It's not a holiday on any American calendar... but June 16 is a HUGE day on this continent. It is "Children of Africa" day - a day to honor the rights of children.
The origins of this day come from very sober circumstances. On June 16, 1976 during the fight against Apartheid, children in Soweto, South Africa united to protest their educational rights. More than 10,000 children marched the streets to stand up against oppression. During that march police opened fire on the children and mayhem ensued. When it was all over 152 children lay dead in the streets. Protests and violence continued over the next year resulting in over 700 child casualties. Many years later it was decided to make June 16 a continental holiday - to CELEBRATE the African Child.
When I think about the many abuses against children on this continent I am filled with such sadness. I think of the sobering photos of Murambi school... During the Rwandan genocide over 45,000 people were killed at this school - many of them children and infants. The bones are still on display as a reminder of the horror that took place. Congo, our neighboring country is notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become soldiers - often making them murder their own family members as part of their initiation. I know of children who have come to Tanzania from Congo to escape such circumstances.
But the news-breaking stories that become internet sensation are only a small piece of the story. Each day there are less visual abuses against children. Here in our city of Mwanza I have been witness to many such crimes. Our city is filled with children who sleep in the gutters - there is no love for them from the government. While visiting them in the streets I myself have been chased away by police bearing AK47s, or by night watchmen armed with sticks to beat the kids and send them off to another gutter somewhere down the way. I remember a day in 2009 when police launched teargas into a crowd to disperse them. The can bounced off of the head of one of our kids leaving him alone and unconscious with a gaping head wound. We found him and helped him get treatment... 8 stitches running the length of his forehead. I recall the many wounds I have treated while visiting the children of the streets - stab wounds, bruises from beatings, injuries from being hit by cars and left to bleed in the streets, there was one child who's legs had been hacked with a hoe by some stranger...
Some days the police buses roam through the city here, gathering all of the street children in sight and hauling them off to the prison as a way of "cleaning house". There is no juvenile facility - so the kids get thrown into the same crowded cells with men. Over the following months those children will filter back to the streets and reclaim their beds along the gutters... but they return bearing the scars of prison life, and the unspoken abuses they no doubt endured.
All of this is horrible news and nobody wants their day ruined by such stories. It makes your stomach turn just to think about it... but it is a reality for so many children in the world. Abuse and hatred are their daily bread. Because of the many images ingrained in my memory - the horrors I have seen with my own eyes... that is why I do what I do. These children are the reason that our work is so important. For EVERY SINGLE CHILD who we can remove from the streets - there is hope that they can have healing and they can know that they are loved. And when we don't have sufficient resources to take in more kids, we still go to visit them where they are... to walk alongside them and to let them know they are not alone.
Watoto Wa Afrika (Children of Africa Day) - is a precious day in the lives of our kids. In Tanzania it has become known as the "National Birthday" for orphans and vulnerable children - many of whom have no idea when their true birthday is! It is a day for our kids to be honored and to know they have value.
I remember in 2005 when I first came to Tanzania - while visiting with some of these kids we were told the story of the bible when Jesus says "Let the children come to me". In the West we think of this story as a way of letting children know that Jesus loves them and that nobody can keep them from His side. The street children interpret this story in a very different way. They see that the children that Jesus was speaking to were children such as themselves - those who are homeless and unloved. They believe the disciples were trying to chase the kids away because such children are known to bear weapons and cause trouble - such children are known to be thieves. They believe the disciples were trying to protect Jesus from harm... but Jesus was not afraid of them. They see that Jesus loved those street kids in spite of their dirty clothes, unkempt hair, bad- possibly dangerous behavior...The kids of the street interpret "Let the children come to me", that Jesus was ready to walk beside them in their gutters and dumps, to hold them in His lap without a care if they might make Him dirty. His love was bigger than all of their blemishes.
We HOPE to show that same kind of love to our children - to let them know that NOT a single one of them is to "dirty" to be loved - we look for the beauty of each child, seeing past their scars. So on "Children of Africa" day - we remind them that they are important!
