I'll address the question of child protection first, because the issue of children at risk is a major issue around the world. As Ian was explaining, it's really why we moved to Swaziland. The farming is very important, but the farming is a means to an end. We need to be able to feed the children and we need to be able to provide incomes, so that we can care for these 91 children—soon to be 260—who are our children.
The government of Swaziland is working very hard to elevate its level of child protection to a global level. As we understand it, they're members of the UN. In order to be a member of the UN, you have to adhere to the Hague Convention.
In the constitution of 2005, Swaziland did not have a child protection act the way we would like to see it. From 2010 to 2012, they worked very diligently to get a child protection plan in place. It's called the Children's Protection and Welfare Act. It does all of the things we would like it to do. In fact, every time I'm in the social welfare office, which is under the deputy prime minister's office, the child protection act is sitting right there.
It is well used. If we're dealing with a child who has been left alone by the parents, which is very common in their culture.... At any time, day or night, I could go to the farthest reaches of the country, go to a homestead and find one of these households headed by orphans, where 15- or 13- or 12-year-old children are caring for younger children and have been alone for many days. The child protection act directly says that children under the age of 15—I'm not sure what the age is—are not to be left alone.
We can't go and collect all of the children to come and live at Project Canaan, but we can use that act. If we know that a child is being abused, or if there's a specific area of care that we can help with, or if there's a baby under the age of 12 months, we can take that act and walk in. They are very responsive to it. They know it inside out, which is great.
The other thing that's interesting about the child protection act is that it's very progressive, in a way, because it does not allow girls under the age of 18 to be married, which is very first world. Now, is that enforced every day in the country? No, in different areas and in different pockets, it's still culturally acceptable to marry off a child who's 12 years or 13 years old, because the family needs the money. They need the lobola. However, if we knew that was happening and it was reported to us, we would have no problem. Ian and I would be the ones in the car, with the child protection act, driving to a homestead with the police, and they would take action against it. It might not be a popular decision in the community at that time, but it is being upheld.
We're very encouraged by that. It's going to take time for it to be totally implemented, but it's something that we can hold onto and, through the deputy prime minister's office, we can make progress on behalf of the children of Swaziland.