Beyond the day of the African child

16 June, 2012

June 16 we took time to celebrate the Day of the day of the African Child under the theme, “The rights of children with disabilities: The duty to protect, respect, promote and fulfil.

Young people in Africa face various challenges, such as lack of adequate education, security, health care and other basic human rights, and those with disabilities are not exempt from these.

The Day of the African Child is a commemoration of the Soweto uprising in South Africa on June 16, 1976, where young people took to the streets in a fight for adequate education. Such protests led to the death and injury of innocent youth fighting for a basic right to racist-free education – something young people should never have to go through again.

There is need to consider the rights of children, including those with disabilities, not only this year but beyond. Likewise as young people there is need for involvement firstly by familiarising oneself with what is happening in communities, in the country and across the world.

A popular phrase around the United States is the need for civic engagement. Until people participate, some of the issues and challenges society goes through will never be acknowledged or relieved.

Such participation does not exclude young people. Young people can start by seeing what is needed in a school, in a community, in families and with peers.

According to the Pew Research Centre, which is a non partisan “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world, 17% of the electorate, as analysed in  2011, is made up of the millennial generation which includes young people from the ages of 18-31.

Young people are becoming more actively involved in the US election run up, as seen in the previous Presidential elections in 2008, and even intimately in their schools and college campuses, in a hope to contribute to shaping a good future for all.

“Millennials are very optimistic about the future, even if they do not have enough money right now” said Kim Parker, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social and Demographic Trends at the Pew Research Centre. This shows that optimism in young people can be a driving force to development in a country.

What you will do in future, how much you will earn, what you eat, where you stay and ultimately how you live is affected by what happens in schools, in government, in communities, in families, and it is time to start making a conscious effort to address what affects you personally.

Even with young people with disabilities, it is time to start voicing concerns, offering solutions where situations seem helpless. For youth stakeholders, this is a time to not only outline the challenges but go further to solve these.

Deputy Director for the Global Youth Initiative in the Department of State said, ‘Fifty percent of the world is under 30 and this is the group you should be looking at.”

As we take time to map our journey beyond the Day of the African Child, this child is part of a worldwide population of youth and the future is what has to be addressed.

As the new Zimbabwean youth policy has set 35 years as the maximum age for youth engagement, there is need to see what you can do during this time (till 35) to contribute to the development of young people tomorrow.