Gambian Neneh Bojang from Bwiam has joined children from across Africa to commemorate Day of the African Child in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Neneh, 14, has been air lifted to the Southern African country by ChildFund The Gambia in conjunction with one of the organisation’s local partners Foni Ding Ding Federation.
Accompanied by ChildFund The Gambia’s communications specialist Famara Fofana, Neneh made herself and the country proud by serving as the lead moderator for an intergenerational dialogue between a high-level panel of African experts, government officials and children.
For a girl who had never travelled outside The Gambia, her performance endeared her to both the organisers at the level of the African Union Committee of Experts and her fellow children.
The grade 8 student has also been involved in a two-day orientation exercise organised to arm hundreds of children on core child rights and protection issues in the build up to the event.
The Day of the African child, it could be recalled, is set aside by the AU (formerly Organisation of African Unity) to pay tribute to those innocent children killed in Soweto in 1976 as they protested against injustice from the then Apartheid regime in South Africa, demanding to be taught in their own languages.
The day has since been used by players on the continent to reflect on the plight of children, listen to their voices with a view to addressing the many issues impeding their survival, growth and overall development and wellbeing.
