Childhood Journey Shapes Save the Children Staffer's Work
Tiir Rhoda, a Child Protection Information Management System & Data Assistant for Save the Children in South Sudan, is no stranger to the many challenges children face in search of education and a better future.
During her childhood, Rhoda, along with many others who would eventually become her colleagues, regularly visited a Save the Children play center. These early and influential experiences motivated her to pursue a career with the organization. Today her role is essential in ensuring the safety of and providing care for children in crisis.
Child protection is a critical intervention that is woven through the many areas of our work, particularly in countries impacted by conflict.
South Sudan is home to over half a million children who were forced to flee when violent conflict broke out in neighboring Sudan in April 2023. Sudan has now become the largest child displacement crisis in the world.
Children and families fleeing their homes for relative safety bring with them heavy burdens when it comes to their mental health and overall protection needs. Without staff like Rhoda, we would not be able to properly assist those arriving in South Sudan by the hundreds of thousands.
Our teams in South Sudan are helping children like Hassan*, 6, and Fikira*, 3, who live in a transit center in Renk, South Sudan with their father, Ahmed*, and their mother, Salma*.
After fleeing their home and arriving in the transit center in South Sudan, Hassan and Fikira began attending one of our Child Friendly Spaces to play, learn and receive mental health support.
In transit centers in South Sudan, we’re providing refugees with comprehensive case management services, including identifying and registering separated and unaccompanied children, providing essential supplies to the most vulnerable unaccompanied minors and separated children, offering psychosocial support services through Child Friendly Spaces and more.
Rhoda hopes to help children like Hassan and Fikira build their emotional resilience so they can focus on their futures even against a backdrop of war and displacement. Her own resiliency is the reason she’s come so far, allowing her to chase her dreams despite tremendous hardship. It is this she wants to pass on to a generation of children grappling with immense challenges.
That resilience – along with critical, holistic humanitarian interventions like those provided by Save the Children – are key to a child’s future.
Amid the confusion and chaos caused by the conflict in Sudan, Rhoda and her colleagues shine as beacons of protection and hope for Sudanese children. Her greatest wish is for the children she works with to have the same opportunities she had. Despite the challenges she faced, she attributes her success to the time she had as a beneficiary of Save the Children. Rhoda knows firsthand the transformative power of humanitarian assistance and the positive impact it can have on children when they receive the support they need.
*names changed to protect privacy
Click here to read more about our response to the conflict in Sudan.