Yeny and the Children for Peace by Michelle Mulder

across the country are going to vote. And we’re going to have another big party, to celebrate.”
    â€œRight on,” said Beto. “Kids can finally have a say!”
    â€œI vote that Christmas vacation is ten months long!” shouted David.
    â€œI vote that we get to eat all the chocolate we want!” said Rocio.
    â€œAnd I think the government should give every child abicycle.” Yeny declared. “I’ll ride back to the mountains. You guys can come too. We’ll bring a tent, and pack a lunch, and you’ll meet all my friends. You’re going to love María Cristina, and . . .”
    â€œHold your horses!” said Celia, laughing. “You can’t just vote for whatever you want. There’s going to be a specific question, and you have to choose from a whole bunch of answers.”
    â€œLike a multiple-choice test?” Yeny asked, disappointed.
    â€œWhat if we don’t like the question?” Juan wanted to know.
    â€œBelieve me, it’s a good question,” said Celia. “We’re going to vote for what we think the most important children’s right is.”
    â€œOh,” said Juan, and he and Yeny looked at each other. The vote didn’t sound nearly as exciting as Yeny had hoped. If it weren’t for the party afterward, she might not have wanted to go at all.
    â€œThere are lots of us who have been planning it for months,” Celia said. “Back in May, about thirty young people from across the country got together, and wrote something called the Children’s Mandate for Peace and Rights.”
    â€œThe Children’s man-
what
?” asked the girl in pigtails next to Yeny.
    â€œThe Children’s Mandate,” said Celia. “A mandate is like an agreement. Anyway, this mandate says that children everywhere have the right to live in a peaceful place, and that everyone whosigns it promises to help bring about peace. That’s how these peace meetings got started. And now we’re working together to organize the election. Every kid will choose one of the twelve rights that are listed in our Constitution and in a big international agreement called the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We’ll each decide which right is the most important to us, and the adults will have to pay attention because we’re following the rules of a democracy.”
    Yeny and her friends looked at each other. This sounded a bit silly. Celia had already told them that children’s rights were part of the law, but obviously no one was paying attention to those laws, so what difference could a children’s vote make? What could a bunch of kids do to change an entire country?
    Across the street, a few of the men at the café were standing up to see what was going on in the field. They were talking loudly and pointing, and the funny little dog had begun running back and forth, barking excitedly. Yeny looked around, hoping there wasn’t going to be any trouble. She was relieved when the adults who had been leaning against the goal posts crossed the street to talk to the men.
    Celia didn’t look the least bit worried. “It’s going to be great,” she said. “You’ll see. With so many children involved, the adults in this country will
have
to listen and make sure we are protected.”

    In one protest, children and adults alike carried cardboard coffins with the names of people who had been killed.

    Yeny imagined a hundred kids standing, hands on hips, wagging their fingers at the grupos armados. “But even our own parents won’t listen to us sometimes,” she told Celia. “Why would the people in charge pay any attention?”
    â€œYeah,” Juan said, “they always ignore protests against violence. Last year, my parents and I were in a big protest, and a whole bunch of us walked across the city carrying little card-board coffins with the names of people in our family who