In last week’s newsletter, I told you about the international chat we had organised about why politicians should listen to kids. This came off the back of my latest article, in which I wrote about how important it is for politicians to involve children in politics.
But I’m far from being a child myself (at least on paper!). So conversation editor Nabeelah Shabbir and I decided to leave the floor open to kids from around the world so that you could hear it from them directly. We had young guests from New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, the UK, South Africa and Sudan – translated directly from Arabic for us – and the conversation was invigorating!
Here are some of the main takeaways – the things these thoughtful kids want us adults to know.
1. They have a clear sense of what’s important to them, and they like to fight for what they believe in
Haneen, 15, took part in last year’s revolution in Sudan after seeing her peers sleeping on the street:
“I used to ask my parents: ‘why aren’t they in school like us?’. Later I found out that most of those kids are displaced people who were the victims of the conflict in Darfur and were forced to leave their homes and come live here homeless, the government never provided them with any support or services.”
Lucy, 13, met prime minister Jacinda Ardern, and explained how she became a climate activist:
“I got involved when I was 10 and I found out about all of the problematic and worrying effects of greenhouse gasses, pollution, oil, and coal, and other things that damage the environment. I wanted to do something about these huge issues, …