Maweo community in Vila commemorates Children’s Day

Members of Maewo Island Port Vila community got together at Binihi nakamal at Anabrou and commemorated this year’s Children’s Day national holiday.

Children, parents and other members of the community enjoyed lunch together and other activities including children’s games accompanied by entertainment by well-known Pentecost musician Reynolds Herena of the famed Vatdoro String band.

Member of Parliament for Maewo, Ian Wilson joined the celebration before jetting off to Luganville in the evening for onward travel to Maewo where he will spend the 36th Independence Anniversary celebrations on Saturday, July 30. The Children’s Day cake was cut by MP Wilson with a boy and a girl, Jetley Roy and Ruth Bakokoto respectively.

Distinguished community member Fr. Dunstan Butu encouraged parents to change the mentality seemingly predominant on Maewo that children didn’t need to go any further in education if they didn’t do well at Year 6 or Year 10 for instance.

“This mentality has to stop because we want to give our children every opportunity to do well in life,” he added.

Another senior community member, Jerry Boe, a lawyer by trade, explained how founders of the country’s independence had concern and respect for the country’s children and went so far as to getting Vanuatu’s Parliament to ratify the UN Convention for the Rights of Children making it also a law for the country.

MP Wilson challenged the community to have children and young people do the speaking during Children’s Day commemoration stead of always having adults talk. He also encouraged the young people of Maewo to learn the custom and tradition of their island of origin as a way of getting “rooted” on the island. He assured the young people he was looking out for a successor to replace him once his term in Parliament is over.

The MP for Maewo provided a full bullock to the community for the occasion.