After the immediate emergency response, an emergency or crisis doesn’t end for children. Often, they find themselves in desperate circumstances, cold and at risk of hunger, disease and violence.
As we enjoy our time with the family on Christmas Day, there will be children who are suffering, their lives torn apart by emergencies such as the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar or the recent earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.
These children have already lost so much, they shouldn’t have to lose their childhood too. Below we’ll tell you a little bit more about the children living in crisis, and how you can help them overcome it.
Children Need Stability and Support in Indonesia
On 28 September 2018, an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck central Sulawesi in Indonesia. This was followed by a tsunami that devastated the west coast.
The natural disasters have reportedly killed 2,088 people and displaced 78,994 others, who are spread over 110 different evacuation centres. Access to basic services and necessities is a challenge, and children and their families have limited access to electricity, water and sanitation services.
ChildFund is assisting the emergency response to make sure children have enough clean water, food, blankets, and tents. Our other primary concerns are making sure they are able to resume their schooling and access psychosocial support as soon as possible.
Keep Evacuated Children Safe In Laos, Cambodia and India
We’re a lucky country.
That’s the consensus of the students at Georges River Grammar in south-west Sydney.
“People in Australia have so much but we forget how little other people have,” sixth-grader Lourdes says.
“I think we should give more to charity because people in other countries aren’t as lucky as we are,” Oscar, also in Grade 6, adds.
We’re sitting under a giant fig tree in the school playground, and it’s clear the Grade 6 students we’re speaking to are wonderfully bright and compassionate. They’re also savvy and know a thing or two about the struggles their peers growing up in developing communities face.
For almost two decades staff at Georges River Grammar have taught their students about the importance of helping others.
The school, which has more than 470 students between kindergarten and Grade 6, has been sponsoring children through ChildFund since 2001 and hold regular fundraising activities each year to support disadvantaged children and communities.
Their most recent event – Helping Others Afternoon – raised $3000 for ChildFund’s Laos Nutrition Appeal and children affected by the Philippines typhoon, which killed dozens of people in September and forced more than 236,000 families to abandon their homes.
The money were raised over an afternoon in October when classes from Grade 2 to Grade 6 ran stalls and activities for students, including face painting and games, and sold cakes and second-hand books and toys.
