All children were invited to this event and Jillian and I gave out invitations to our students at Kilimaehwa Education Center. We told the kids it was up to them to get to the event and that we would be there to hang out with them but they had to talk to their parents about going and getting home. The location of the event was on the opposite side of town and required the kids to take two dala dala (public buses) to get there and then to walk for about 25 minutes. We did not think that the kids would show up but they seemed really excited about it. Saturday morning, the day of the event, one of the children called us to tell us he was there and we needed to hurry up and come hang out with them.
We arrived there at 10:30am to see 25 of our Kilimahewa students there. We were so surprised and excited to see them. They had gotten up early and many had arrived when the event first started at 8am. While there we hung out with the kids, told stories, encouraged them to watch the presentations, to learn about their rights, and we laughed and danced. The special needs students from Gabriella Center (another school we support) sang a song about children and other school groups performed. We treated the kids to popsicles and enjoyed the day with them. It was a great day and so much fun to see the Kilimahewa kids involved with the local community.
Although the comic book is still in the works and we are hoping to have it published and distributed to children in both Moshi and Arusha before we leave in the beginning of August. It is our hope that this book helps educate children and parents on children’s rights and gives kids something positive to read. When we finish I will publish the comic book for you to see on my blog.
Here are some pictures of the Kilimaehwa kids from the amazing event this weekend.