A dream
FOR THE AFRICAN CHILD
An interview with Miss Marble Magezi, Project
Manager of The African Child (UK), a registered charity
H
ow did you choose the name African in order to achieve the desired outcome. What is your message to the ethnic minority
Child and why? In addition, we are charged with forming community in the UK and our readers at
partnerships with other voluntary sector large?
It was chosen by my daughter and was organisations like refugee community
inspired by a poem about an African child. groups, and those specialising in working I have a big problem with these categories.
It was a sad one, in which a child was with children and the Black Minority Often, terms like Asylum Seekers, Illegal
commenting about the father. Ethnic (BME) target group at large. It is Immigrants, Refugees, Black Minority &
diffi cult to fi nd partners, and willing ones Ethnic (BME) communities who, by the
Your services are mainly targeted at at that. way now include diverse groups like Iraqis,
youth and family units. What are the main Gypsies, Kosovo among others, get used
problems of these groups and what are the What do you have to say about violence of and thrown around, often by politicians,
challenges you face in doing your work? black youth at the moment and how do you the media and policy makers. In reality,
think this problem can be solved? BME is now not necessarily about black
Problems include family break downs people. I am afraid that categorisations like
where we have missing parents, in I think this erratic response from young these may be making some groups miss out
instances where children come into Britain people should be taken as a means of on targeted interventions. The BME group
unaccompanied. Divorce and separation of communication. They are reaching out. can and does include a lot of people. In
parents is another concern where children The question is: are we listening enough? practice, children of certain backgrounds
are affected. Cultureal clash in families Do we understand their language? Clearly, for example might fall through the net.
brought about by diffi culties pertaining to we do not; there has been a breakdown in There may be no services for them because
UK street culture is also an issue. communication. The challenge is to fi nd they do not fall under any category. In
the underlying cause. I am alarmed that theory they are included but in practice
Another problem is poverty, whereby even girls are forming gangs. I think part they are not.
deprived families come into the country of solving the problem is admitting our
and have no recourse to public funds. limitations, we do not know what to do. Some people shall suffer in silence
Immigrants may not be able to get benefi ts because they have been left out, sidelined
or housing and do not qualify for public I believe we need to form partnerships and compromised. There is a lesson to be
funds. Children fall victim and do not even with the youth, consult with the children learned from multiculturalism and that is, a
have access to health services. and listen to them and their story to fi nd possible negative outcome of ignoring some
out what and how they think. It has been groups. Targeted interventions fail if the
All of the above may lead to the poor said in recent surveys that they want to target group is ill defi ned and ambiguous.
mental health of children. As a result, protect themselves. But we need to fi nd out We almost certainly need tailor-made
they are not happy and are not achieving from whom they need this protection. Why interventions for different community
the 5 government every-child-matters aren’t they stabbing any adults but rather groups. We cannot toss everyone into the
outcomes i.e. Enjoying, Achieving only members of their age group? I believe same boat without proper facilitation. A
economic wellbeing, Be healthy, Stay safe we are still dealing with a wall of silence one size fi ts all approach does not work.
and Make a positive contribution. and we are not getting the full story here.
There is not enough information about For further information log onto
Our main challenges are fi rst of all to stabbings and shootings that happen even www.theafricanchild.org
achieve these government targets for in the most public places like estates and E: theafricanchild@ukonline.co.uk
P
children. To do this, we have to convince streets. We do not know and most likely
the stakeholders, voluntary and statutory we are not doing enough to fi nd out.
sectors that we need to review our strategies
www.thepromota.co.uk THEPROMOTA | 37
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