The children of the Amane centre, champions in the fight against child labour

Source: IBCR 

Taroudant, a small town in the southwest of Morocco, has been welcoming me for 3 months now. This small town with its particular architecture is surrounded by high walls and ramparts,  dating back more than 400 years which were built to protect itself against enemy attacks. These walls have 5 ancient gates which are the main entrances to the town.

It is in this picturesque town, within the Amane Foundation for Child Protection, that I am carrying out my mandate as a volunteer for the PRIDE project. As part of my activities, my integration into the Amane centre allowed me to immerse myself in the dedicated work of social workers and school monitors in the protection of children.

On 12th June, I was able to attend an awareness-raising activity with the children at the centre, as part of the World Day against Child Labour. At the beginning, I imagined that I would see girls and boys learning about child labour . But I was very surprised to see that the children knew a lot about the subject! In fact, they had heard about it at school and in other awareness-raising sessions.

Despite my limited knowledge of Darija, the Moroccan arabic dialect , I noticed a lively participation of the children during the session, even as stealing the show from the social workers who were conducting it. In addition, short films on child labour were shown and the children were very attentive and participative in answering the questions that were asked.After the awareness-raising session, the children made handicrafts by drawing hands to show their rejection of child labour. They also supported their message with leaflets saying: “Stop child labour“.

It was an enriching experience with the children who were very warm and communicated together for the same cause.

By Flora Ouedraogo