On Tuesday 16th June in the Salesian house in Tonj, Sudan, Fr Cyril Odia, Councillor for Youth Ministry in the Provincial Delegation of Sudan, organised the day in which the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and teachers in the public schools also took part.
The day began with a lively and well attended Mass at the end of which all the children were given a special blessing. This was followed by games and cultural events with singing and dancing which, in spite of the rain went on all day. In the afternoon “Radio Don Bosco FM”, of which Fr Odia is the director, began broadcasting and held a phone-in which kept 7 translators busy with questions and answers on subjects connected with children and the youth situation.
In Luanda, Angola, too, on Sunday 20 June a great childrens’ festival was organised by the Salesians in the Saint Paul community, and in particular by Fr Stefano Francesco Tollu, Provincial Delegate for Sports Activities with the Team Leaders of the “Friends of Avô Ximinha”. Avô Ximinha, the Leader of the group is a Catholic woman involved for many years in a great variety of actìvities for African children. With her Team she produces music and stories for children in which she also directly involves the children.
The festival, held at the Good Shepherd Community in the Mota district, was also an occasion to provide the children with food: while for the children entry was free, the adults who came were asked to give some food.
African Children’s Day was first introduced in 1991 by the then Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union, in memory of the victims of the killings in Soweto in 1976 and of the denial of childrens’t rights in the continent. On 16 June 1976 thousands of black children, youngsters and young students took to the streets in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, protesting about the poor quality of their education and the imposition of the “Afrikaans” language of the whites in schools The Police reaction was extreme and in the protests on the following days hundreds of young Africans were shot.
Published 24/06/2010
