Francesca Villette
A GROUP of eight child rights ambassadors and musicians from poor communities like Crossroads, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain are proving they can help change society and make the world a better place.
The World’s Children’s Prize (WCP), also referred to as the Children’s Nobel Prize, honours children at the coalface of campaigns for the rights of their peers. The annual award ceremony takes place at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, Sweden. To mark South Africa’s participation in the WCP, Cape Town hosted the first South African homecoming event of the ceremony. The event was also to honour the eight local ambassadors.
Since the inception of the world’s largest rights and democracy education initiative for children in 2000, about 36 million children – 2 million of them South African – have taken part in its education programmes, said Marlene Winberg, the South African WCP co-ordinator.
Last March, 254 South African children joined a global network of millions of children educating themselves and campaigning for their rights and the rights of, among others, slave children and children being trafficked or sold for sex. The South Africans included the eight Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain teenagers who formed a performing arts group to create awareness through the arts.
One of them, Amanda Mtambo, 17, said they attended a three-day workshop last June and were taught about their rights. She said they then conveyed the information to their peers and in this way the message about children’s rights was spread.
“As a young lady it is especially important to know your rights. I am honoured to be in an empowered position where I can not only better my life but improve those of my community,” Mtambo said.
Last night’s homecoming event, held at the Artscape Theatre, was attended by about 150 people, who were treated to a fusion of dance and song by Mtambo and her colleagues.
The WCP is of particular significance for young children globally – given the levels of abuse, discrimination and neglect that still dominate the lives of many youths. WCP laureates from South Africa include the children’s Decade Child Rights Heroes Graça Machel and Nelson Mandela, Ann Skelton, Hector Pieterson and Nkosi Johnson.
One of the famous WCP ambassadors, Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai, is also the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. With the $100 000 (R1.16m) prize she helped to rebuild schools in war-torn Gaza.
Nearly six years ago Yousafzai wrote an anonymous diary about life under Taliban rule in north-west Pakistan. She was later shot in the head.
This year’s WCP 2015 nominees are Kailash Satyarthi from India, Phymean Noun from Cambodia, and Javier Stauring from the US.