. Watoto is the Kiswahili word for "children".
Yesterday was a great day to celebrate children , especially the children of Africa for June 16th has been declared the Day of the African Child.
For those of us who have been to Africa, we have experienced the beauty of these children. Their shy smile as they greet you on the road on their way home from school, the giggles and laughter as children see their own image displayed on the back of a digital camera and the happiness when they are presented with a gift like a new school uniform, textbooks or a solar reading light to assist them with their education.
Kenya and all parts of Africa are home to a great quantity of forgotten children, those whose parents have succumbed to the ravishes of Aids. These children have been shuffled from relative to relative hoping to find support and love or been taken in by someone else in their community only to find that they are put to work or that in the end, the family does not have food or financial resources to care for them, so the orphans must subsist on their own. These forgotten children lack food, clothing, sometimes even a proper home or shelter not to mention the inability to afford school supplies and fees. In Wongonyi Village, Kenya we too have our issues with orphans who lack the love of a family or caregiver, a problem we are working to rectify.
So on this Day of the African Child, we ask that you think about these children and how you might help them to live by supporting initiatives like The Ronnie Fund as we facilitate programs to assist orphans and children by providing food, school uniforms, fees and textbooks, or other programs like Sleeping Children Around the World that provides bed kits and malaria bed nets, or Grannies to Grannies which supports grandmothers who are looking after their orphaned grandchildren.
These vulnerable children deserve our care and assistance. Their gentle ways and beautiful smiles hide the real reality of their lives but we can make a difference in their lives. Please help today.
