Tuesday 8th of December: first official meetings at the UN: with the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights

_ We were all so excited this morning! Everyone, children and adults alike, all looked very smart for the meeting with Ms Kang, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

_ Ms Kang’s welcome to the delegation was: ’This is an important trip both for you and for us. It is an opportunity to talk between us on an equal footing, to share our ideas and experiences. For us it is an opportunity to listen to what affect you, to hear your hopes for a fairer and better world. We are here to learn from you.’

All the messages from the different countries talked about school and solidarity: ’If a child feels rejected, not understood in his/her pain, (s)he will not be able to learn things properly’ (Europe), ’With her neighbour’s support, a mother had hundreds of children come to the front of her house where they were able to receive basic pre-school education.’ (Caribbean, Latin America).

The people who work in Ms Kang’s teams also attended the meeting and they were very happy to listen to us. Several of them reacted and encouraged us: ’Continue to speak up for yourselves but also for others.’

The ATD Fourth World General Delegate gave Ms Kang a document explaining how to help people living in hardship to work with experts in finding ways to fight against poverty and all forms of injustice.

By way of conclusion Ms Kang said: ’Courage comes from the youth. We need you to remind us day after day that we too must gather the courage in order to break the silence which surrounds Human Rights violations.’

We gave her a present and took a group photo in front of the statue that Tapori children had offered as a gift 10 years ago.