“Not a new moral requirement”: Vatican Official on Safeguarding Children in Eastern Africa

The member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) went on to caution against child abuse in contemporary society in which people "have become more aware, now have more language, more policies, more procedures, more guidance."

Credit: Sr. Jecinter Okoth, FSSA/AMECEA

He also cautioned against finger-pointing. 

“It's a lot easier to point at someone else than to think about the three fingers that are pointing at us,” Fr. Small said on May 16, the first of the three-day CCCI event being held at Nairobi’s Boma Hotel under the theme, “Reading the Signs of the Times together”.

A project of the  International Union of Superiors General (UISG), CCCI is “a growing global network of Catholic Sisters who are setting aside institutional approaches to caring for children in favor of family- and community-based care”, as indicated on UISG website.

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Credit: Sr. Jecinter Okoth, FSSA/AMECEA

Also speaking at the CCCI event that was realized by the collaboration of the Association of Religious Sisters in Kenya (AOSK), Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst (GHR) Foundation, and AMECEA, Dr. Ronald Luwangula said there is need to reduce the number of children in institutions such as children's homes.

The Lecturer at Uganda’s Makerere University advocated for care in families, saying, “Quality of institutional care is questionable as some of those giving care lack the expertise. Institutions are not the best place for children to be, but the family.”

Credit: Sr. Jecinter Okoth, FSSA/AMECEA

“Children’s needs and rights are met when children live in the family; when they live in communities, they are more likely to realize their rights,” Dr. Luwangula further on the first day of the May 16-18 event that brought together representatives of CCCI stakeholders in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and South Sudan.

He added, “If children are in institutions, efforts should be made to see them reunited with their birth parents or at least relatives.” 

Other options such as foster care and adoption need to be explored, he further said during his May 16 address.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.