Group work in action...
what are our rights exactly & what should we expect for and from ourselves?
Today we introduced the concept of human rights to our kids with the help of Alexandra Arroyo from the Defensoria del Pueblo. This is a government-appointed body aimed at supervising the respect of human rights in
Alexandra did a great job at explaining challenging concepts through both games and examples. She put together a tic-tac-toe activity where she asked children to put crosses over concepts that did not follow the idea of rights. For example, she a
sked whether it was true that the interests of adults come before those of kids, to which the children responded unanimously that it wasn't. And there went our first cross!
She then used hangman to spell out the word priority and explained what it meant that children's rights are a priority in society. Children, like the elderly and pregnant women, have priority to sit on buses, she said. And if a boat sinks, children also go first.
We thought it would be harder to tackle these concepts with our kids, but the response was actually really positive. The children identified many of their rights – the right to education, the right to play, the right to life, the right to health care. They also understood their right to protection and recognized different types of violence that one can be a victim of. Alexandra further informed the kids about who to talk to should they be, or know of, victims of psychological, physical, sexual or institutional violence.
This session introduced the concept of rights and what comes with them, namely responsibilities and obligations, to both oneself and society. From now on Cuéntamelo Todo will unravel the variety of rights children have, as human beings and citizens of this world, with a range of partner institutions. We start next week with the right to life. The Defensoria del Pueblo will also be back to explore some of these with our kids, such as the right to dream ...
