The first ever World Children's Day in Kiribati!
Last month, more than 1,000 people including preschool students, Betio children, parents, and adults participated in World Children's Day.
"This was the first time in history a World Children's Day event has been hosted in Betio – where our communities joined with the world in celebrating the Rights of the Child. The Betio Town Council (BTC) is thrilled and honoured to be a part of this event and we appreciate the effort ChildFund put into this, and we especially recognise the participation of Betio preschools", Mayor Ms Botika said.
The event started with a parade of all the Betio preschools, led by the Kiribati Police brassband. The event was then officially opened with remarks from ChildFund Country Director, Ms Teima, followed by speeches from BTC Mayor, Ms Botika, and New Zealand High Commission Representative, Ms Lailai.
Representatives from preschools then participated in a beauty contest where they gave a speech on the theme, “Nurturing children will be fruitful to our beloved society", and took part in a quiz on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children also enjoyed themselves by playing on jumping castles and by participating in a range of quiz activities, and all were rewarded with dolls for their participation
A MOTHER SHARING HER STORY ON WORLD CHILDREN’S DAY EVENT.
Terenga Timwanako is a woman of 30 years of age, married and a proud mother of 3 sons and a daughter. Her first child is a son who is 9 years old, the second is also a son of 8 years old, and third child is a daughter and is 5 years old. She has been living with her family here on Betio for 9 months.
Terenga sees that some of the children’s welfare at her community is not valued, when she said, “I can see children here playing near the road and waste dump sites from daytime until night and the parents do not worry or even care of their children’s whereabout.” Terenga was one of the most caring and responsible mothers to her children and as a mother she mentioned that her priority is her children’s education, happiness, good health, and security.
Terenga was one of the parents who participated during the World Children’s Day event which was hosted by the Childfund Kiribati on the 19th of November 2021. Her 5-year-old daughter was attending one of Betio Pre-schools called Hoperich, who also participated during the World children’s Day event. Before this event took place, Terenga expressed her excitement to hear that there would be a World Children’s Day celebration for all Betio Pre-schools as to her it would show how vital young children were to be recognized and valued on their special day.
During the event Terenga mentioned that she was so happy to see the joy in her daughter’s eyes when she saw many children from different pre-schools. She saw her daughter enjoying herself playing with other children on jumping castles and watching Beauty Contest from pre-schools and Drama shows from the Childfund staff. Terenga shared her appreciation for this event when she said “I was so touched by the children’s participation during the march and beauty contest as they were having so much fun and I was inspired by the beauty contestant’s good and well performed speeches, as they stood there on the stage, representing all children in Kiribati, and voiced out to the world that they are important, matter and valuable. She quoted one of the contestant’s speeches and said, “feed me today and I will feed you tomorrow, take care of me today and I will take care of you tomorrow. This bought tears not only to my eyes but also to the eyes of other parents, grandparents and adults who were present during the beauty contest.”
Thus, Terenga states that from this World Childrens Day event, she has learned that children’s lives are very important including their right, capability, thought and happiness. This has developed stronger bond and relationship between her and her children. Then she said, “Now, I always listen to what my what children say and care for their feelings and thought.”
Therefore, Terenga sees this kind of event as being very productive to children and mostly parents, caregivers, and guardians of children because at least they are now fully aware of the importance of their children’s rights and their value as Human beings. “I fully support this kind of event to continue in the future for our young children as it will continue to show how vital they are.” She said.