A seven-year-old boy has shared a sneak preview of his upcoming performance before he takes the stage for a competition at The Lowry theatre.
Kaio Devine dos Santos, who attends Woodbank Primary School in Bury, took part in a creative writing challenge organised by the theatre in March and has been selected to perform his work on stage this week.
Mum Laura Devine dos Santos, who lives in Tottington, found the competition flyer during an activity day at The Lowry with her son Kaio.
She said: “He came to me and told me, I’m going to write a poem about equality.
“I was a little surprised at first, but he has been learning all about historical figures at his school and, in his own time, he goes to Bury Library and loves learning about Nelson Mandela.
“His poem on racial diversity focuses on this and the inequality he noticed toward people of colour; even as a child, he has seen first-hand how racism is not yet eradicated and wants to help change that.”
Kaio is the youngest of the 16 creative writers to be chosen and will be performing his poem, titled “Mandela, Miller and Rosa Parks, Your fight for equality continues in our hearts”, on Thursday, May 18.
A panel of judges will watch each performance and announce the winners for each creative writing category that night.
Laura said: “I’m so proud of him, this is an amazing opportunity and to have been chosen out of over 350 submissions is incredible.
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“He is an amazing boy and reading from a child’s perspective about racial equality and how to treat each other, no matter what we look like, what colour our skin, or hair, or eyes, is so important.”
After living in Portugal, Spain and now England, language and culture have always played a huge role in Kaio’s life, something he shares with his mum.
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Laura who is originally from Bury, decided to move back to England just before the pandemic in 2019 and said that she thinks her “travel bug” may have passed over to Kaio.
She said: “He really appreciates different cultures and he's got a very open mind.
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“I have been raising him single-handedly since he was one and seeing how far he has come and how intelligent he is makes me so incredibly proud.”
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