Day of the African Child

In June of 1976, in Soweto (South Africa) under the Apartheid regime, over a hundred children were massacred and thousands were injured. What provoked such an atrocity? They were simply protesting because they were not receiving quality education, nor an education in their own language.  


The annual “Day of the African Child” on June 16 was established to commemorate that tragic event, and to celebrate the rights and participation of children in Africa. We, in Liberia, celebrated it in a very special way earlier this week.



I went with my work colleagues to Bopolu, which is a small town “up-country” in Garpolu County. It took almost 4 hours to get there—2 hours on paved road, 2 hours on bumpy dirt road full of puddles. In Bopolu, the Ministry of Gender and Development and its partners had organized a special ceremony to honor the Day of the African Child.

Hundreds of schoolchildren from neighboring regions convened to march together to the Town Hall, where the day’s program would take place. We all reached the Town Hall just in time before the downpour began.

Liberia has a Children’s Parliament, whose leaders and representatives were there. Children spoke, sang, performed dramas, and danced. The theme was: “Children’s Participation: Let Children Be Seen and Heard.”


After inquiring further, I learned that the Day of the African child in Liberia is not only a celebration of children’s rights, but also a day to honor those children lost during Liberia’s Civil War. At the ceremony in Bopolu, we stood in a moment of silence for them. Furthermore, it is a Day to generally mourn the loss of millions of African children who die each year.

On our way home, we watched a procession of young students walking and singing through Monrovia, as part of a candlelight vigil. It was a very memorable and inspiring day.