Local NGO Identifies With Children

The Department of Children and Families or DCF has identified with several Ebola-affect ted kids in Monrovia.

The local NGO presented several food items, including biscuits, as well as rice, among others and hosted the a Christmas party for Ebola-affected children within the Randall Street community.

Speaking to reporters recently in Monrovia during the Christmas party, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of DCF, Trudy Blamo, noted that Children were always among the most vulnerable in an emergency, stressing that Since the initial Ebola outbreak, children and their families have been exposed to extreme distress due to death of parents, family separation, isolation and the overall disruption of society.

Madam Blamo indicated that Children have been especially frightened by prolonged confinement at home or isolation units and by witnessing the suffering of family members. 

Although during the heat of the Ebola outbreak here in Liberia the number of new Ebola cases was declining, orphans and child survivors continued to face abandonment and stigmatization in their communities, pointing out that the intervention of her organization in 2013 was to adequately buttress the efforts of the governments and partners who were contributing to the well-being of Ebola-affected children in various communities. She added that the vision of the her organization is to move the organization forward in terms of identifying with kids across Liberia, turned orphans by the deadly virus, saying “ we are currently working in four counties – Grand Gedeh, Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount and River Gee Counties respectably .

She told reporters that thousands of Liberian children were made orphans as a result of the deaths of their relatives – mothers, fathers and others. According to her, such children urgently need special attention and support; yet many of them feel unwanted and even abandoned.

“Orphans are usually taken in by a member of the extended family, but in some communities, the fear surrounding Ebola was becoming stronger than family ties,” she indicated.

By Lewis S. Teh-Edited by George Barpeen