IAM Children's Foundation is dedicated to work toward the fight against child sacrifices and international child trafficking. ICF is a worthy winner because this organization lobbies both the Ugandan government and the international community to join the campaign to end child sacrifice. And we believe God for provision of funds to build community campus which will be a center for less privileged, child sacrifice victims.
It is not a debate any more: child sacrifice and trafficking is real in Uganda. Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please or appease a deity, supernatural beings, or sacred social order, tribal, group or national loyalties in order to achieve a desired result. While, Child trafficking is the taking children out of their protective environment and preying on their vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation.
This has happened to many unsuspecting relatives, friends and strangers who have lost scores of children to the primitive and devilish acts of people. Most responses have been to the emblematic part of the vices. We need to get to the root cause of the vice which is mainly attributed to poverty, unproven cultural believes and greed. Whereas weak government mechanism for apprehending and prosecuting victims have aided the vice to continue, little awareness and advocacy has not been appreciated.
This vice has manifested itself in several and even more than the following ways killing children and burying them in foundations of buildings, removing the toughs, private parts (sexual organs), slaying them on alters of witch doctors and sorcerers, taking them to work as sex slaves, married as early as 8 years and die due to sex related challenges, while others are sold for their hearts, kidneys or livers.These links are a proof to this sad reality (https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/Africa/child-scrifice-uganda, https://worldvision.org/blog/5-things-need-know-child-sacrifice-uganda , https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/new/1328291/child-scrifice-wealth-power-uganda).
The Bible strongly condemned the vice; Leviticus 20:2-5 Any Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death, The members of the community are to stone him, I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek. Many other Old Testament passages affirm God’s zero tolerance for child sacrifice.
As an institution focusing street children and other vulnerable children and women, I am foundation adopts zero tolerance for child sacrifice and condemns it in the strongest remedial terms.
Attempts to support children and community to face this challenge have been done by many institutions including government by passing in 2016 an amendment to the Children’s Act. Under clause 10 it protects children from violence and provides a right to access child protection services. This development for Uganda especially prohibits child sacrifice, trafficking, sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation.
However, there are still very large gaps due to mainly silence on the vice by many victims and the community as a whole. While others still practice the barbaric acts without knowledge of its effect but blindly follow tribal trends. The very rich perpetrators have for many a time manipulated the judiciary system by bribing the officers. The biggest effects are the trauma to the community. This is very strong on the vulnerable children and people surviving on the streets and the very poor homeless people holed in the slums of Kampala and Wakiso.
Esther is 18years old, a school dropout
The Sewing for better livelihood Project offers
...Nansana, Wakiso District, Uganda, East Africa
by phone: +256 782 729 635 | +256 705 905 527
by e-mail: iamchildrensfoundation@gmail.com
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