Children's Day

The event is part of a nine day celebration marking Vanuatu's 40th independence anniversary.

However the occasion was bittersweet in some ways.

UNICEF's Communications Officer, Rebecca Olul, said while Children's Day in the south would be festival-like, it would be different in the north.

Olul said the dual crises of April's Cyclone Harold and the Covid-19 pandemic had turned children's lives upside down.

In the cyclone-ravaged north, a third of the country's lives were put on hold including 24,000 children who had been out of school since April.

The appearance of the Pacific Mini Games Mascot, Nasi, and his partner Em Pawa was a highlight of the program.

At every venue where Nasi was invited to join the children, many of them rushed to the big bird to touch and hug him, and some just to touch his tail.

Over the weekend, Port Vila city was busy with different activities, and on Saturday Nasi was at each village of Efate to receive and encourage  the first runners of Wilco Round Island Relay who passed by.

Children’s Day is on 24 July and the theme for this year’s activities is ‘Supporting Children’s Education from Class One’. Vanuatu is celebrating a weeklong Children Day activity beginning from yesterday with various activities planned in schools and communities.

When officially declaring the opening of Children’s Week activities, Mr Warsal said one of the special emphasis for this week is to ensure children appreciate their right to learn their original dialect or mother-tongue.