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The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child 2007:
Betty Makoni
Betty and the girls from the girls’ club march for girls’ rights
Bang!
   Betty Makoni awoke with a start. It was the middle of the night in the poor neighbourhood of Chitungwiza outside Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare. She heard it again: Bang! And again: Bang! The children began to cry. Just a few metres from Betty’s bed, masked men were breaking through the front door with an axe.
   Fighting for girls’ rights can be dangerous!

> Meet Betty Makoni

Test your knowledge of the prize candidates 2007
> Start the quiz

Why has Betty Makoni been awarded?
Betty Makoni received The Global Friends’ Award  and The World’s Children’s Prize 2007 WCPRC for her long struggle for girls in Zimbabwe to be freed from abuse and to have the same opportunities in life as boys. Through the Girl Child Network (GCN) Betty has built three safe villages (also called empowerment villages) for very vulnerable girls and started 500 girls’ clubs with 30,000 members, mostly in rural areas and in poor townships. Betty saves girls from child labour, forced marriage, abuse, trafficking and sexual assault. She gives girls food, clothes, medical care, a home, the chance to go to school, and safety. Above all, she gives girls courage and strength to demand respect for their rights. Tens of thousands of girls have found their way to a better life because of Betty’s work. She and GCN speak out on behalf of girls in Zimbabwe by constantly encouraging the government and different organisations to take care of the country’s girls. For Betty Makoni, breaking the silence on rape of
Girls, has in some instances led to her victimisation.
Portrait Chakanetsa
What do the boys really think?
“If girls in Zimbabwe are to have a good life, we boys need to change,' says Chakanetsa.

> Meet Chakanetsa
An elefant
Hunters have a special name for lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and African buffalos: ‘The Big Five’.

> More about ‘The Big Five’
Portrait Lisa
“Having your rights respected means getting to be who you want to be, without anyone pushing you down,' says Lisa.
   And Lisa knows who she wants to be...
> Meet Lisa
View from the mountain
In eastern Zimbabwe there is a mountain called Chitsotso. It is the girls’ holy mountain. This is the story of the princesses who live in Betty’s safe village at the foot of the mountain…
> The girls’ holy mountain
Portrait Jacqueline
When Jacqueline went to school that Friday, she thought it was going to be just another normal day. But after assembly in the morning, the headmaster came into the sixth grade classroom…
> Meet Jacqueline
The bottlegame
Play the bottle game!
The Bottle game is played on a gravel or sand pitch. An empty plastic bottle is placed in the middle of the pitch...
> Play the bottle game!
Portrait Tsitsi
"My mum was a seamstress and she taught me to sew. I think of her every time I sew. I miss her so much."
> Meet Tsitsi
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