On this day 'Africa observes the Day of the African Child, in memory of thousands of black school children who were maimed and killed in the 1976 Soweto uprising, as they took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language...' You can read more on the endpoverty2015 site.
This day provides us for an opportunity to remember children and their mothers, and to reflect deeply and act upon the progress for child welfare in Africa and around the world. I think its especially important to recollect the reason why those school children in Soweto moved to the streets; They were asking for relevant education, taught in their language. Too many nations, including Tanzania, are teaching in the language of the colonizer. I believe that the security and health of children greatly reflects the state of the world. We all have a great deal of work to do. Children, like all people, have a right to flourish.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."
- Marianne Williamson (many, including myself, have attributed this to Nelson Mandela, which I have discovered is incorrect)
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