Impacts on Early Emotional Development

In West and Central Africa, statistics show that nearly two out of every 10 children, never reach their fifth birthday. Children are dying from malaria, diarrheal diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. In addition to their already unfair circumstances, children have their rights violated on a daily basis to an extreme extent.

The country is experiencing extreme violence from a Nigerian militant Islamist group known as, Boko Haram.  The group has an ongoing fight/mission to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. Boko Haram has caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through waves of bombings, assassinations and abductions. Boko Haram has robbed 1.3 million children of their childhood. Its violence has forced thousands of children out of school. Children are being displaced, abducted, raped, maimed and killed. Over 5,000 children are unaccompanied and separated from their parents. I cannot imagine what these children may be going through emotionally. I am sure that they are afraid and emotionally unstable as they do not know what to expect from day to day and in many cases from minute to minute. Their villages and families are being torn apart and destroyed daily.

Exploring this website makes my heartache to read about all that these children are going through. It makes me appreciate the relationships that I experience with the children that I encounter from day to day. I want to do all that I can to ensure these children have positive impacts in their lives. In many kids, the kids within our program are not as bad off as those in West and Central Africa, but they experience more in their little lifetimes than some adults. In many cases these children are neglected and unaccompanied in a sense and often times have to be dispersed among families, if family members are able and willing. Articles such as these make me want to do all that I can to ensure the safety and well-being of all children while in my care.