Voice of the Children

The International Children Peace Prize was created in 2005 by the Dutch Organization called KidsRights. The award is given to young adults who had affected children worldwide through their actions. They strongly believe that children should not be ignored but instead be heard. "I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!" -David Vitter, U.S. senator. The International Children Peace Prize is awarded to those who had succeeded in improving the lives of children around the world. The young adults used their tools, their notable traits, to succeed. However, none of it would happen without others listening to what they have to say. The winner of 2011 of the International Children Peace Prize is Michaela Mycroft. Mycroft was born with Cerebral Palsy which limits the function of her arms and legs. She fights for the rights of the disabled in South Africa. Her campaign is called the Chaeli campaign which helps over 3000 children in South Africa with disabilities. The campaign was founded by her at age 9 and she has continued to make an effort at improving the lives of the disabled children in South Africa. Other nominees for the 2011 International Children Peace Prize are Liza, Malala, Nikolay and Winfred. Liza fights for the rights of the girls in Palestine and use sports to raise donations. Malala focuses on the right to education for girls in Pakistan, she used international and national media to promote awareness. Nikolay use blogs and online discussions to spread the knowledge of children’s rights. Winfred documents and records the abuse cases of children around her environment and founded a counseling club. The International Children Peace Prize winners and nominees believe that the voice of the children is worth fighting for.

Michaela Mycroft believes that the voice of the children is worth fighting for and their disabilities should not go unnoticed. She was born with Cerebral Palsy, which helped her understanding how tough the lives of the disabled children are. She fought to make sure that the disabled children are accepted into the community and they are not unheard. As said by one of her supporters, "She is giving a voice to children who can't speak up." The reason she won the award was because she had changed the lives of the children in South Africa. Mycroft gave the children medical supplies and physical therapy. The children's rights are denied, however Mycroft did everything she could in her campaign to defend their rights. She is an inspiration to other children around the globe. Felix Finkbeiner was inspired by Wangari Maathai, Noble Peace Prize Laureate, and created a campaign called Plant for the Planet. The campaign was successful and was taken note in an article by the Telegraph. Plant for the Planet had planted 12,000,000,000 trees and are increasing. He has been inspired and strove to plant as many trees as possible to ensure there will be a future for the future generations. Finkbeiner's speech to the UN in 2011 was persuasive and showed that he has knowledge about the environment and how to sustain it. His voice was heard and many people took action in his plans. The slogan of the Plant for the Planet : Stop Talking, Start Planting shows that Finkbeiner urges people to start taking action before it's too late as he said in his speech to the UN. His message was mainly directed at the children, he believes that the children are the ones who will change the planet and therefore should take action now. Michaela Mycroft and Felix Finkbeiner believes that the children's voices should be heard. Finkbeiner takes a step further and urges the children take action in preserving the planet.

Francia Simon won the International Children Peace Prize in 2010. She promoted education in Dominican Republic by helping other children to get birth certificates. Besides the children in Dominican Republic, she also started helping the refugees from Haiti with education. The children will now have a brighter future and she will be remembered for the girl who spoke up for their education. "So that they can achieve their goals of becoming engineers , architects and etc." She said, supporting the children and providing them a chance to have a job. Before Francia Simon, Baruani Ndume received the award in 2009. He has reunited many families Tanzania using his radio programme. The programme became highly successful and is broad casted in Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. Baruani Ndume addresses problems for children and their families in his radio programme which allows the children to speak for themselves. Ndume was a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo and lost his parents along the way. However, he used his resources and helped numerous children to find their family with his programme. Besides his radio programme, Ndume also has a blog. He mentions on his blog that many children lacks the confidence to speak their thoughts ; Ndume helps them by a campaign called Child Voice Out which gives the children an opportunity to be heard. In that particular post, he also mentions other numerous problems about the children in Tanzania. Education and poverty is the main problem for the refugees in Tanzania. Ndume's parliamentary sessions for children also helps him to address problems for the refugees. Francia Simon and Baruani Ndume are International Peace Prize winners. They believe that the children should be able to speak out and receive education for a better life.

Besides Baruani Ndume, other winners of the International Children's Peace Prize have tried to give children a voice and education. In 2007, Thandiwe Charma received the award for defending children's rights, especially education. She supports the rights of children in Zambia and has received an award for helping the children's education. She believes that education would help children's life and allow them to be able to 'speak' through their writing. Education is key to her in helping the children. During her speech to the government, she included how the children should be seen and heard. Om Prakash Gujar was another award winner who believed that the children's voice is worth fighting for. He believes that education is key to voice. Gujar was a child labourer at age 5 and he is determined to not let other children suffer the same fate as him. It was that motivation and kept him determined and resilient. In order to avoid child labour, education is the best prevention. The prize money given to him was used to create 2 campaigns that helps education and deals with child labour. Gujar won the award in 2006, before Charma and many other winners. The first International Children Peace Prize winner is Nkosi Johnson. He won the award in 2005. 2005 was the year which the International Children Peace Prize was established. Johnson helped children who has AIDs to receive education so they have a chance at having a better life. His speech at the International Aids Conference in Durban provided an insight at how the children should have a voice and be treated equally as they are also human beings. Johnson also met with Nelson Mandela to discuss issues for children.From 2005 to now, all of these winners of the International Children Peace Prize have all done something to help to let the children's voices be heard and helped.

The traits I noticed in all of these award winners are intelligence, courageous, selfless, empathetic, dedicated,resilient, reliable and inspirational. The winners have won the award by showing all of the heroic traits and helped children with their education and voice. They are persistent, they work towards their goal even after receiving the International Children Peace Prize. After winning the award, Om Prakash has achieved in putting child slavery high on the list in India. He also received numerous donation to help his cause of ending child slavery and providing education for children. Another example is Thandiwar Charma, she broadcasted her message to the world and a new Education Act has been passed in her country due to her. They all work to try to let the voice of the children to be heard, whenever it's education, disability, etc. Their message is that we can all make a difference, even as a child and we can help children who are disadvantaged to let their voices be heard. Voice of the Children is worth fighting for. They encourage me to start taking action by donating to charity for the cause of children. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, "Children are entitled to the freedom to express opinions and to have a say affecting their social, economic, religious, cultural and political life."