Sanusi, Rick Warren Speak on ‘Losing Children’, Ask World Leaders to End 5m Annual Child Deaths

Muhammad Sanusi II, the emir of Kano, and American evangelist Rick Warren have called on world leaders to put an end to the avoidable deaths of five million children who die across the globe every year.

Speaking at the Gates Foundation Goalkeepers event on Monday, the religious leaders said across all faiths, human life is precious, and that of children is the responsibility of every leader.

Both men spoke about the tragedy of losing children, asking rich countries to support low and middle-income countries to ensure progress continues globally.

“In the religion of Islam, all human life is sacred, the Quran says he who takes the human life without cause is like one who takes a life for entire humanity, and he who saves one human life is like one who saves entire humanity,” Sanusi said. 

“Now, given that perspective and given the fact that all human life is equal, the fact that children are exposed to death, children are exposed to hunger, children are exposed to malnutrition, is something that should concern us as human beings.

“Leadership in Islam has responsibilities and, you know, you’re going to be asked on the day of judgement for the welfare and the well-being of your people, and the children are the greatest trust.

“Saving the lives of children is perhaps the greatest priority of any leader because children, women, and other vulnerable people are there to be protected by those in power,” he said. 

SANUSI: MY MOST TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE

Sanusi shared the story of a woman who lost her child while waiting to see him for help that would cost only $5.

“African nations have shown resilience, not in abundance but in scarcity. In general, when you have a lack, when you have poverty, communities come together. If there’s no food in the house, neighbours feed that family,” he said.

“In 2017, when we talk about children, I had what for me was the most traumatic experience.

“When I seat in court, people come around, they ask for help. And on this day, I heard a loud scream. It turned out that a woman who was waiting in line to ask me for help came with her child from the Children’s Hospital across, and that child died in her arms.

“And what was she looking for? Something that was the equivalent of $5 to buy drugs. Now, when you live in that environment where a woman’s child can die because she does not have five dollars. The only way that society survives is that those who have, come to the help of those who do not, because that child could be anyone’s child, it could have been my child.”

He called on rich countries to help poor ones, stating that those who were born in America had did nothing to be born in a wealthy nation.

“There was a divine plan for it, and it’s a test. And God loves all his children. He does not give some wealth because he loves the better than those he does not give. He gives you wealth as a test. That test is what do you do with it? What is your gratitude for that opulence?

“And the only way to show gratitude is to give those whom he has not given and to show love to those whom he loves”.

RICK WARREN: I LOST A CHILD AND NEVER RECOVERED

Warren, who is the author of The New York Times’ #1 bestselling book, Purpose Driven Life, said he lost a child and understands what the pain feels like, advocating that no one should have to go through such pain.

“As the Emir pointed out, 80% of the world is one of five religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, or Christianity. Every one of them say the same thing, we have a moral responsibility to our children,” he said

“In my faith, Jesus said, children are the kingdom of God. They are the kingdom of God. He also said anybody who doesn’t protect children from their abuse will be judged.

“But let me just say this, whether you’ve got any faith or not. If you’re a mum or you’re dead, I lost a child. I lost a child to mental illness. I’ve never recovered from that pain. I can’t imagine five million mums, five million dads grieving over their children, who should not have died.”

Warren, who has been working in nearly 200 countries around the world,  said some problems are so big that the world has to tackle it as a team

“Promote reconciliation where there’s conflict, equip ethical leaders where there’s corruption, assists the poor, whether it’s poverty care for the sick where there’s diseases and educate the next Generation, where there’s illiteracy”.