organizations, linguistics, and the hospital. Initially I got paired with one of the guys on the trip; Andrew and we were supposed to intern at a preschool here in Dakar. Originally very excited, because of course the kids aspect, though I did want something a bit more career orientated, or different than what I do everyday back at home, but none the less I was very excited, thinking that it would probably be a preschool that was in need of volunteers, but again I forgot to tell my self, when it comes to Senegal, have no expectations. The first day our internship was supposed to start, Andrew and I were driven to a particularly fancy neighborhood compared to other areas in Dakar we had witnessed thus far. We pull up to this gated, plant-decorated preschool that looks very high class. As we are waiting for one of our supervisors to talk to the director, European looking fathers walked their children into the school, other families pull up in their fancy vehicles to drop their kids off, at the same time I hear the director of the preschool yell in French well what do you expect me to do with them. Apparently he was not aware he was supposed to have interns despite the “claimed” conversations with him prior to our arrival. We were turned away and told that the Pre School was closing and that is why we weren’t welcome. A bit disappointed, I was hopeful at the same time hoping that a place clearly in more need than the preschool would get us. But from that day on it was a constant battle to find a place to really just stick us. We began to try and work for a governmental organization (which I was not too thrilled about) called Case de tous Petites, another preschool, early child-hood care program, aimed at trying to help low-income families. When we visited the preschool again it just seemed to cater to more of an upper class population, or worse was simply put into place to praise the president. The organization ended up wanting us to pay one thousand dollars to work/shadow there (paying to volunteer) so once again we were stuck without an internship. The rest of our time we either spent sitting in an office putting data into a data base for the NGO we were taking our classes at, and the rest of the time being bounced from organization to organization. At the end of what seemed to be a frustrating 5 weeks of early mornings and afternoons, reflecting back I may have had a better “internship” than any of the others. Through all of the failed attempts to place us somewhere, we were able to see a broader perspective of the organizational world of Senegal than any of the others. We got to see how preschools were run, high school, HIV/AIDs organizations, schools for delinquent youth, and many other things. Though we weren’t able to create relationships with the people we worked with, like all of the others, we truly got a unique experience, inside look to Senegal. (You can read about it in the next writing). Through all of this I learned an important lesson about not only trying to work in a developing country but about life. Instead of dwelling on things that go wrong, or roadblocks, you have to take everything with stride, dwell on the things that are important, and try to learn lessons with everything you experience. Be flexible and take the experience that comes to you, it hard to explain really, but I know this experience will guide my way through working at the orphanage, well at least I hope. There is so much more to write about every experience and the memories seem to be quickly flooding out of my head as I am creating new ones, so more to come, maybe not as vivid as ones before, but more for sure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)