Mothers can abuse their own children. This was a message Hlengiwe Ntinga wanted delegates at the Conference on Orphans, Children and Youth made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS to take away with them.
Ntinga grew up in a children’s home after she was rescued by social workers from an abusive mother. “My mother called me a curse and tried everything in her power to kill me with her own hands,” said Hlengiwe.
She reported her ordeal to social workers who facilitated for her to be moved to a children’s home, where she stayed until she graduated as a nurse. Ntinga said she was grateful for the opportunities given to her by the Department of Social Development.
“The Department of Social Development has done a good job for children like me and deserves to be commended. I have been given an opportunity to dream, to be educated, and to build my self-confidence. I was underprivileged but through the department I am now privileged,” she said as she received a standing ovation from delegates.
Another young woman, Thembisa Shinga, told the conference of how she struggled to put food on the table for her younger siblings following the death of their mother in 2003.
“Life became tough for us when my mother passed away because she was the bread winner. I had to ask our neighbours for food for my younger siblings,” Shinga said.
Social workers also took her to a children’s home from where she completed her schooling. She has started a non-profit organisation that supports and speaks in schools and local radio stations as a motivational speaker. She is also about to publish a book called “Believing is receiving”.
Earlier today the conference heard from Tom Mkhize – a community capacity enhancement expert from Project Literacy – who gave feedback on the outcomes of children’s dialogues that have been taking place around the country.
Mkhize said most of the challenges children raised through dialogues were a manifestation of poor values in society. “Children said adults take them along to drink in taverns or send them to buy liquor.
“They also complained of physical and emotional abuse by parents and foster parents; a lack of emotional support, teenage pregnancy as a result of peer pressure, drug abuse, easy access to porn, and sugar daddies,” Mkhize said.
The dialogues targeted orphans, vulnerable children and those living with disabilities, aged between 12 and 18 years.
Mkhize urged that a programme of action be developed to attend to urgent matters that posed a danger to children’s lives. He also urged that the dialogues continue so as to accommodate a greater number of children and uncover any other challenges that might exist.
He said there was a clear need to strengthen para-professional training of social workers to provide psycho-social support to children, and for the training of children themselves on coping skills and resilience.
The conference, which ends today, is held as part of the commemoration of the National Child Protection Week (CPW) that began on 27 May 2013. It took place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.
The Minister for Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, will address the CPW closing ceremony on June 2 at the Lephephane Sports Ground, Lephephane, Limpopo.
CPW is commemorated in the country annually to raise awareness of the rights of children as articulated in the Children's Act of 2005. The campaign, which began in 1997, also aims to mobilise all sectors of society and communities in the effort of ensuring care and protection for children.
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