I stand here in the hope that you 'II listen to me
On what I think children's health should be.
I'm a child - I need my parents, my mother especially
For love, affection and security .
Now that so many children have lost their parents due to AIDS
Unless others give support, their hope of health fades.
An children need a good friend, its great to be a pair -
To have somebody you trust and with whom your thoughts you share.
School is for us all, not just the few who can afford to go,
Not only for the learning, but for friendships that make you grow.
We are curious -give us books -and we'll paint the world with our minds –
So many of us are starved of this and left to trail behind.
Life is also a school, it teaches us to work and play –
We need to have fun and should not work all day.
As children grow older, we seem to have less and less time,
Give us the time to dream -its one message of my rhyme.
Children in my country walk for miles to have clean water,
That could be me, if I was someone else's daughter .
We need to eat, good food, and quite often every day -
Without it we are shadows, cannot learn, or dance, or play.
Yet thousands of children eat barely enough to keep alive,
Can we call this health, when it's a struggle to survive?
Aren't we losing brilliant people when children are not fed,
Great authors or musicians, books unwritten and unread.
Children should not have to fear violence or arrest,
And should not be the victims of people who molest.
We want to please adults, do what those we love expect
And we need to know that we can trust those we are asked to respect.
Its healthy to be different, that's a lesson from life, I'm sure,
Give us the chance to learn this, and we will bring an end to war.
My poem was full of worries -was it inevitable that it would?
But you can make the difference! You can change it all for good.
Encourage and advise us, call out for those who have no voice,
Let all of us be heard and seen - a world of children will rejoice.
I am full of hope, and even while I speak in some distress.
My hope is that tomorrows child will speak of great progress!