Dewdrop Foundation (DDF) in partnership with Center for Gender Economics (CGE Africa) organized an intergenerational Art and Essay competition which ran from 12 May to 6 June 2020, to improve the relationship and understanding between the older and younger generations and to sensitize young persons on the need to prevent elder abuse. The competition was themed #StopElderAbuse, with a sub theme: Ageing is a Blessing.
The competition had two categories; Junior category for children aged 6-12 years, and Senior category for teens aged 13-19 years. Participants were to identify and “adopt” an elderly person aged 60 years and above (fondly called “Seenagers” i.e. Senior Teenagers), interview the Seenager about their experiences with ageing and prepare an essay based on their findings, titled: Nuggets of Wisdom. They were also to prepare an artwork in any medium of their choice, depicting graceful ageing.
Entries were received from over 70 children and youths from the project communities in Enugu State, as well as other parts of Nigeria for the two categories. The competition was a huge success regardless of the disruption from the COVID 19 pandemic. The entries from the competition shed a lot of light towards achieving to large extent the aims and objectives of the intergenerational activity. The competition helped develop new relationships while also fostering the strength of existing relationships between the elderly and the younger generation. This was seen greatly in the entries submitted and during the online interview of the winners as part of the judging process. The participants demonstrated very impressive knowledge, understanding, empathy, and willingness to help curb elder abuse.
We are very proud of the all the young ones who took part in the competition, they all qualify to be our “Ambassadors for Change”. Many of the participants had mindset change about the stereotypes associated with ageing – this is certainly the enabling environment to promote behavioral change on the part of children and youth, towards older persons.
We are most grateful to several organizations for making this possible and for enriching the process. They include our project donor; Oxfam-Voice of The Netherlands and judges namely: Life in my City Art Festival (LIMCAF), National Gallery of Art (NGA) Enugu, Society of Nigerian Artist (SNA) Enugu, African Caribbean Heritage Alliance (ACHA), Street Project Foundation, and MAMA Centre. Prizes for the competition were placed at:
- 1 – Junior Category: 1st – N100,000; 2nd – N50,000 and 3rd – N25,000
- 2 – Senior Category: 1st – N150,000; 2nd – N75,000 and 3rd – N50,000
Below is the list of winners and their locations:
- JUNIOR CATEGORY:
1st Position – Ms. Favour EGBO, of Akwuke Community, Enugu State
2nd Position –Mofo AYUFE, an online participant from Lagos State.
3rd Position – Morawo ADEDOYIN, an online participant from Lagos State.
- TEEN CATEGORY:
1st Position – Maryann UGWU from Akwuke Community, Enugu State.
2nd Position – Charles NWODO, from Akpugo Community, Enugu State.
3rd Position – Blessed CHIBUIKE, from Amechi Idodo Community, Enugu State.
