This Children’s Day, 10 IA-Foundation beneficiaries attended a live cultural performance in Lagos,  and walked away with more than memories.

On Saturday, 30th May 2026, ten children supported by IA-Foundation did something many of them had never done before: they walked into a theatre.

As part of our Children’s Day celebration, the children attended I Wish I Wish — Battle of the Winds at the Main Bowl, WS-Centre/National Theatre, Lagos, a vibrant cultural experience filled with storytelling, creativity, and the kind of magic that only live performance can offer.

For many of them, it was a first.

More Than an Excursion

It would be easy to describe the day as an outing. But what happened at the National Theatre was something deeper than that.

The children, many of whom have faced significant barriers to education and opportunity,  sat in that space and watched stories come alive. They laughed, they asked questions, they leaned forward in their seats. And in those moments, something shifted. They weren’t just watching a performance. They were discovering that they belonged in spaces like that one.

That is what IA-Foundation set out to do this Children’s Day: not just celebrate children, but expand what they believe is possible for themselves.

Changing Perspective, Changing Lives

At IA-Foundation, our work centres on getting out-of-school children in Lagos State back into quality education. But we know that education is more than a classroom. It is exposure. It is an experience. It is the quiet confidence that grows in a child when they realise the world has a place for them.

When a child from an underserved community steps into a national theatre, sits where everyone else sits, and watches the same show as everyone else, that is a statement. You belong here. Your dreams are valid. The world is bigger than your current circumstances, and you are not too small for it.

The excitement in the children’s eyes, the questions they asked on the way home, the laughter they carried with them, all of it reminded us why this work matters.

Every Child Deserves More Than a Chance to Survive

Children’s Day is a reminder that childhood itself is worth protecting and celebrating. Not just the idea of it, but the lived experience: joy, wonder, discovery, and the freedom to dream.

Too many children in Lagos are growing up without that. They are bright, curious, and full of potential, but circumstances have narrowed their world. Our job, as an organisation, is to widen it.

This Children’s Day, we took ten children one step closer to believing in their own potential. And we will keep going, because every child deserves not only an education, but a life full of experiences that inspire hope, confidence, and the courage to dream big.

Want to help more children like these access education and life-changing experiences? Support IA-Foundation today.