Children’s Home In Lakes In Honour Of Liberation Fighters in Sudan

Lakes State is set to have a street children’s rehabilitation home in honour of the liberation heroes and heroines.

The Lakes State Governor Engineer Chol Tong Mayay laid the foundation stone for the home called Child Foundation Home (CHF) on Saturday at an occasion attended by United Nations representatives and government officials.

The home is the first of its kind in the state and will host over the 200 street children in the state capital Rumbek.

Most of the street urchins are war orphans while some have been forced out of their homes by abusive relatives.

Life has not been easy on the streets as most of them have found themselves in clashes with businessmen in the town as well as arbitrary arrests.

“As we commemorate this day, we are still mindful of the tremendous challenges that we face. The war has left many children on the streets as the straggle was fought by ordinary men and women with great personal sacrifice, often with loss of many lives”, said Governor Mayay.

He took issue with the term “street children”, which he termed as “discrediting the position of the children throughout whilst it is not their fault other than the cost of war.”

He said his government had decided to establish the home in line with the Friday commemoration of liberation heroes and heroines.

“On the fifth anniversary to commemorate the death of our great leader Dr John Garang de Mabior and all the fallen heroes of the SPLA, we decided that we will lay a foundation stone for Child Foundation Home as our commitment to the SPLM vision, and put the plan before our people and the non- governmental organisations eager to support. We all have a role to play to ensure that the right of the children are respected and protected at all time”, said Governor Mayay.

His also appealed to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and non – governmental organisations to contribute to child right protection across the eight counties of Lakes State.

“It is our hope that this foundation will meet the expectation of all our children and I call upon the rest of the stakeholders and actors to play their part in supporting the promotion and protection of child rights”, he said.

The Lakes State Gender and Human Right Affairs Advisor Adak Costa Mapuor said children’s rights must be respected as they are the future leaders of South Sudan.