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Celebrations in the Pumwani slums, Nairobi
All over the continent, the Day of the African Child was celebrated yesterday, June 16th in memory of the peaceful demonstration of children in Soweto, South Africa, 30 years ago.
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16. June 2006
All over the continent, the Day of the African Child was celebrated yesterday, June 16th in memory of the peaceful demonstration of children in Soweto, South Africa, 30 years ago.
In another African metropol, Nairobi, MS-partner St. John’s Community Centre this week had arranged for celebrations throughout the week. The event peaked on the 16th when children from entire Pumwani were invited for a day of theater, music, performance and speeches.
Parallel to the ongoing events children from the slums took part in various activities, e.g. having their hair done and their nails and faces painted by cosmetology students from Nairobi who had all volunteered for the event.
Among the speakers was MS Kenya Country Director, Anne Hoff, who emphasized the
importance of children as Africa’s most valuable asset. She added that the 16th should be the day on which adults should assess opportunities for enhancing children's lives.
“Because of the level of poverty in the area, a child in the slum areas continues to suffer severe lack of access to basic needs, inadequate education and protection from injustices. From reports last year, child neglect and maintenance was the second most reported case in the human rights desk after child abuse. Though not evident in reports, it was observed that child neglect continues to be a big threat to child development in Pumwani slum area,” she stated.
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15 years of celebrations
The Day of the African Child symbolizes courage. In 1976 during apartheid, young people, angry at being taught Afrikaans – seen as the language of oppression – decided to protest. On 16 June, 10,000 of them, mostly school children, took to Soweto’s streets in peaceful demonstrations.
The authorities responded with force and killed 152 that year. However the protests continued into 1977, by which time over 700 young lives had been lost. Fifteen years later, in 1991, the Organization of African Unity immortalized the Soweto Uprising by declaring 16 June the Day of the African Child.
This year’s Day of the African Child has as its theme, ‘Stop Violence against Children.’
“Incidents of young girls, especially orphans, being raped or molested are reported every day in the media. The perpetrators – often fathers, uncles or neighbours – go unpunished because law-enforcement officers regard these crimes as domestic matters. For these children, though, the family – that sanctuary of peace and safety – has become a haven of impunity and a source of horror.
Where institutions to provide safety for abused children exist, they are woefully inadequate or poorly funded. The violence that is prevalent in the home, in fact, may simply be transferred to the institution,” writes award-wining South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka on the UNICEF webpage. Chaka Chaka herself was born and raised in Soweto and was 11 years of age in 1976 when the demonstrations took place. In 2005 she was appointed UNICEF goodwill Ambassador for Eastern and Southern Africa.
More about the Day of the African Child on the UNICEF webpage:
