Mexican Embassy, UNICEF host Int’l Drawing Contest : Kaieteur News

with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) this year, as the Mexican government’s annual international drawing contest was launched on Wednesday, at the embassy’s compound in Brickdam. As November 20, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Rights of the Child Convention, UNICEF has partnered with a decentralized agency of the Mexican Foreign Ministry known as the ‘Institute for Mexicans Abroad’  to participate in its annual “This is my Mexico” 18th Children’s Drawing Contest, held internationally, in order  to promote the rights of children worldwide. As part of local participation, the Mexican Embassy in Guyana and UNICEF representation  here,  have organized children aged 7-11 from selective primary schools around Georgetown, to draw something under the theme, ‘Children’s Rights.’ The invitees were from Marian Academy, St. Agnes Primary, St. Ambrose Primary, Smith’s Memorial Primary, St. Gabriel’s Primary, Ermsville Primary and the Joshua House Children’s Centre. With the 32 children present from these schools, a morning of learning, drawing and interacting was supervised by officials of the embassy and UNICEF, as part of the embassy’s ongoing effort to promote Mexican culture and UNICEF’s children rights initiative. Among officials present were the Mexican Ambassador, Francisco Olguin, Deputy Head of Mission, Maria – Elena Alcaraz, Administrator, Adrian Lopez, Cultural Representative, Alejandro Martinez, UNICEF’s Communications Officer, Jewel Mbozi and UNICEF’s representative of Guyana and Suriname, Marianne Flach. In the introductory address to the students, Mexican Ambassador, Francisco Olguin, welcomed them to the worldwide competition, and said “children around the world including yourselves, are invited to draw something that reminds us of Mexican culture and as much as possible, children’s rights”. He explained the importance of their rights and urged them to remain informed about it. He said that the embassy intends to continue the annual event here. Maria Alcaraz explained that the Mexican embassy had involved local participants in the global contest since 2012, and with the new UNICEF collaboration, a wider awareness of Mexican culture and children’s rights will be initiated, along with more local schools participating in the future. And Marianne Flach told the gathering “as time progresses, the older people step away and you are in the forefront… this is your country, and you have to develop it.’ She encouraged the children to maintain their attendance and discipline in school, so that they can become good adults. “UNICEF feels that art is a great way for children to express their thoughts, and both sports and arts need to be stimulated in a child’s development, as an alternative to videos and internet…although we currently have no long term plans, we would welcome the opportunity to further partnership with the Embassy for the benefit of children in Guyana.” The children were shown drawings and films depicting Mexican art and culture, which was used to help them generate ideas for their art piece. Certificates of participation will be awarded to them in October.