Children's Meeting Place
The reports

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The children's Meeting Place is a place where children and leaders can meet and talk. The first Children's Meeting Place was inagurated at the UN in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2001 and the second one in Africa was inagurated in Soweto the coming year. You can read about them here and also download the reports on this page.


UNON Nairobi, Kenya, 2001
The Children's Meeting Place is a Tree - Acacia Xanthopholea of the Mimosaceae family, known in English as the Fever Tree and in Kiswahili Mgunga.

250 children joined one another among the branches and around their Tree. They wrote and drew their wishes and messages for their new Meeting Place, danced, read poems, played music, sang songs and played together. The children came from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Finland and Sweden.

All the children brought a cup of water and a handful of earth to honour their new Meeting Place and they brought their visions, ideas, hopes, dreams and concerns for our common future.

The report from the inaguration at the UNON [339 KB]
with Children's Declaration, Conclusions and Recommendations

The report from the inaguration at the UNON [212 KB]
 with Children's Declaration, Conclusions and Recommendations

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Soweto, South Africa, 2002
Children from all schools and centers handed over a cup of water to the Crystal Bowl which was placed on a big root close to the trunk and a handful of earth to their Tree as a token of their concern for the world's water and soil.

The Guests of Honour were invited to come to the Children's Tree; Ms. Lena Sommestad, Swedish Minister of the Environment, Ambassador Helena Nilsson, Mayor of Soweto and Mr. Theodore Oben, UNEP representing Secr. Gen. Klaus Toepfer. All received a cup of the united water and a handful of the united soil.

Everyone around the Tree closed our eyes and said a silent wish to the Children's Tree. The Guests of Honor presented the united water and soil to the Tree as a token of their appreciation of the children's messages and gave personal speeches to the children and thanked them for the moving inauguration. They also promised to listen and learn from children.

Notes and memories from the inaguration in Soweto [682 KB]

Notes and memories from the inaguration in Soweto [791 KB]

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