Allow me to depart from the traditional form of address common to opening ceremonies, so that I can engage in a personal and candid conversation with you, fellow Africans in civil society, about the state of children in Africa and our collective failures to meet our responsibilities. By dint of geography, race and history we share a common fate and a common destiny. There is no place for hiding or obfuscation.
I am at an age where I should be tempered by wisdom, serenity, and humility, no doubt all great qualities. That unfortunately is not the case; I am someone that is saddened and outraged by the condition of the millions of children around the world who are disadvantaged and excluded. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I view myself as a world citizen. Like the poet John Donne, I say, 'no man is an island, entire of itself; I am a part of the whole; every man's death diminishes me; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'
...