The Day of an African Child...

June 16th of every year, people around the continent of Africa and South Africa celebrate…The Day of the African Child.

In 1976, South African children were killed while in demonstrations to stand-up for their rights for basic necessities: such as shelter, education, food and safety. To honor the children who risked their own lives to bring the rights of all future children to the forefront, Africans give this day to those children.

Today, we marched. We marched through the streets of Kitale with hundreds of kids from different children’s homes along the way. We marched for a few kilometers in the beautiful morning sun, with the Salvation Army band playing in front. We marched straight in to the Kenyatta Stadium where the festivities began.

There were songs and dancing performances done by different children’s homes. Then there was a football (aka soccer for you North Americans) match; it was the managers of children’s homes/NGOs verse the children of the homes. Our very own intern, Tim participated in the manager’s team of the match (manager’s won 2-1). We’re so proud of him; he did great.

There were two special guests (guest of honor) that were picked before the event. They were to be a young man and a young woman to represent the children on this important day. Our very own Elizabeth, who’s in Form 1 (Grade 9) and lives at our children’s home, Hope Bright Future, was nominated to be the Female Guest Speaker. She was AMAZING. We were SO proud of her.

It was a great day; I got to hang around SO many children, hug on about 100 children (yeah, seriously!) and got to catch up with some children that I haven’t seen in awhile. We’re all a little burnt and extremely tired but to spend the day, appreciating and loving these children was worth it all.

I love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxo

George, Sammy and Me. Ex-street boys now in a home and going to school. It's the first time I've seen them in a few months.

Marching in the downtown area of Kitale....

So many people....it was awesome.

The Oasis of Hope scouts. They were AMAZING!!

A beautiful little girl named Grace. Her and I became friends today.

Anne (our social worker), Shayla and me.

Our sweet Elizabeth sitting in the guest of honor chair, awaiting her time to give the speech.

She did an AMAZING job!!!

Daniel, Elizabeth, Anne and me.