Democracy in Time

01 August 2012  Copenhagen, Denmark [Bjørn Krøll, tedNEWS] It is Denmarks National Day the 5th of June 2012. The wind is blowing cold from the north. We are in the center of Copenhagen and in front of us is Christiansborg, the Castle where the Danish Government is located. In front of the Castle we see a flock of people from Iran hunger striking with banners and posters. Behind them is a model of a Burundian refuge house standing.  ADRA has made a model in full scale and beside that is an ADRA photo exhibition of nine triangle towers with 27 pictures from Malawi. “HIV is not for children” it is called. On the staircase to the castle we find more than 600 children eating bagels. Confused? – The children are loading up for a very big event. In a few minutes they are going to perform the ADRA supported Musical “Democracy in Time” in front of the Danish Parliament directed by Aunt Andante.

 

It is ten minutes to twelve and all the children are in place excitingly waiting for the Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt, and the Minister of Education, Christine Antorini, to show up together with Felix Smidt, a famous TV-host. The two Ministers are going to speak before the Musical starts. With enthusiasm Felix is announcing the event. ADRA is getting a lot of positive credit and after that the Prime Minister talks in a clear and simple way about the assets of democracy making it understandable for the children: “Imagine that you could not do what you wanted and say what you wanted? That is unfortunately the reality for many children around the World. They don’t learn how to read and write, and then it is very difficult to be informed of what is going on in the World and it is not possible to get an education.”

After the Prime ministers speech the mike is taken over by Christine Antorini who urge the children to use their rights and make their points: “Children shall be taken good care of and be free to express themselves” she says among other things.

Then the musical is on. Two small sweet girls start singing, the band joins them and then all 600 children are singing all their best. The sun starts to shine sending light and warmth over the scenery. It was a great experience for the many people that showed up and a very big experience for all of us that had been working on this event to make it a success. Through this event many children and teachers has become aware of the good work that ADRA and the Adventist are doing. [tedNEWS]


tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ted-adventist.org

tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division.
You are free to re-print any portion of the bulletin without need for special permission. However, we kindly request that you identify tedNEWS whenever you publish these materials. 

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