Child ambassadors take charge

During the third weekend of April, from Friday, 20 to Sunday, 22 April, all municipalities from KZN flocked to the beautiful, tranquil and scenic Alpine Heath Resort located in central Drakensberg. The space was transformed into a buzzing, busy and exciting venue for school participants in the young leadership development programme hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal Office of the Premier (KZNOTP) in collaboration with the Department of Social Development (DSD).

Each Municipality brought its own child ambassadors, and the group of more than 120 children were mentored and guided by the representatives from the OTP, Save the Children South Africa, Municipalities and National DSD from Gauteng, Pretoria.

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These organisations each posed a challenge to the young minds about the issues faced by children in society.

The children themselves were then tasked with finding possible solutions and suggestions for the state, a task the ambassadors not only stepped up to the plate and contributed towards, but actually ended up dominating the discourse about, with their confident expression of views and opinions.

Their participation took the first small step towards eradicating what David Chabalala from DSD Child Rights Advocacy & Social Mobilization department said was one of the biggest problems faced by children in our society.

“We had children not participating in the issues that are affecting their lives. One of the main goals of this workshop was to increase the level of participation in the reviewing of the National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC),” explained Chabalala who listed this as one of the ways to strengthen the weaker areas.

The programme was rewarding to the children too. Each of them embarking on a path of self-discovery and team building skills.

“l learned new things about myself and realised that anything is possible if I put my mind to it. I came here and saw that it’s okay to be different because where I come from its really not that easy to interact with other people the way I did here,” said Sanelisiwe Ndaba (16), one of the children who attended the workshop from eThekwini Municipality.

Ndaba said she had also learned about her rights and responsibilities as a South African child.

According to one of the event organisers from the Uthukela District Municipality, Bongi Mdluli, one of their aims has been to inspire and motivate children.

She shared her story about surviving childhood cancer to motivate others, saying: “Seeing people being able to overcome their situations was the motivation behind this workshop.” For Mduli, the other goals of the workshop were the promotion of unity and to motivate the children to strive for a better tomorrow.

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Her words were reiterated by the KZN provincial Child ambassador Thabiso Ngcobo, 16 from eShowe who had described his journey as a spiritual one. His words were far wiser than his tender age when he shared the encouragement: “If it is to be then it’s up to you to do it.” Ngcobo’s highlight of the workshop was finding like-minded people to himself mainly other children who held the same perspective and hunger to change South Africa for the better.

This was the kind of mindset encouraged by Sibusiso Biyela from KZNOTP who holds the portfolio of the Office on the Rights of the Child. An educator by profession, Biyela had been working with children since he was only 19.

His motivation is the realisation of children’s rights being promoted, respected and recognised.

“I want to see children’s rights on everybody’s agenda, there is a difference in the calibre of children who come in and leave these workshops because they seem to be wiser, more disciplined and more goal orientated, they appear focused and more mature.”

The children did not only go through the thinking phase of the workshop but also the physical phase as they were treated to a day well spent at the All Out Adventures grounds where they experienced out of this world activities and learned excellent team building and leadership skills.

Thereafter, they spent the rest of the Saturday afternoon on a breath-taking hike called the Cascades. While on the hike, the ambassadors crossed a river called Fat Lady whose peculiar name was derived from the many smaller rivers that branch from it.

This was one of the first development programmes for child ambassadors, which will likely be developed to an annual event.

By the end of the weekend, a new generation of leaders had started on a path of development. Busloads of child ambassadors whose lives were changed forever, began their voyages home.

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