A non-governmental organisation, A Mother’s Love Initiative (AMLi) with the quest for a sustainable future of the African Child is set for the launch of a documentary on child advocacy.
The documentary which will be launched in Lagos at a press conference on November 19th, which is World Day for the prevention of child abuse, is expected to create awareness and share insights on the ills of hurrying the Nigerian Child.
According to a statement by the Head, External Relations of the foundation, Mrs. Hanatu Enwemadu, the ‘Hurried Child Project’ is to make a case for an intervention that hurrying the Nigerian child has a huge implication on their overall well-being and the future of Nigeria.
“Simply put, a hurried child is a child that has been rushed, overburdened and stressed through his or her childhood years conditionally or unconditionally by factors influencing the home, school and society thereby causing negative stress during adolescence and adjustment problems in adulthood.”
“Principally, we conduct our activities through the use of media advocacy, and psychosocial interventions using social media platforms, radio, TV, Institutional/community support services and professional counselling with the end objective of raising the standards of an ideal, balanced and happy child in Africa.”
“The documentary is a collection of interviews and excerpts on the history, root causes, predisposing factors, maintaining factors as well as the consequences of hurrying a child through childhood as perceived by the victims and the perpetrators and the system that has promoted the hurried child syndrome in Africa.” she said
Enwemadu stressed that the documentary would also highlight the dangers of skipping classes or fast-tracking a child’s academic achievements without considerations for the social and psychological development of the child with respect to age, developmental tasks and the nature of learning environments in the Nigerian society.
According to her “This is critical to the future of the Nigerian child and Africa as a whole considering the alarming cause-effect patterns observed in the last decade from the media, all of which were established by our qualitative investigations in the course of the project.”
Also, the documentary according to the statement will capture the role of the home, school and the government in the argument that hurrying a child is a conscious and unconscious act that has influenced the African culture and dominated African society.
Nnenna.O
