Birth Certificates Renew Hope
In Senegal, a proper education is essential for putting children on a path toward thriving as an adult. But for people in need, education is not always accessible, and not having a birth certificate is sometimes the barrier.
Pikine, a suburban municipality near Dakar, the capital of Senegal, has over a million residents, and most of them struggle with poverty. To make matters worse, children in the most vulnerable families are seldom registered at birth. This means that as they grow from childhood to adulthood, they face challenges accessing public school education, writing national exams, getting formal jobs, registering marriages, and more. World Renew has been working to support families struggling with poverty in Senegal since 1989.
Mrs. Diopp lives in Pikine and knows how challenging the lack of registration can be to a child’s life. She tried for years to get her three children, ages 4, 5, and 11, registered.
“When the children were born, my husband had lost his identity card,” she explained. “He had taken steps to renew it, but the documents he received were not good. My husband is careless. Every time I talked to him about it, he said he would take care of it, but he didn’t do anything.”
Adding to the hardships Mrs. Diopp faced, her husband was sentenced to five years in jail, and she was left to provide for her children on her own.
Without birth certificates, Mrs. Diopp’s children could not attend public school, so she had to enroll them in a private school.
“I sold hair products and did laundry for other families to feed my children and pay the school fees,” she said. “I was tired because I couldn’t afford to pay the monthly tuition installments.”
Mrs. Diopp knew that she had to find a way to get her children registered so that they could continue their studies. She was further discouraged because the officials she talked with said that she would have to take their case to court. Attempting to prey on her vulnerability and desperation to get the documents she needed, someone offered to help her for $100. She asked if he would take an advance of $25 until she could find the rest of the money.
Through God’s intervention, that very day a door opened for Mrs. Diopp to obtain the right documents.
“God is good,” she said with a smile. “I was negotiating with this man [when] a neighbor came to tell me that there was a new program in Pikine that offered papers for children, so I dropped everything to go and find out.”
The program the neighbor was referencing was the Civic Registration program facilitated by World Renew’s local partner, Lutheran Services for Senegalese Development (SLDS).
SLDS staff were able to help provide Mrs. Diopp with her children’s birth certificates through a health center. She set up a court date, and the judge approved her case. The children were registered for public schooling on the same day.
Mrs. Diopp said she remembers that day as a great victory.
“Getting their papers was my biggest dream,” she said. “I went to the SLDS to thank them. If I had money, I would give it to them because they are welcoming and accessible. They take the trouble to call you and speak to you with respect and consideration. I will continue to visit them and pray for them. I sincerely thank the donors and pray to God to grant them a long life and excellent health.”
