Cold Hard Reality

I got Sunday's Daily Nation Newspaper today, as I wanted to catch up on some current events. There is a new constitution proposed for Kenya, which people will be voting on. President Kibaki and most of the goverment seem to be strongly in support of the new constitution, and the paper does not stray from their view. Of course, the skeptic in me wants to read the fine print, as I feel that some of the proposals, while colored beautifully, may open up a can of worms in many areas. Some feel that the vote has been decided already.
Of course, I'm straying from what I wanted to mention, so I will get back to the point....In the paper, there was a section where the question "What would I want included in the constitution" was posed to children who look like they can't be far from the range of 5 -10 years old. Not to depress anyone, but I think we all take a lot for granted, and I wanted to share some of the responses they had with you:

"I would stress the point for the right of children to get an education, so that we won't have many children loitering in the streets." Vivianne Wanjiru

"Every child must have parental love. No parent should throw away their children. Those who do so should be jailed for life. It should be made a law that children should have time to play." Faith Mbone

"I would make sure the rights concerning providing basic needs like food, clothing and shelter are included in the constitution. If parents are poor then the government should take care of their children and building many homes for them." Enock Winjira

"I ensure that the law against marrying off children is very clear. Every child must have a right to complete their education and marry when they become adults." Joseph Kamau

How is it, that we as a society, and I do mean the whole world, stand by while children are put in a position to have to ask for education, food, clothing shelter, time to play, and to not be married off at a young age? These are children....young, young children....asking for basic things that you and I don't think about....asking for basic things which they should not have to think about.....how does this happen? How do we resolve it? It just breaks my heart.