Moquegua, Peru, 24 April 2017

Mr Antonio Guterres

UN Secretary-General

New York

Dear Sir,

It is my pleasure to write to you, both to send my greetings and to congratulate you on your election to such honourable office.

My name is Annel. I am 15 years old and attending my last year of secondary school. I began school over 10 years ago, and most of my classmates are the same as when I started. I was born and grew up in a small city, but now I feel like the city has grown as I have grown. I am very worried about what I see around me. There are so many disturbing things for a child, making one afraid or even terrified to keep growing, to develop as a person, as a citizen. We are afraid to go out and seek new opportunities elsewhere, in another city; unfortunately, my country, like others in the world, has been affected by violence. We have to live our lives on the defensive in a society that presents threats 24 hours a day, always ready for some sort of attack. Every day I hear adults talking of things happening here or elsewhere, and most of the time they are referring to violence: people bearing arms who assault and even murder. As a woman, I feel vulnerable in the face of this reality.

The media, both print and broadcast, are not helping to improve this situation either. They publicize these events in the form of news, forgetting that they are cultural instruments of society. If we buy a newspaper or watch the news on TV, almost all of the content is related to violence. TV shows and movies do not help either. How can we improve this situation if there is no open and sincere commitment to doing so?

It is of the utmost urgency that we curb this type of violent society, current scourge of humanity, which many countries cannot combat.

Through its Millennium Development Goals, the UN will work to ensure that all children receive a primary education. Education is not just children going to school carrying a backpack. Sir, I would dare ask that, as part of the education policies in countries with problems of violence, efforts be made to actively involve parents in the education of their children, so that parents are fully engaged in their care and upbringing, especially when the children are young, since they are the first educators. Let us not forget that the teachers are merely their partners in this education. It is necessary to unite efforts to strengthen the family institution.

Education is fundamental to the development of a person, and if this education is primarily rooted in values, then we can change society. We can concentrate on raising the citizens of tomorrow who will transform the world – these same children of today who cry out for bread, but also affection, attention, care, and the presence of mum and dad. I remember that when I was little, my mother could not afford to buy me storybooks, so she invented the stories. That is what we need to do: invent and create new formulas enabling us to see children that are happy, fostering spaces where they are the main characters.

I regret to say that the authorities in place are not concerned with improving this situation. They focus on the school curriculum, that it be achieved, but the rest… development of skills, recreation, affection, moral growth. We must not forget that children end up doing what their parents teach them, and that a good example is the best teacher.

This is also a way to champion human rights, the right to live in a better world, the duty of all to work towards that reality.

Mr Secretary-General of the United Nations, as Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” I have thought a great deal about this, and I know that it is difficult to do, but we have to start somewhere, sometime, with something. Let us remember that the future depends on the present. The authorities need to make a sincere and genuine commitment, not simply focus on building concrete monsters to expand and improve cities. Instead they need to focus on laying the foundations of the tomorrow we all dream of, a better tomorrow, with citizens educated in respect, love, work, honesty, gratitude and much more.

This is a dream I am sharing not only with you, but with anyone who will listen to me and who thinks like I do. I hope that you will be able to do something. Educational and social policies also need to seek to exalt the hearts and minds of boys and girls – your children.

Yours sincerely,

Annel