By S, KNA
Busia Beyond Crime, a Community Based Organization (CBO) through the support of Freedom Fund in Busia, has embarked on training 45 Nyumba Kumi leaders as Trainer of Trainers (ToT), with a view to sensitize other community members on domestic child exploitation.
Speaking during the training exercise for the first batch of 15 ToTs at Busia County Commissioner’s Boardroom, Tuesday, the Organization’s Director, Major Retired Titus Wabwire, said the training will be carried out in Busia and Samia Sub-counties.
“In Matayos/Busia Sub-county, we are training 15 ToTs in Burumba, 15 in Bukhayo West and 15 in Nambuku/ Namboboto,” he said, adding that the training can be extended to areas with Nyumba Kumi clusters.
Wabwire added that it has been difficult to reach individual families within the community, but Nyumba Kumi representatives can sit down with their clusters and sensitize them on how to prevent child labour and child domestic work exploitation and abuse, so that children can get their rights.
“They will build the capacity of communities, so that they own children collectively to ensure that the children grow-up in a holistic manner,” he said.
The Official further noted that failure to bring-up children in a right way tend to create a vicious cycle of delinquency.
“We shall hold these ToTs responsible in ensuring that there is no child labour in the community,” he added.
He at the same time said that the Nyumba Kumi members are very active in areas where they have been trained and have even managed to reduce the menace of criminal gangsters in the community.
Busia Sub-county Director of Children Services, Euphresia Agala, said that 59 percent of children within Busia County, are involved in child labour.
“When we talk of child labour, it is within the service industry such as markets and homes, as herd’s boys or house helps and also in the agricultural farms,” she said, adding that some children were also being exploited in the fishing and sand harvesting sites.
Agala added that the training will help in reaching out to children who engage in child labour within the homesteads, which cannot be easily detected by government officers.
She urged the beneficiaries of the training to give the right information on child labour and its negative effects in the community.