1

Thandiwe Chama 坦迪维·查马

1991

A 16-year-old Zambian girl, Thandiwe Chama of Lusaka’s Chawama township has scooped the 2007 International Children’s Peace Prize beating 28 other nominees from across the world. The prestigious prize was presented to Thandiwe in The Hague on Sunday by Nobel Peace Laureate, Betty Williams and Live8 initiator, Sir Bob Geldof. The Prize consists of a statuette - “the Nkosi” - and 100,000 euros, which are to be awarded to a direct aid project in the spirit of the young winner’s efforts.

In 1999, when she was only eight-years-old, her school was closed because there were no teachers. Thandiwe refused to accept this and led 60 other children in walking to find another school. As a result, all the children were taken into the Jack Cecup School. Strengthened by this achievement, Thandiwe has been fighting ever since for the right to education for all children. Thandiwe continues to impress, for example by speaking in church about children and AIDS - an issue not always discussed easily in churches. With a friend, she wrote and illustrated a booklet called “The Chicken with AIDS”, telling young children about the perils of AIDS.

“It’s so important to know that also a child has rights. At school I learned about rights. And I knew then that this was something I wanted to fight for. Because if children are given an opportunity, they for sure can contribute in making this world a better place.” - Thandiwe Chama

来自赞比亚卢萨卡Chawama小镇的16岁女孩坦迪维·查马打败其他28名来自世界各地的提名候选人，一举掳获了2007年的国际儿童和平奖。这一极具声望的奖项在星期天在海牙由诺贝尔和平奖获奖者Betty Williams和Live8创始人Bob Geldof爵士颁发给坦迪维。奖品是一座价值100，000欧元的“恩科西”小雕像，该奖旨在嘉奖年轻获奖者在直接参与帮助事件上所付出的精神努力。

1999年，小坦迪维只有8岁，她的学校因师资短缺而关闭。她拒绝接受这一事实，带着其他60名同学步行寻找另一间学校。结果全部学生都被Jack Cecup学校接收。受着这一次成功的鼓励，坦迪维自此一直为儿童的受教育权斗争。坦迪维继续给我们带来深刻印象，例如她在教堂发表关于儿童和艾滋病的演讲——一个不易也不常能在教堂讨论的话题。她和朋友写了一本附有插图的小册子叫“艾滋病小孩”，讲述处于艾滋病危险环境下的年轻孩子们的故事。

“知道即使是一个小孩也有他的权利是非常重要的。我在学校学到了权利。我也知道这就是我想为之战斗的东西。因为如果孩子们得到了机会，无疑他们会为世界变得更美好贡献他们的一份力。”——坦迪维·查马。