For the children, by the children

Enzo Amuele
Veronica Haufiku

The Children’s Movement is an organisation that was born from the ‘Girl Child Movement’ in 1996 after the fifth world conference for women in Beijing, China, founded by the late Mrs Ottilie G Abrahams.

One of their many aims is for children’s voices to be heard and for every Namibian child to make a change in his or her own life.

The movement is not a charity organisation because they believe in giving everyone a chance to work towards their goals and dreams. They believe children should be involved in the process that will determine the quality of democracy and life in general. This means that matters affecting the lives of children can and should be handled by children.

It believes that children have the ability to be agents to change in the world and make it a better place for themselves and others.

Their team consists of mentors and an executive committee elected in August 2019 at their AGM meeting. This executive committee consists of only children, as they are trying to phase out the older members and make the ‘For The Children, By The Children’ motto a reality.

The committee has come up with multiple projects and brought them to life. One of their most flourishing projects was to provide girls with re-usable sanitary towels. In partnership with the Girl Child Movement of South Africa, the two organizations shared a goal, which was to provide every girl child with safe and hygienic sanitary products. The members fabricated the products themselves and handed them out around local schools. The project has been running since 2015.

One can tell the movement is a very powerful house that is set to make a difference in a child’s life. Our team had an interview with Elia Amutenya, a student at our school, who is also an organiser in the executive committee. He says he believes the movement is headed in the right direction with its planning. He says the movement wants the Namibian child to know how important his/her voice can be in the country.

He told us that he has a lot of confidence that the movement will eventually make a huge change in the world and give every child a life worth living. “The movement won’t stop until it has planted a seed of hope in every Namibian child,” said Amutenya.