By Male Marvin
When parents are arrested or convicted their children face many challenges, one of the most important being the disruption of parent-child attachment.
Even though they believe it’s fair to expect convicted criminals to pay for their crimes, Wells Of Hope, a Christian non-profit organization based in Kampala-Uganda that is involved in outreaches to people especially children affected by adverse situations, says no child should have to suffer for their parent’s mistakes by being left to grow up on their own.
Wells Of Hope just recently transported 90 children under its care to visit their parents – and among them were 4 who saw their parents for the first time.
The children visited five (5) prisons which included: Upper prison Luzira, Women prison Luzira, Jinja prison, Kitalya prison and Nakasongola prison.
“The children were extremely happy to visit their parents,” the organisation said. “The children’s prison visits are some of the most precious moments cherished at Wells of Hope; families are reunited and through these visits, family bonding is enhanced.”
Many of these Children broke out in prayer and worship with their parents, moments after arriving at the correction facilities.
At Upper prison Luzira, a father said, “I thought after being imprisoned, it would be the end of my life but with organisations like Wells of Hope my hope was restored. I did not know that there are people out there who still care and are willing to help others even when they are not related to them.”
Wells of Hope Ministries was founded in 2002 in Murchison bay Prison Luzira, Kampala by Mr Francis Ssuubi where he was an inmate on remand for a period of 68 days. He was later acquitted after the charges were dropped.
While in prison, he wrote the Wells of Hope concept. He discovered the inmates’ biggest worry is the situation of their families that they left behind especially their children.
“Each of those inmates on average has 5 children. On certain occasions, by the time an inmate is imprisoned, he/she was looking after his relatives children. So, how many we save are just a drop in the ocean. That is why we are constantly advocating for support to reach out to more children of convicted parents.” Mrs Kyomuhendo Ssuubi, Mr Francis Ssuubi’s wife told UG Christian News last year at their head offices at Wakaliga – Nateete.
Although they have their data set out, the organisation appeals for research on the actual number of Children affected by parental imprisonment.
“Government will say they have agencies that meet the demands of convicted parents’ children, but actually, nothing is done practically. We had a Scenario where child was left in court – yet Government says they have the policies in place. What we want them to do is to enforce it. In Uganda, Children of prisoners were never considered vulnerable until the 2011 UN Convention. When parents are on trial, consider the children and family.”
“We are trying to reach out to policy makers, but they always ask for research that can be used as evidence. As wells of hope, we are the only organisation in Uganda that is doing this. We only have our evidence to back us up. But what they need are nationwide statistics and research. We need to have it done, published so that we can refer to it.” Mrs Kyomuhendo said.
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