Day of the African Child

Thursday was the International Day of the African Child, a holiday celebrated since 1991, to honor those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 as well as raise awareness for the need for improvement of the education available to African children. Events rose up around Africa, and around Jinja, UNICEF, Red Cross, and my host mom's organization Children of Grace were among those to hold special awareness events. Check out this article for more information!

In Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, roughly ten thousand black school children marched in a crowd longer than half a mile, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds were shot and and thousands more were injured or killed in the following protests. My host brother Francis really enjoys high school, and we have spent a lot of time talking about his school and how important it is to him. He wants to go to University to study English or Literature.

It is always fun to see kids running around and playing. It is not so common to be in the streets around the compound where I live, but in the villages and in town they are everywhere. Some sport school uniforms, others casual outfits you would see around any typical American town. Young children wear an oversize t shirt and mismatched shoes, and some don’t have shoes at all. It seems shoes are not a huge priority for children who outgrow them quickly. But it is something more than that. Not wearing shoes is part of their culture. Upon arrival at work, some of my colleagues take their shoes off for the day.

Children growing up in Uganda can get away with so much! A friend here described it a little differently, claiming the children are unruly. While visiting a village in Mafubira, a litter of children were playing outside with a large sheet of plastic. Once they realized this muzungu was watching them it became a performance of rolling under, wrapping up in, and tearing this large plastic while yelling out “Muzungu bye bye!” I waved and smiled and fist pounded each in turn and we all exploded into a fit of giggles.

I hope any parents who read about this experience are taken aback by the children burying their faces in plastic. Growing up in Uganda emphasizes different cultural lessons to be learned. They play with what they have, and if it turns out to be dangerous, well they soon learn that. Obviously all these children survived their plastic sheet experience, and have probably picked it up again today. This particular experience reminded me of a TED talk I saw recently, children in America grow up extraordinarily protected. This is not a severe problem, but it is just a difference I have noticed from my short time on the other side of the world.