By Edward Vamboi
To commemorate the Day of the African Child on the 16th June 2021, the Legal Aid Board in alliance with the Champion for Girls Education and Empowerment (ChampGEE) organization, BBB Foundation and Arkman Music hosted hundreds of children at two separate events.
Support for both events was provided by the Legal Aid Board, Africell Mobile Telecommunications Company SL etc.
The event at the Hockey Pitch at Wilberforce Barracks attracted ten schools within the Wilberforce, Tengbeh Town and Murray Town communities, while the other, a free musical concert spearheaded by Arkman Music was held at the Siaka Stevens Stadium Runway at Brookfields in Freetown.
Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles, in her address to primary school children at the Hockey Pitch, dilated on the work of the Board in protecting the rights of children by ensuring parents take the responsibility of their children seriously.
“The Board ensures that your parents take good care of you by paying your school fees, provide you with lunch, accommodation and healthcare,”, she assured the children further admonishing them not to engage in sex, taking drugs, petty theft, going to prohibited areas and gambling informing them that such could land them in trouble.
“There are too many school-going children serving time in detention centers around the country for committing those crimes,” she told them.
The LAB Executive Director thanked ChampGEE and its founder, Major Cecilia Munu for organizing the event. “The Board is proud to partner with ChampGEE to celebrate the day with children of the men and women of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF),” she said.
At the Siaka Stevens Stadium Runway where the Legal Aid Board Executive Director also addressed hundreds of young people, she implored them to stay away from sex in order not to be distracted from their education. She added that the Sexual Offences Act 2012 (As amended in 2019) is not a respecter of age.
Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles, further admonished her audience to be studious and not to engage in activities that are in conflict with the law. She urged them to take the Hands off Our Girls Campaign with all the seriousness it deserves.
The event at the Hockey Pitch was climaxed with dancing and distribution of food to the pupils from the ten schools, while the one at the Siaka Stevens Stadium was climaxed with performances by Arkman and team.
