In celebration of the Day of the African Child, Vicky Maponga a television personality, urged children to find a trusted person to talk to when they are troubled, change their mindset, know their purpose and believe in themselves in order to become whom they want to be as she talked about empowerment of the mindset in relation to proverbs 23 vs 7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he”.
She said this during the event hosted by Bright Girls movement and Alista Youth association, focusing on the importance of education in shaping the future of African children.
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“Believe in yourself, take small steps in order to become who you want to be. You need to start changing your mindset because mental health will affect everything at school, remove those negative things like ‘I do not think l will pass.’ Give yourself positive affirmations because you are preparing yourself for bigger things”
“Life is a journey. It needs you and your mindset to be intact because everything in your life starts in your mind. As we are celebrating the day of an African child, we talk about anything that has to do with the African child, mental health included and access to health included,” she said
She said mental health is important and integral part of life so it is important to deal with the root causes because unattended problems lead to mental health problems. It is like having a headache because a headache is triggered by so many things and to deal with the headache, one need to find the root cause of the headache hence mental health is the problem one is facing right now and if that problem is not dealt with one tend to commit suicide.
“You cannot deal with a person who want to commit suicide, involved in drug abuse and want to commit suicide without dealing with the root cause. We need to give each other coping mechanisms/ skills/ strategies as Africans as we are going to change our world” she said.
Meanwhile she urged people to know what they say because what people say perpetuates mental health in the life of a person. She said kids can be affected by what their teachers can say.
The event was also graced by Tadzie Madzima, the founder of Ignite Youth Organization, Oscar Pambuka, broadcast journalist.
Oscar Pambuka talked about drug and substance abuse in which he urged children to not associate with wrong people and do the wrong things rather they should be prayerful. He also urged parents to talk to their children and know what is happening in the child’s life.
“As parents, we should normalize on one on one because the moment we fail to talk to our kids, drugs are there”.
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Whereas Mrs Madzima said silencing the voice of the children is not helping us but ruining the generation. She also urged children to report sexual abuse and gender-based violence to somebody they trust at home before reporting to the police. To the parents. she urged them to be involved in child’s life and have responsibility in grooming these children.
