We are a group of 10-14-year-old authors, illustrators, and activists at Cheche Community Library in Monduli, Tanzania. We created this book to share about gender-related challenges in our community, and our ideas for how to address them.

Some parents discriminate against girl children. Girls are made to do hard work while boys go to school or are playing. Some girls are forced to drop out of school to work too hard for their age.

We need to educate the community about the importance of girls going to school. If a child is being abused at home or being denied the right to education, neighbours or relatives can help them by reporting it to the police.

Some girls are forced to get married at a young age and drop out of school. This is caused by their parents’ poverty that makes them need their daughter’s bride wealth. Also if a girl’s parents die, she can be denied her right to education

and get married early.
Child marriage contributes to girls’ low education levels and increases poverty. For example, it causes girls to lack self-understanding, not understand their rights, and struggle to thrive in the community.

We need to have community gatherings to educate people on the importance of girls staying in school and not getting married at an early age. When we see a family is poor, we should contribute so they can send the child to school. This can

prevent early marriage. Also, when we see a child without parents, we should seek permission to raise the child or take them to a place where children are cared for. That can also help prevent girls from getting married before their time.

Boys encounter the challenge of being influenced to smoke marijuana, drink alcohol, steal, and join bad groups. At the end of the day, you find these boys drop out of school because of negative peer pressure. Sometimes girls also face this

challenge of marijuana and alcohol.
This challenge is caused by poverty and hopelessness. It also stems from problems at home, like lack of food and parents raising their children without a good foundation. High school fees also contribute.

We can educate the community about the negative effects of smoking marijuana through social media, posters, and newspapers. We need to encourage people not to join bad groups and to persevere amidst parents’ difficult situations. We should

also support people so they don’t lose hope. The government needs to reduce school fees and create job opportunities to help address the challenge of marijuana.
Parents should raise their children with strong foundations.

Sometimes women and girls are raped in our community.

The police need to do more to ensure they arrest and detain rapists. It is important for someone to say if they have been raped so that the rapist can be reported and arrested by police.

Female circumcision is a challenge in our community. When a girl is circumcised, she can lose a lot of blood which can even lead to her death.

We need to educate our community about the negative consequences of female circumcision, for example through religious gatherings.

Children are forced to work to earn money to support their parents. They do hard labour from an early age. This results from poverty and family challenges. One child is forced to work harder than another because of a parent’s favouritism.

We need to talk to parents to advise them not to force children to do hard labour, and to take them to school to get an education.

Many children drop out of school for various reasons. Girls are married early or given so many household responsibilities that they are forced to leave school. Boys face negative influences in the streets such as

smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. Due to poverty, parents lack school fees or are unable to buy their children school uniforms. The child leaves schools and works to earn money to support the family.

We can use radio to educate people on the importance of school. Radio can be used to raise awareness about dangers of smoking marijuana. We must educate the community on the importance of not marrying girls off early. Let’s educate teachers

to teach effectively and not beat children with anger. We must tell the government to reduce school fees and help those who lack school supplies. Let’s advocate to ensure all schools have essentials like water and good learning environment.

A child is impacted by stress from troubles at home. Conflicts between parents harm the child psychologically, making them have troubling thoughts and struggle to concentrate in class. A child worries about what they will eat, where they

will sleep, and maybe they are being mistreated by their step-mother. When overwhelmed with worries or fear, they won’t be able to do anything at school. This results from being denied their rights, for example food, clothing, or shelter.

We must educate parents not to fight in front of children. Parents’ conflicts cause children to have mental stress, fail to study, and even drop out of school. Let's involve teachers and education officers to protect the right to education.

A parent beats a child for no reason. One child is forced to work harder than another due to a parent's favouritism. A girl does heavy work while a boy watches TV. A mother prevents a child from going to school so that she can do housework.

We need to educate the community about gender-based injustices and ensure that all children go to school to receive a quality education, without discrimination.