Positive Youth News
Refugee Wins Award for Radio Programme
By
Mar 3, 2010, 16:11

A 16-year-old Congolese boy has been awarded the annual International Children's Peace Prize, for producing a radio programme for children in a Tanzanian refugee camp.

Baruani Ndume was handed his award by Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai during the ceremony in the Netherlands. Guests included Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and UNHCR Regional Representative for Western Europe Wilbert van Hövell.

The prize, organized by the Dutch foundation, KidsRights, is awarded to a child "whose courageous or otherwise remarkable acts have made a difference in countering problems which affect children around the world." It comes with a cash prize of 100,000 euros to be spent on projects related to his work.

The jury found that Ndume, programme co-ordinator for the 'Children for Children' show in Tanzania's Lugufu Refugee Camp, had, "under the most impossible circumstances ... chosen to champion the rights of other children."

The radio progamme focuses on education for young people with difficulties, as well as family reunification. It has helped parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo trace children they were separated from. "Boys and girls with stories similar to mine could not easily express themselves and were keeping their pain inside," Ndume said. "Our radio programme makes them feel less alone."

Ndume was born in the South Kivu province. His father died when he was four, while his mother and younger brother were murdered when conflict erupted once more in the region in 1998. Soldiers herded the family and other villagers into a house before burning it. "As I was small, I managed to escape through a little hole in the wall," he recalled.

Ndume kept his past a secret, until one day last year. "I approached the UNHCR partner organisation World Vision, which was running a radio programme called 'Child Voice Out'. I was selected among other refugee children and started as a young journalist for this programme broadcast every Sunday," he explained. "I hope to go to university one day and become a journalist," he added.

Contact: www.unhcr.org

A proud Baruani Ndume holds the International Children' s Peace Prize as Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai looks on.
Photo: copyright UNHCR/R.Beusker



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