VINI REMARK ON YOUTH DAY

Today is the day of the African child. We celebrate this day because in 1976 in Soweto in South Africa thousands of black school children demonstrated to protest the inferior quality of their education and demanded their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of youth were shot down and more violence followed this event. Since 1991, this day has been celebrated all throughout Africa and in fact, the world.

In other words, this day is celebrated because you as youth, as African youth, have the right to live with full dignity and your community, government, institutions are meant to serve this goal along with you.

What do we mean by dignity?
dig·ni·ty n
1. a proper sense of pride and self-respect
2. the condition of being worthy of respect, esteem, or honor

Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.

Failure
fail·ure n
1. a lack of success in something, or an unsuccessful attempt at doing something
2. something that falls short of what is required or expected
3. somebody who or something that is unsuccessful
4. a breakdown or decline in the performance of something, or an occasion when something stops working or stops working adequately
5. inadequate growth, development, or production of something
6. a financial collapse, usually leading to bankruptcy

Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.

In Kenya, more than 40 percent of adults do not have productive employment. In Kitui district, about 46 percent of women and about 49 percent of men are economically inactive. More women, roughly 40 percent provide unpaid labour in family farms than men 25 percent. In Kitui district, 66 percent of the population is poor, acc. to district planning unit. Much of the povertycan be attributed to large family sizes, low agricultural activity due to high land subdivision, high disease, poor marketing and quality of products, unemployment,

In Kitui, a study conducted in 2003 found that there is demand for cheap but quality finished goods and services to farmers and people working in small scale businesses. There is need for creativity, technical skills and business education. There is need to inprove and add value to current courses to make them more relevant to community demand. In Kitui, indigenous technology thrives in the form of horticulture, weaving, floriculture, carving etc.

In Kenya, the illiteracy rate is 22 percent but female illiteracy is 30 percent.

women are 51 percent of the world’s population. (Nairobi conf. for women in 1985)
they do 66 percent of the world’s working hours
they earn ten percent of the world’s income
and they own less than one percent of the world’s assets.

does a tailor have to be a woman?
can a girl not be a mason? she can carry heavy loads.