Day of the African Child

Here’s a report from our Drop In Centre Manager in Ethiopia, Julyata, on Day of the African Child:

Day of the African Child is celebrated every year on 16 June by Member States of the African Union (AU) and various development organizations under these Member states. Ethiopia is one of the Member States that celebrates the day through its governmental and non-governmental bodies. Ethiopia commemorates the 1976 uprisings in Soweto to honor school children who were killed when a protest by these children in South Africa against apartheid. They were inspired by education, but their protest  resulted in the public killing of these unarmed young protesters by police officials.

Retrak-Ethiopia is one of the many International organizations that honors the day every year on June 16 in Ethiopia. Retrak works with street-connected children by designing different programs. Providing education to these children is one of its development programs. Retrak believes children’s voice for education has to be heard and addressed in order to bring lasting positive impact in line with fulfilling their other basic needs. Retrak Ethiopia prepared a community awareness day event that entirely focused on educational activity in our Drop-in Center on June 16, 2014 on the Day of the African Child.

The purpose of the event was:

• To commemorate the day with children, staff and community;
• To create awareness among community members how education changes the lives of street connected children through the work of Retrak;
• To remind children that their issues are internationally recognized;
• To show to the international community the effort of Retrak in helping these children to have hope through education. 

The theme for the 2014 Day of the African Child (DAC) is “Child friendly, quality, free & compulsory Education for all children in Africa.” With this theme in mind, Retrak has celebrated the day in organizing and preparing educational related activities at the Retrak Centre. There were people who came to the event representing government offices, school, police, and development organizations. The event was comprised of various activities and children were the main actors of the day. The program consisted of a welcoming speech and introduction on the purpose of the day, education focused drama, and mathematical and educational games, interviews of children about their life, exhibition that focused on education and tea time.  Children were very happy and excited as they participated in each activity. They were able to transfer their desire for education to the audience through their active involvement and will. It was such a pleasant moment to see these young children laughing, clapping, explaining and taking part with energy. Overall the day was informative, entertaining and valuable for all who were present.  

Here are some of the comments of children about education in Retrak which were posted at the exhibition

Sintayehu Age 15 “I lack an opportunity not an ability to learn‘‘	Iyasu Age 15 “Education enables me to discover new ways”
Abush Age 14 “Education helps me to lead my daily life properly”	Asmamaw Age 14 “Education helps me to distinguish good and bad things and think critically”
Dejene Age 13 “Education is a tool for my future livelihood”	Tamirat Age 16 “Education is a weapon to strike poverty”
Sintayehu Age 9 “In the past, I used to only write my name but now I can write anything”	Mathiwos Age 14 “Education is a path to human development”

 

At the end of the celebration there were informal discussions with the government officials and police. The participants expressed that they were delighted to be invited and be part of the celebration. They informed Retrak of the need for collaboration in terms of capacity building and experience sharing. The request for capacity building was especially focused on outreach; how to build trust and establish contact with street children to help them move from street life. They also requested to have a platform for discussion by inviting other organizations that work in the district “woreda” to work better through collaboration and networking. This reminded the organizers of this event that it would be a good idea for future events to invite other organizations who are working in our area of operation. At last they reminded us to include and consider one more site that is under our operational area as we invite new children through outreach. It was clear that there was a need to educate the community about the program of Retrak to facilitate collaboration with us.