Uganda’s Invisible Children | God's World News

Uganda’s Invisible Children

12/19/2017
  • 1 Invis Children
    School children, some of whom may not have accurate information about their own birth, clown for the camera during a class in Masaka, Uganda. (AP)
  • 2 Invis Children
    Cloth sacks filled with birth records strain the shelves behind a hospital worker in Kitovu, Uganda. (AP)
  • 3 Invis Children
    Teachers in Uganda think Keron, (white shirt) is around four or five. But he is missing out on money to support his schooling because he does not have a birth certificate. (AP)
  • 4 Invis Children
    A birth registration campaign is only five years old. This is how births were recorded—by hand in a book—before Uganda began using computer records. (AP)
  • 5 Invis Children
    In Masaka, Uganda, a woman holds her new grandson. The maternity ward had no running water, but a census worker was present to record the baby’s birth. (AP)
  • 1 Invis Children
  • 2 Invis Children
  • 3 Invis Children
  • 4 Invis Children
  • 5 Invis Children

In the developed world, birth certificates proving every person’s age are often a certainty. But across Africa and South Asia, tens of millions of children never get them. Without proof of age, those children can face dire consequences regarding education, health care, jobs, and legal rights.

Imagine not knowing your birthday. Imagine not knowing when it was time to start school. Imagine not knowing whether you were old enough to drive a car, hold a job, or get married.

Young people without IDs are vulnerable in some cultures. They may be coerced into early marriage, military service, or the labor market before reaching legal age. In adulthood, they may struggle to assert their right to vote, inherit property, or obtain a passport.

In Uganda, these children are called “invisible,” by child protection specialists such as Joan Dunn of UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund).

By UNICEF’s latest count in 2013, about 35 percent of the world’s children under age five had not been recorded. That means about 230 million children at that point were not documented according to age.

Volunteers in Uganda go house to house in villages, looking for unregistered children. Many babies are born at home there. They miss out on the registration procedures that take place at more hospitals and health centers as the country tries to modernize.

Though very much a work in progress, UNICEF considers efforts in Uganda to be on the path to success. In 2011, only about 30 percent of children under age five were registered. Today, that number is estimated to be 60 percent.

While obtaining a birth certificate is routine for most parents in Western nations, it may not be a priority for African parents. They simply worry about keeping a newborn alive and fed. Many parents wait several years, often until their children are ready for school, to tackle the paperwork.

Maria Nanyonga raises pigs and goats in Masaka, Uganda. She’s also raising seven nieces and nephews—with no documentation of their births. Lack of registration caused her to miss out on tuition assistance for some of them.

“I tried my best to get the children’s certificates, but I didn’t even know where to start,” Nanyonga says. “I didn’t know when they were born, and the officials needed that.”

Even now, two years after missing the financial aid, Nanyonga is uncertain of the children’s ages.

“I can only guess,” she says. “I think the oldest is 10 and the youngest is five.”

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. — Psalm 139:16