Every child has a right to happiness

When I first came to Australia as a 7 year old child, no friends, FOP (fresh of the plane) and with no knowledge of English, it felt pretty intimidating leaving my country of birth El Salvador and dumped into this new and foreign place my parents had decided to call home.  

As I now understand we were given asylum in Australia as refugees of civil war. My parents made the arduous and difficult decision to leave behind their family, their livelihood, and everything they knew to be home to give me and my two younger brothers the chance of a better life. El Salvador had been in civil war for quite sometime now and though I do not remember much of it due to my parents shielding us from the terrors of war, I came to understand through family and friends later what was really happening in our place of birth, brutality and terror of a military dictatorship on the people of El Salvador.

Fast forward now and my life has been very blessed, shaped by this wonderful sunburnt country of ours that I call home. Diverse in nature by its many different people and cultures I fell in love with so much so that I married a beautiful Romanian women, together we have built a family of 5 and are complemented by my three gorgeous children-Sofia, Isaiah and Rafael.

The joys of being a parent have been amazing! If anything has shaped me more as human being than anything else it has to be fatherhood. I have learnt to understand many mysteries that life has thrown at me, but one of the most beautiful experiences has been the dynamic of a father and a child. I never would have imagined the power such a little life could have on me until that day we received Sofia in to this world, to hold her in my arms knowing that she is a product of me and my partner falls nothing short of a miracle. The birth of the other two has not dulled that moment; not one bit. Now they are running around hugging me, asking me questions, mimicking in everything I do and imagining a world that I have lost the ability to imagine-Yep they are teaching me to imagine again.   

“Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”-JFK.

Their ability to imagine and inspire new ideas has opened my eyes to see children for what they really are-they are the essence of Hope. The hope that one day they will become the leaders of our world and if we do not build an environment that nurtures love and happiness for our future leaders they will be unable to cope with the problems of tomorrow. I believe that deep down there is something more profound within us...that we are more then mere flesh and bones. And none is more clearer; and more evident than in the potential of a child. We must advocate and learn to protect our greatest asset, because the answers for a better tomorrow lie in the child you help raise.  No child should bear the scars of injustice, we must give voice to the voiceless cause children can be an easy victim. So with that I plead my case, my parents made a sacrifice to bring me happiness and for that I believe there can be no greater sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”-JC.

As for me I will lay down my life like it was done before me for my children. That is where I shall find my place of peace and happiness and I will be an advocate of this for my children and every other child until I have breathed my last breath.

This post is part of a series inspired by the Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT) campaign, hosted by Stepping Stones Nigeria.  Please add your name to the PACT petition to prevent abuse of innocent children in the Niger Delta and visit the site to find out more: www.makeapact.org