In East Amman, Save the Children and WNCB partner JOHUD are joining forces to protect and support children who are of were active in child labour. In the JOHUD center, children are welcomed in a safe space where they are taught different skills, can talk about their challenges, meet others with the same background, make friends and just have fun. JOHUD also targets parents and caregivers, on raising awareness, guiding them on how to provide a safe and healthy environment for their children an enabling them to grow and develop. Thirty-six-year old Israa works as a life coach and teacher in the JOHUD-Centre with kids in the age between 13 and 17 years old. She teaches communication skills and works on improving their level confidence.
Thirty-six-year old Israa works as a life coach and teacher in the JOHUD-Centre with kids in the age between 13 and 17 years old. She teaches communication skills and works on improving their level confidence.
Israa tells: “Most children here in the Centre are or have been in child labour. We teach them how to talk about their experiences, which are often not positive. We also teach them about their rights because many of them have no idea what their rights are. Also, we teach them how to speak up when harm is being done to them. The children become more aware about these topics and more confident. When they’ve been in our programme for a while, parents often tell us that they notice their child has gotten stronger. They can defend themselves, so no one can take their rights anymore.”
Save the Children and JOHUD do not only support the child, the whole family benefits from the programme. Also the parents are being made aware about the right of education and having a good health, for example.
“Child labour is a big issue here in Jordan,” explains Israa. “The government has taken steps to prevent child labour. The Ministry of Labour is for example checking farms for children working. They are on the right track, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”