Olavi Popyeinawa
Children should not have to pay the price for our irresponsibility. They are innocent human beings who only know how to play and eat. We all owe it to them, to give them the best environment in which to grow and thrive to the best of their abilities.
We all have a responsibility towards children, a moral responsibility that should be sincere. They are our promised tomorrow, a tomorrow we promised them, that we will be part of too. Their todays shouldn’t be wasted in any kind of distress. I feel sad when I see classes of privileged pupils. Why can’t we just do something to hammer down these classes among children and get rid of them. Every now and then, I see children begging around Windhoek, let us for once do something so that they too can benefit from those privileges. To see those tiny little hands beg is a painful sight, it’s a daily struggle for them just to eat a handful, and I wonder how the government feels about it. They talk about Vision 2030, but do they realise that the power is youth? You talk about youth power, a better tomorrow and a bright future. Most of the youth have lost hope in Vision 2030 and the children’s future is looking bleak, in the current state of things, the AU’s Vision 2063 looks more promising and realistic.
This is our actual today and a hungry looking tomorrow, those little dirty feet, they are way too busy in meeting their basic needs, yet you promise on their behalf that they will perform great deeds for this country tomorrow. Be sincere to yourself and to them. Are you really aware of what hunger is? Aware of what it means to stay alive? If you really care for a better tomorrow try and find a way to erase their troubles. Do not just open your wallet, open your heart too, then only maybe will you see a difficult but right solution.
I read somewhere that to build a happy and prosperous nation, it’s important to ensure a healthy and fulfilled childhood to be its starting point. Like history has shown over the decades and centuries, I truly think and believe that to build a strong nation, it’s important to have a strong foundation. To make tomorrow better, we must work on our today and our today is the children. Today’s children are tomorrow’s youth, youth is power, youth is strong, youth is the backbone and we need to make it stronger. Let us make the children happy and healthy. A happy childhood will produce a strong youth and a strong youth will lead the way towards a developed nation, filled with happiness and prosperity. After all, the majority of our population is youths. Let us all be responsible and proud citizens and take care of the children. It’s our moral obligation.
Say less, think loud!
* Olavi Popyeinawa has a Diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently studying law, LLB at the University of Namibia (Unam). He will weekly contribute this column on youth matters. Instagram: niceguy_olavi Facebook: Olavi Longfellow
Twitter: @OlaviPopyeinawa