June 16 - Day of the African Child
The Day of the African Child has been established and in honor of the 1976 Soweto Massacre that killed approximately 100 students/children in South Africa. This exert is written by Gerald Mwale.
In 1976 troops of the apartheid regime of South Africa, massacred more than 100 people, after thousands of black school children took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own languages. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand were injured.
To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today. Each year a theme is chosen to mark the day. This year's theme is: African Orphans are our Collective Responsibility.
In Kenya, a huge rally, with approximately 5000 children, will be held in Thika. The event will take place in Kiandutu slum, which has the highest percentage of orphaned children. The Vice-President will be in attending, but the chief guest will be a child.
Mr. Mwale’s commentary continues:
The African child has often been the first victim of the continent's calamities. In draught-stricken and war-torn countries, it is the picture of an African child, naked and malnourished, which is displayed before the world's media, onstensibly to solicit sympathy from donors and wellwishers. African children make up between 50% and 60 % of the population.
In poor rural communities, and even in urban centres, it is the African child who is seen carrying heavy loads; already earning a living at a tender age, instead of being in school, to learn and prepare for a future that holds promise of more happier circumstances.
It is this pathetic situation of the African child that the whole world will, on June 16, pause for a while, and consider what exactly should be done to improve the welfare of the continent's future leaders.
In 1976 troops of the apartheid regime of South Africa, massacred more than 100 people, after thousands of black school children took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own languages. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand were injured.
To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today. Each year a theme is chosen to mark the day. This year's theme is: African Orphans are our Collective Responsibility.
In Kenya, a huge rally, with approximately 5000 children, will be held in Thika. The event will take place in Kiandutu slum, which has the highest percentage of orphaned children. The Vice-President will be in attending, but the chief guest will be a child.
Mr. Mwale’s commentary continues:
The African child has often been the first victim of the continent's calamities. In draught-stricken and war-torn countries, it is the picture of an African child, naked and malnourished, which is displayed before the world's media, onstensibly to solicit sympathy from donors and wellwishers. African children make up between 50% and 60 % of the population.
In poor rural communities, and even in urban centres, it is the African child who is seen carrying heavy loads; already earning a living at a tender age, instead of being in school, to learn and prepare for a future that holds promise of more happier circumstances.
It is this pathetic situation of the African child that the whole world will, on June 16, pause for a while, and consider what exactly should be done to improve the welfare of the continent's future leaders.
posted by McLeanstoAfrica | 10:05 PM
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