‘Bring back our girls’– the message is loud and clear.
This slogan has been abuzz on social media and various media houses for several weeks amid global outrage following the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the notorious Boko Haram militant group.
Yesterday (Monday, 26 May 2014), DUT’s Child and Youth Care students held an awareness campaign on the plight of the kidnapped girls at the University’s Steve Biko Campus. The event was also held in commemoration of National Child Protection Week which runs from 1-8 June 2014.
National Child Protection Week is a campaign which urges everyone to play a role in protecting children and ensuring that they have a secure environment. The awareness campaign held at DUT was to highlight the fact that the kidnapped girls have rights and therefore the aim is to ensure their safety, well-being, care and protection through an integrated multi-disciplinary approach.
Jennifer Maphanga from the Child and Youth Care programme said, “There is a Zulu saying, ‘umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu’. This saying means that humanity is the fundamental foundation of everything; just as we say ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. We at DUT feel for these families and we all owe it to these young girls to help them to be found,” she said.
The team used music and dance as a way of drawing in the crowds. The message was conveyed successfully as many students signed the banner as a pledge to keep fighting for the girls to be found and returned to their families. The general consensus from students was that they condemned the actions of Boko Haram and hoped that everyone would appeal for the release of the young girls.
Mandy Chili from the organisation Child and Youth Care Movement (CYCM) thanked everyone for their support. “We as a group are very happy with the responses we received from students and staff of DUT. Hosting such an event has been challenging but through it all, it was all about the girls and raising awareness that they should be retuned home safe and sound with their loved ones,” she said.
– Philiswa Xulu
Pictured from left: Nosipho Ndlovu and Nonhle Mkhize hold up placards in support of the return of the 200 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by militant group Boko Haram.
