My name is Anthony, I am 15 years old and I live in Orwamuge Parish, Nyikinyiki village, Abim District. I am a pupil of Orwamuge Primary School and a member of Young Angels Child Rights Club in Nyikinyiki Village which was formed in 2018. Before I joined the club, I was a member of an agriculture club but I was not active.
When I heard about the child rights club, I joined and decided to be active from the first day of formation. My friends saw that I was active and elected me as the chairperson of the club.
Before I joined the club, children in our community used to do individual activities such as skiping ropes, and playing football using rags but since we were formed into a children’s club, we have developed a number of activities like playing soccer, skipping ropes, netball, making of reusable sanitary pads, making of toy cars , drama, music and drama.
We meet every Sunday under the guidance of a SAO volunteer who also trains us about child rights before we start club activities such as playing and MDD. Activities like making of reusable sanitary pads helps our sisters during their periods which also reduces school drop outs and early marriages.
Before all this, parents in our villages did not want children to meet and play in groups because of garden work but now days, we show them the importance of these clubs through drama. This has changed their attitude towards our participation in child rights activities.
I think all parents should give all their children a chance to participate in child rights clubs in order to learn from others.
Through the club trainings, I have become a voice for other children in our village and in the sub county at large. In June, I participated in the day of African child where our group presented a drama on child rights.
We have also received training in making toy cars out of local materials such as boxes, plastic covers among other things. We make these for the younger girls and boys within the community.
As a club, we now want to start club kitchen gardens so that all the club members can learn how to make their own kitchen gardens at home in order to promote good nutrition and balanced diet. We are also planning to start peer to peer counselling in order to make sure that all children go school especially those who don’t want to go.
Leave a Reply