Raising awareness for children's rights
November 14, 2014
As part of the MU Cares program which encourages charitable work, students volunteered to assist SOS Kinderdorf in their campaign, „Alle Stimmen für deine Rechte“ (all vote for your rights) to help raising awareness for children and youth rights in Austria.
SOS-Kinderdorf is a private, global, denominationally and politically independent organization for children and youth and with 76 programs and 14 branches in around 25 cities and communities in the sector of child and youth welfare service.
For this campaign, SOS-Kinderdorf is taking a new and youthful approach to their campaign, ‘’not with wagging one’s finger, but with a young, colourful and funny campaign inviting everybody to raise her or his voice.’’ They want to bring attention to the fact that although Austria is a democratic and wealthy country, children and youth are nevertheless also exposed to injustice.
From October 17th to November 20th, young people from all over Vienna are volunteering their time on weekends to raise awareness at various cinemas around Vienna. MU teams joined this past weekend and will head out again on the coming one to call people’s attention to the ‘’voice’’ of children and youth and the possibilities to support them.
BBA student Amine Chihi shared why participating in this campaign is important for him, " there are a lot of possibilities to get involved in a charitable work, but what attracted me most to SOS Kinderdorf was that, in difference to other causes, children's rights is one that we are all involved in at one point of our lives, since we have all been children.
It is true that I am not a child anymore, but being a young man I still have close childhood memories that make me understand and feel deeply about the importance of raising awareness about children’s rights. Somehow at my age I feel like a bridge between childhood and adulthood, which gives me the feeling that I can be a voice that can be heard."
Part of this campaign also recognizes that children’s rights shouldn’t automatically be taken away at the age of 18, and that some people require more time and support to reach self-sufficiency. Thomas Glantschnig volunteered his time for a cause he believes in:
‘’Being convinced in the commitment of SOS Kinderdorf in helping kids as well as families in need, it was a pleasure volunteering to support their petition to extend child and youth welfare service regulations beyond the age of 18. For young adults on their way to independence, as we are, life is already difficult. Raising awareness in order to extend the support beyond the legal age is crucial."
You will find MU students volunteering for SOS-Kinderdorf this Friday, November 14th, and Saturday 15th at Lugner City Cinemas in Vienna from 5pm on. Help them out and join the cause!
