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A child fighting for children's rights Ìý | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aminata Palmer has taken part in international summit meetings, lobbied government leaders, campaigned on several important social and public health issues, and she has her own radio show. That's quite an impressive CV, or resumee, if you take into account, that Aminata is still just thirteen years old, and that she comes from Sierra Leone, a country which, five years after the end of a long-running and brutal civil war, remains one of the world's poorest countries. "I can remember some stuff," she told Fred Dove of the war that ended in 2002, "Houses being burnt.. having to get out from the house and go to a neighbouring house. Having nowhere to stay, no clothes to wear... "I lost my aunt whom I loved so much and I lost my uncle." Aminata started campaigning when she was duped by some friends into joining the Children's Forum Network in Sierra Leone. "They didn't tell me that it was a children's network where children meet and articulate their concerns," she said. "They said they had a group called the Children's Forum Network and it's a drama group and we want to take you there so you can perform." Aminata said she went along because she loved acting. The Network, however, is a campaigning group operates on the basis that the best people to articulate children's concerns are the children themselves - and pretty soon Aminata was involved.
"We go to street children and we got out to centres that help girls that have been raped," she said, "We ask them how do they feel and they tell us - so we go back to our network and sit as a group and make plans on what should be done, present them and take them to the leaders and make sure that there is something being done." Through the network Aminata has become well-known to politicians in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. She has met the UK's future prime minister Gordon Brown who has "a compassion for children and I appreciate him for that" and current prime minister Tony Blair who "likes children also." Aminata spoke confidently with Fred Dove throughout her interview but at no time was she more passionate than when she was talking about the needs of girls in her native Sierra Leone. "Girls need to be educated," she said, "If a couple have two children - a boy and a girl, they will prefer the boy go to school - because they think when the boy goes to school he will continue the family name. "But if a girl goes to school it's a waste of money because when that girl gets married she'll take her husband's family name." The answer, she said, was both in funding from first world countries and also in good follow-up - because, she said, "I'm not afraid to say it, our leaders embezzled money a lot. "Corruption is the order of the day. If you send money they will take it and use it for their personal use." Aminata's current visit to London coincides with the international children's charity, "Plan International", releasing a report focussing on life for girls and young women around the world. The report's entitled "Because I Am A Girl". Aminata disclosed during the interview that she hopes one day - given the funding for her education - to become a lawyer. Following the interview several listeners have contacted Outlook offering to fund her education. Ìý | Ìý | SEE ALSO Ìý | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ÌýIf a couple have two children - a boy and a girl, they will prefer the boy go to school - because they think when the boy goes to school he will continue the family name.
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