election - the fears of our children

Earlier this week, on Mandela Day, we shared the quote “We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”

With the election coming up soon, this seems like a good message to share.

In our recent survey, we collected responses from 590 people with 196 of these being under 18 years of age. The differences in results of those under and over 18 years show that as adults we need to be listening to the concerns of children and trying to reassure them.

One of the questions we asked was whether the election will be peaceful. While 73% of adults replied YES, only 38% of children gave the same response. When asked how they feel about the election, 59% of children are worried or scared. Interestingly, 43% of adults are also worried or scared, despite believing that the election will pass peacefully.
One thing that everyone had similar views on was the power people have to change a country through their vote. The overall result was that 71% said “A lot” and the minority vote for both adults and children was “None”.

Another interesting question we asked was what issues people hope will change because of the election. Many children said that they hope that people will just accept the results of the election and move on. Peace, education and food prices/security were also high on the children’s agenda whereas the top items for adults were corruption, tribalism and jobs.

If you are a parent, teacher or older sibling…please be inspired by these results and talk to the children around you. Find out how they are feeling about the ongoing campaigns and the election and see if you can help answer concerns that they may have.

​Let’s keep the conversations going! #SimamiaPeace

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