Celebrating World Day for Children in Sotouboua

The aim of this event was to raise awarenes on child abuse marking the United Nations "World Day for Children".

Banners to protest agains violence on children

On Sunday November the 19th of the year 2006, the people from Sotouboua in Togo were woken up by Radio Cosmos, the local radio anouncing the activities that were to take place that day.

It all began by 8 o’clock Greenwich Meridian Time with a children’s caravan bursting out of the town’s social centre. The same caravan was leaded by heralds calling the neighbourhood to go and meet with the young people and listen to their plea against violence and child abuses they were subjected to.

People gathered to listen to the speeches

"Les Grands Reporters en Herbe" (children’s journalists’ club) next to their elders from national television covered the event. Standing at different places on the itinerary, they were rushing to call Radio Cosmos to transmit live the progress of the caravan allowing people that lived far to live the event directly from were they were.

At ten, the caravan arrived at the "place martyrs" its final destination, where a young girl addressed the political, administrative and educational authorities in the name of all the children of Sotouboua. A Football festival called "tiny pillars" closed the events of the day.

Choreographies, poems and songs held the crowd's attention. All the children, young people and adults along with local authorities had come to hear the message of the United Nations’ Secretary and the children’s plea, which invited them to mobilize against child abuse. It was on the sign of hope and satisfaction that their message had been understood that the organizers (children’s structural clubs and local NGO RADAR) put an end to the events of the World Day for children.