Report on the Day of Prayer and Action for the Children of the World 2008

In June in the LAC region, a consultation took place about the implementation of this Day of Prayer. The answers on how to implement were resumed as follows:
1) Inter-religious liturgies
2) A prayer for Latin America to be distributed to each of the GNRC’s partner organizations to be incorporated during their normal and daily activities on November 20, followed by a minute of silence.
3) Some cultural events.
4) The Convention and its 54 articles relating with the country realities, as a call to action.
5) To start a gradual incorporation of schools and education institutions to the celebration of this Day.
6) Some common symbols and situations en each country: prayer, T-shirts, lights/candles, children as protagonists.

In fact the countries that participated were Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela and El Salvador, each country with creative and different means to implement the agreements.

• Inter-religious liturgies 
  
  El Salvador held an inter-religious liturgy with the participation of 5 Christian denominations including 7 Catholic organizations, Muslins, Bahais, Buddhists, and Maya Indigenous Tradition. In this liturgy members of Religions for Peace were present click..  Each tradition presented their own prayers related to children click. In Panama, although not in a united liturgy, parallel liturgies to celebrate the Day took place in the Muslin, Jew, Baha’i communities of Panama City and in the Christian Community of Filipillo.click. 
  
• A Prayer for Latin America
  
  The prayer distributed in Latin America was prepared by Brazil, recorded in Portuguese with a girl’s voice and was distributed to 27 Brazilian states to be broadcasted on several radios. In Sao Paulo, Brazil two Jewish Communities used the prayer in their Sabbath celebration. The same prayer was put in video click.  and a Power Point presentation in Spanish by the regional coordination office and distributed to all the countries to be use on November 20. Venezuela broadcasted the prayer on radio Fe y Alegria along with information on the GNRC. Ecuador used the prayer in the form of video at Niños de Maria School At a regional level the prayer was distributed by the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) through its two Liturgy Networks, Spanish and Portuguese. Along with the prayer CLAI prepared a complete liturgy as a suggestion for distribution in their Portuguese network for the Day of Prayer click. CLAI’s Spanish network sent the prayer to 700 contacts.
  
  Brazil was the best example of widespread media use, effective coordination with the main religions institutions, use of already established organization’s structures, and the promotion of concrete actions taking advantage of the Day of Prayer. The prayer was broadcasted in popular radio programs at the national level, in various religious web sites, and in the November issue of the magazine Jornal da Criança with a distribution of 270.000. The prayer will be recited with 1.4 million families during the visits of Pastoral’s agents in November. Through Pastoral da Criança, the Bishop’s Conference of the Catholic Church (CNBB) gave strong support for the celebration of the Day of Prayer at national level; other organizations supporting the celebration were the National Council of Churches (CONIC) and CLAI. Among the Pastoral’s 300 coordination centers the civil registration of children, was promoted during the week as a call to action, thus implementing article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. click.
  
  
• Some cultural events 
  
  In Ecuador, in preparation for the Day, the children of 5th and 6th grades of the above mentioned school drew pictures under the theme “I have the right to…”, which were displayed on November 20 for all the children in the school click. In a similar way, the children of the Baha’i community in Panama worked on pictures and interpreted songs click. Among the activities in El Salvador was the exposition “What are the human rights for me”. The children sang religious and popular sons, and performed dances and a theater piece on the environment. 
  
  
• The Convention
  
  The Convention was the most important reference in the celebrations: Ecuador requested the partnership of Defense for Children International to educate the children on the Convention, the children drew pictures about their rights, and in the main liturgy 54 children presented 54 carnations at the altar, in gratitude for the 54 articles of the Convention clik. 
  The Baha’i Community in Panama read the Convention Preamble click. along with the Baha’i prayers. Ecuador and El Salvador used art to learn and illustrate children’s rights. In the Jewish community of Panama the Convention was the center of their celebration. In Brazil, the news release sent to media organizations linked the Day of Prayer with the Convention, and the call for action in partnership with the government on article 7 (civil registration of children). 

• To start a gradual incorporation of schools 
  
  Ecuador concentrated the celebration in a private Catholic school, where nearly 300 children, along with teachers and administrators, participated. In Brazil another Catholic school played the prayer through the school’s sound system. In El Salvador the exposition “What are the Rights for me” was done with the participation of several public and religious schools

• Some symbols and common situations
  
  The idea of using common symbols and situations was to start to give specific characteristics to the Day of Prayer’s celebrations. Lights were used in El Salvador, Ecuador and Panama. In Ecuador all the children received a sticker with the Arigatou logo which also included the image of two children and the words “The Day of Prayer and Action for Children”. To some extent all 5 countries gave the children responsibilities, but it was only in El Salvador where the children and the youth organized and implemented the event themselves.
  
  Poverty, Violence and the Environment, themes of the III Forum, were also present in all celebrations, especially the theme of poverty click. in the four celebrations that took place in Panama click.  El Salvador gave attention to the 3 themes