A World Day of Prayer and Action for Children is a day of solidarity among religious and secular organizations united by their common aspiration and shared vision of a world in which all our children will grow up to their full human potential, with their rights to safety, security, integrity, dignity and honor in all societies. This was the message for the 20th November 2009 day of prayers and action for children that was warmly received by children in Hargeisa Somaliland.
.jpg)
DPAC was thus celebrated by Children and community leaders from different schools including Sheikh Ali Cismaan primary school, Macalin Da’ud Primary School, and Dayib Guray Secondary school who gathered and marked the day with great passion at Hayda meeting hall in Hargeisa Somaliland. Early in the morning at 7:00 am on the 20th November, children were collected from their homes to visit one of the orphanages in Hargeisa. Children were shown the real situation of children whose parents died or are missing. They saw where children sleep, what they eat and how difficult it is to live without parents. Children introduced their names and narrated their stories. One of the oldest children called, Farhan, told visitors that he spent 17 years in the orphanage. Farhan said “I was brought here when I was three. Now, I studied primary education and a few other diplomas including computer. I was helped by some relatives and the orphanage. Still I need to do secondary education and to get a good job. Life in the orphanage is very difficult and you can see it. Imagine, eating the food you saw every morning.” Later, children and their teachers prayed for the children and wished for them better future, health and happiness.
A meeting was later arranged and held in HYDA meeting hall. Children, teachers, sheikhs, NGO activists and others attended the one day meeting commemorating it with great enthusiasm.
First, one delegate from the Somali Association for Youth Salvation (SAYS) was honored to open the session and introduced the day of prayer and the activities to be conducted during the course of the day. The session was commenced with verses of holy Quran, then Mr. Araxmaan from SAYS explained the aim of this meeting, he said we, SAYS, are closely working with GNRC in the field of peace education, running peace clubs in schools, radio programs for children, and other sectors. He said ‘SAYS has established about 10 peace clubs in Hargeisa and Borama.
Mr. Khadar a teacher from Dayib Guray secondary in Hargeisa told participants that we need to bring our children up with great responsibility. Children, if they are handled with adequate care and education, will grow both physically and mentally. This requires parents, teachers, relatives and all players of the society to collaborate in the efforts we want to make our children leaders of their own society. The teacher said “children are like young trees, they need more food and monitoring”.
Sheikh Yasin, a renowned sheikh started his speech with verses from Quran and he explained them in Somali. The sheikh has seriously pointed out the significance of the religion in the life of Muslim people. He said, region makes peace and security. Religion makes children see the light of the life. He said religion is the best advice one can have. The sheikh told that children the need to refer to religion whenever they meet any hardship and difficult circumstances. He told children to pray when they are doing exams, when they are going to schools and when they are leaving schools. The sheikh, with a prolonged speech, told that regions of different kinds in this world agree on peace and security matter which is the best interest of all inhabitants of the world. Sheikh Yasin added “no matter of the difference in clan, religion, age, color and gender, one must know that peace is important and very crucial”. He said “we need to understand peace from the roots. We need to learn the culture of living peacefully side-by-side. That is how we can all achieve our targets both here and life after here” .Eventually, the sheikh told children to raise their hands and say amen to his prayers. He prayed for the children. He prayed for a nation with children having all their rights; Children with better understanding of their religion; children with tolerance to one another. He prayed for prosperity and better life for all and particularly for children. The sheikh prayed that Allah makes parents comprehend their roles and responsibilities in raising their children and fulfilling their life’s duties adequately. Children from schools raised comments regarding the region aspects of the rights of children. The sheikh answered most of the questions highlighting how important is to believe what Quran and hadith of Prophet Mohamed “PBUH”. In Quran, he said all rights are mentioned. In hadith, there are more examples and details. Therefore, you (children) need to learn Islam and act on it.
Mr. Nur Adan Shirdon presented a short report concerning the situation of children in Somaliland. Mr. Nur narrated statistical figures on the children’s education. He said out every four children in Somaliland only one goes to school. Besides, he told participants that most of the children in rural areas are deprived of many rights including rights to basic health and education. He said there are huge figures indicating the size of problems faced by children in Somaliland. He said that children in Somaliland suffer child labor, rape, imprisonment, abandonment, torture and more.
The Objectives of the Hargeisa DPAC celebrations were to to bring together a shared anguish at the suffering of children, to offer a collective hope for the dignity and integrity of Children and to make a new commitment to action on behalf of Children through Prayer and to a large extent they were meet. The Children were also distributed with free rechargeable radios which they were to use for an ethics education radio program within their peace clubs and or families. In the End most of the participants understood the situation of children and were happy to be associated with DPAC, GNRC Africa and SAYS activities on the welfare and wellbeing of children.
Continue reading Day of Prayer and Action Celebrated in Hargeisa Somaliland with Humility and Passion.
