Meet two child's rights ambassadors in Algeria
Maïssa and Redhouane, two from the ten ONPPE-UNICEF child's rights ambassadors share their dreams and vision
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When Maissa Belaroussi, 14, enters the room, she commands attention. She appears confident and determined, and her face lights up with a warm smile. Maissa is one of Algeria’s most famous child actresses. Yet when she talks it is not about her successful acting career at such a young age, but about her passion for child rights and protecting the environment.
“I feel strongly that children need to be kept safe, should be protected from conflict, have the right to education and to play.” She is also passionate about climate change and admires Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist, “I want to be like her,” she says. Maissa also admires her father who has taught her about the importance of conservation and climate change. “My father has an environment association, and he organizes his community to plant trees. I join them. We planted 500 trees with him in one day,” she says.
By her side is Redhouane Abderahmane Bakedi , 13, who appears shy at first until he talks about child rights. He has a quiet confidence and modesty. He too feels strongly about the right to education but he adds, “All rights are important. There isn’t one child right that is more important than the other.” Redhouane loves school and wants to be a doctor in the future. His other passion is writing and has already written a book that was inspired by his grandfather’s experience during the struggle for Algeria’s independence. “My grandfather told me his story,” he says. “The book took me a month to write.”
The children’s passion for child rights made them stand out among around 1,000 other young Algeria youth who last year submitted three-minute videos on child rights for a UNICEF competition. Ten youth were selected by a panel of judges, which included UNICEF child protection and communication staff members, to be youth child rights ambassadors for ONPPE (National organ for child promotion and protection) and UNICEF.
Both Maissa and Redhouane said they were honored and surprised to be selected. They both said they wanted to raise awareness among their peers and mobilize support for children particularly children with disabilities, child Sahrawi refugees, orphans, adolescents who have dropped out of school and those living in hard-to-reach areas. Both Maissa and Redhouane, who are fluent in Arabic, French and English, have a massive following on social media. Maissa has over 84,000 followers on Instagram
Last year, they both participated in UNICEF-supported child rights workshops where they learnt more about child rights as well as more effective ways of communication, including creating compelling content for social media and public speaking. “I want to make sure all children’s voices are heard in Algeria and the world,” says Maissa. Redhouane agrees.
