More than 25,000 children participated in events to celebrate Universal Children’s Day for the first time ever this year.

On a November day in Bogale Township, one of the hardest-hit areas by Cyclone Narigs in 2008, songs flooded the fresh morning air and captured the attention of the town’s dwellers. The songs were coming from more than 500 children gathered in a pandal (a temporary platform structure used for celebrations) set up in a local playground to celebrate Universal Children’s day.

Small flags with different colours decorated playground walls and children wore paper hats on which child rights were written. In each event, posters showing child rights and laws were displayed and the history of Universal Children’s Day was shared by World Vision staff.

So many children who had experienced the nightmare of Cyclone Nargis were excited about the celebration and participated in different kinds of games and sports including traditional dances, disco dances, role-plays, poem reading, and singing.

“The children were amazing and had so much confidence in their performances - even though they have undergone so much trauma from the storm,” said Daw Ni Ni Htwe, World Vision Myanmar’s Child Protection Technical Coordinator.

“I was really happy to participate,” said Maung Aung Ko Latt an 11 year old who lives in the poorest community of Pyapon town and dreams of becoming a football player. “I have never done anything like this before, and I was awarded for winning in the competition,” he said with a smile.

In addition to this large scale event organised in Bogale town, World Vision organised small events for Universal Children’s Day in more than 100 villages in the townships of Bogale, Pyapon and Hainggyi where the Cyclone Nargis Recovery program currently operates.

Township CRC committee members, lawyers, members of associations for child and maternal affairs, officers from the UN and other organisations supported World Vision in organising the events and were invited to participate in the celebration which also marked the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The affected communities all shared a positive response to the events, “We have never been to such kind of events in our life. We had never heard of this day in Myanmar. Our children were so happy participating in the events.”