The origins of this day come from very sober circumstances. On June 16, 1976 during the fight against Apartheid, children in Soweto, South Africa united to protest their educational rights. More than 10,000 children marched the streets to stand up against oppression. During that march police opened fire on the children and mayhem ensued. When it was all over 152 children lay dead in the streets. Protests and violence continued over the next year resulting in over 700 child casualties. Many years later it was decided to make June 16 a continental holiday - to CELEBRATE the African Child.
When I think about the many abuses against children on this continent I am filled with such sadness. I think of the sobering photos of Murambi school... During the Rwandan genocide over 45,000 people were killed at this school - many of them children and infants. The bones are still on display as a reminder of the horror that took place. Congo, our neighboring country is notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them to become soldiers - often making them murder their own family members as part of their initiation. I know of children who have come to Tanzania from Congo to escape such circumstances.
But the news-breaking stories that become internet sensation are only a small piece of the story. Each day there are less visual abuses against children. Here in our city of Mwanza I have been witness to many such crimes. Our city is filled with children who sleep in the gutters - there is no love for them from the government. While visiting them in the streets I myself have been chased away by police bearing AK47s, or by night watchmen armed with sticks to beat the kids and send them off to another gutter somewhere down the way. I remember a day in 2009 when police launched teargas into a crowd to disperse them. The can bounced off of the head of one of our kids leaving him alone and unconscious with a gaping head wound. We found him and helped him get treatment... 8 stitches running the length of his forehead. I recall the many wounds I have treated while visiting the children of the streets - stab wounds, bruises from beatings, injuries from being hit by cars and left to bleed in the streets, there was one child who's legs had been hacked with a hoe by some stranger...
Some days the police buses roam through the city here, gathering all of the street children in sight and hauling them off to the prison as a way of "cleaning house". There is no juvenile facility - so the kids get thrown into the same crowded cells with men. Over the following months those children will filter back to the streets and reclaim their beds along the gutters... but they return bearing the scars of prison life, and the unspoken abuses they no doubt endured.
All of this is horrible news and nobody wants their day ruined by such stories. It makes your stomach turn just to think about it... but it is a reality for so many children in the world. Abuse and hatred are their daily bread. Because of the many images ingrained in my memory - the horrors I have seen with my own eyes... that is why I do what I do. These children are the reason that our work is so important. For EVERY SINGLE CHILD who we can remove from the streets - there is hope that they can have healing and they can know that they are loved. And when we don't have sufficient resources to take in more kids, we still go to visit them where they are... to walk alongside them and to let them know they are not alone.
Watoto Wa Afrika (Children of Africa Day) - is a precious day in the lives of our kids. In Tanzania it has become known as the "National Birthday" for orphans and vulnerable children - many of whom have no idea when their true birthday is! It is a day for our kids to be honored and to know they have value.
I remember in 2005 when I first came to Tanzania - while visiting with some of these kids we were told the story of the bible when Jesus says "Let the children come to me". In the West we think of this story as a way of letting children know that Jesus loves them and that nobody can keep them from His side. The street children interpret this story in a very different way. They see that the children that Jesus was speaking to were children such as themselves - those who are homeless and unloved. They believe the disciples were trying to chase the kids away because such children are known to bear weapons and cause trouble - such children are known to be thieves. They believe the disciples were trying to protect Jesus from harm... but Jesus was not afraid of them. They see that Jesus loved those street kids in spite of their dirty clothes, unkempt hair, bad- possibly dangerous behavior...The kids of the street interpret "Let the children come to me", that Jesus was ready to walk beside them in their gutters and dumps, to hold them in His lap without a care if they might make Him dirty. His love was bigger than all of their blemishes.
We HOPE to show that same kind of love to our children - to let them know that NOT a single one of them is to "dirty" to be loved - we look for the beauty of each child, seeing past their scars. So on "Children of Africa" day - we remind them that they are important!
