Day of the African Child

“We are all tired of child labour…of violence…of defilement,” shouted a 10-year-old girl at a celebration of the Day of the African Child in Arua, Uganda, calling on all parents to end these practices. The assembled crowd clapped politely.

June 16 is the Day of the African Child. The day commemorates the children of Soweto, South Africa, who died on June 16th, 1976 while protesting the abysmal apartheid education system. In 2009, events took place in hundreds of cities, towns, and villages throughout the continent. Children sang, danced and gave heartfelt speeches. Politicians spoke about the importance of protecting youth. Community leaders expressed concern that the voices of youth were being left unheard.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), thousands of children in central and west Africa are sold into slavery each year for cotton, cocoa and coffee production. Hundreds of thousands more are exploited as cheap or expendable labour, or recruited as child soldiers. Estimates for child abuse and sexual assault in some areas are as high as one in two for young women. Even worse, these numbers have all increased over the past few years.

What’s perhaps most frightening is the fact that this doesn’t make the North American news anymore. Does it mean we’ve become blasé about the horrors endured by African people: a skyrocketing HIV/AIDS epidemic, oppressive dictators, violent conflicts, and rape used as a weapon of war? Does it means the plight of African youth can’t compete for our attention with the swine flu, the fluctuating economy, or “John and Kate Plus Eight”? Or does it mean we’ve given up on Africa?

The G-8 promised to increase aid to Africa, but working in rural Uganda, I see the reality of countries, including Canada, cutting back their aid. Programs that were helping youth get their feet back on the ground by teaching about HIV/AIDS, economic development, leadership, and non-violence are slowly disappearing. Youth are frustrated. They feel like they are being left behind. Having grown up knowing only war and violence as means to resolve conflicts, combined with their natural feelings of invincibility and having nothing to lose, these youth are ticking time bombs. It’s no wonder that many demobilization campaigns aimed at youth and child soldiers have been unsuccessful, since they haven’t learned the skills to live in peace.

Youth are similar everywhere. They want to play. They want to be kids. They want to live free from abuse, assault and violence. They want to go to school. They want to be able to find a job once they have completed their education. They want to be respected and accepted. They want to be healthy. They want to be safe. They want security and opportunity.

As the Day of the African Child passes, it’s my hope that in Canada we will remember the youth in Africa; that we will not abandon them; that we will continue to hear their stories; that we will remind our political leaders to support projects that give them a future. It’s also my hope that the Canadian media will tell their stories, the good and the bad, because they have amazing stories to tell.