By James Innocent
Yei River County in Central Equatoria State joined the rest of the nation and the entire African continent at large to commemorate the African Child Day on Thursday the 16th of June 2022 in Yei town with an outstanding call from a school child for an end to early child marriage.
The day of the African Child was peacefully and joyously commemorated in Yei River County in an event organized by the Yei County department of Gender Child, Social welfare in collaboration with the international partners, especially those dealing with protection.
The day was commemorated across the country under this year’s national theme: protect children from harmful cultural practices and enhance policy implementation in South Sudan”.
Harriet Tino the project manager for Plan International and representative of all the child protection partners in Yei River County said on Thursday during the occasion, that they were happy to observe the International African Child Day as partners seeing the presence of children at the event.
“I want to thank the government of Yei River County and all the members of protection cluster for the continuous support to ensure that we join the world in the significant celebration, the theme of the day of the African child 2022 will focus on harmful practices due to the high prevalence of those practices in our country,” she pointed.
The youth association chairperson of Yei River County, Central Equatoria State said the day remains them of what they have done for the children and what their progenies did for them in order to prepare them for a better future
“This day reminds us about what we have done to our children what our children need from us and reflect on what we can do best to nurture our children to prepare them for a better and brighter future that’s why today we have assembled here,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, a fourteen year old girl, and a pupil of Narrow Gate primary school Awate Viola Juma during the commemoration of the African child day event advised parents and religious leaders to stop early child marriage.
“All the religious leaders and all the parents should stop early child marriage to your children if you get your child married carrying baby will become a problem and she may lose her life during delivery or sacrifices your only child for the wealth you want to own in your life because you want money,” she cried at the occasion to marks the day of the African Child.