On the 17th October 2019, Kids & Teens Resource Centre held the second edition of Children Cultural Fiesta in commemoration of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2019. The programme held at the Ondo – State Library with 124 persons (94 students and 30 adults) in attendance.
The aim of the event was to provide linkages between culture and SDG 1 “No Poverty” so that children will have the knowledge of how unity among different culture can enhance progress in poverty eradication.
The 2019 edition featured an array of events which included Opening Remarks, Good will messages, Debate Session on “Poverty can be Eradicated”, Cultural Dance Competition, Speak Up session on what can be done to eradicate poverty, Prize Giving and Closing Remarks. It also featured partners which included : D Rock Event Centre, Cakes and Pastries, TONABS Venture, Books, Books & Books Bookshop, Breeze FM, ROTDOW and Ondo – State Library Services. Dignitaries present included Mr Jide Fajuyi; President of Youth Tourism Club as the Chairperson of the Occasion, Mr Olamide Omodunni the Representative of Enough is Enough Nigeria; the sponsor of Office of the Citizens Ondo, Director of State Library Services and Mrs Awowe of F3AID.
Before the start of the event, the Executive Director of Kids & Teens Resource Centre had enjoined every child to learn a new thing that can help him or her achieve SDG 1. Afterwards, the Director of the State Library Services expressed his joy towards what the organization is doing to secure the future of young people as well as admiring the different attires of the students.
The first activity of the event had two schools involved in the debate session which were St. Louis Girls Grammar School, Akure and Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure with two representatives each. Each school came first and second respectively. The summary of the school supporting the debate topic was centered on the fact that with the aid of NGOs like K&TRC and other Sister NGOs, the efforts of the government will be strengthened to eradicate poverty while on the other hand, the long existence of negative vices like corruption, bribery etc. which brings about large gap between the rich and the poor will make it impossible for poverty to be eradicated.
The second activity was cultural dance display from four major schools. This included Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School in Calabar Dance, Bishop Hughes Nursery & Primary School in Igbo Dance, St. Dominics Grammar School in Akure Dance and Adegbola Grammar School in Yoruba Dance. The various cultural display was the peak of CCF 2019 for most of the audience seeing the students performing excellently in various tribes. After the cultural display, A comedian popularly known as “Big Daddy” added extra liveliness to the event for ten minutes.
Coming up next was the “Speak Up” session where opinions were aired on what can be done to poverty eradication, what are the solutions and what is the message to our leaders. The first speaker in person of Mrs Amowe based her view on family unit being the strongest pillar to achieving poverty eradication mainly. Mr Olamide of Enough is Enough also added to Mrs Amowe opinion by supporting with a statistical fact that “Poverty is created every 6 minutes by every family according to the United Nations”. Therefore, family is a strong foundation to achieving SDG 1 “No Poverty”. The students also gave their views about way forward on poverty eradication in which one of the strongest point was commitment to their studies and the acquiring of more skills. The Chief Executive Officer of K&TRC , an expert in the social work spoke about the root cause of poverty, measures that can be taken and what is expected of young people.
One of K&TRC Volunteers in person of Halima encouraged those with talents to bring it to an excellence point as it is one of the ways to eradicate poverty. She demonstrated this by introducing the art work of a teenager to the audience. This gained attention and applauds with the High Table Guests giving financial gifts to the boy.
In bringing the event to a close, the teachers from the invited six schools were asked to dance with their students after which Certificate of Participation was presented to each school. The prize giving was also done with St. Louis Girls Grammar School coming first in debate session with Acquinas Grammar School as the runner up. For the cultural display, Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School took first with Bishop Hughes coming second and St. Dominics coming third. The MC appreciated every participant and guest and urge everyone to participate in the photo session. The event came to a close with National Anthem.
