Over the past 3 years of taking action to solve human rights issues around the world, writing letters to government officials, collecting petitions to free a student activist in Myanmar, and raising awareness of these issues through posters, we wondered the root cause of the lack of respect for human rights in the world despite these rights being codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for over 70 years.
We the students of GIIS EC have pledged to do our part and save the planet we call home. We have started a project called ‘THE SPECIES’.
What we noticed is more of a condition than a problem. Children all around the world lack a sense of identity, worth and responsibility. Kids are maltreated and abused, used and dumped. They either don’t know this or they don’t know what to do about it. A few actually believe they deserve it or just wouldn’t dare speak against their guardians or abusers.
I’ve always believed South Korea, my home country, was a country that was technologically advanced, developed, and clean. All my fantasies shattered when I first visited Seoul train station, and so many drunk and pained homeless people were sitting with depressed faces on the streets in front of the station.
A big thank you to Global Social Leaders for giving us the opportunity to have this wonderful experience which is really interesting & challenging.
It made us recognize the strengths & power hidden in our souls.
Above all, the team spirit & working towards a target that will help to make a change in the society.
When we signed up for the GSL Program it gave us an opportunity to look around us and think about our community. To identity a topic we asked around and did some research on all the problems that our community faces , and we came up with a long list right from gender-inequality, poor education to GMO.
7 of us meet on a weekly basis to discuss our ideas and next steps. We spent lots of time debating which global goal to choose. There are lots of great contenders which make to pick one to try and make a difference with. Our initial idea was to focus on deforestation in general relating to the Global Goal Number 15 before we realised that a major issue surrounding deforestation was the use of unsustainable palm oil.
As we noticed how there aren’t enough opportunities for human rights education for children and recognize the significance of them in their daily lives and the world, noticeable from the number of children literature about human rights and how many elementary schools don’t offer lessons about this topic, we decided to partner with the Songdo International Children’s Library
Our goal to raise $5,000.00 for a classroom at The Center of Hope in Guatemala in order to tackle the issue of access to education for all has recently been kicked off with the Grade 3 Bake Sale and the Candy Gram sales. Both events combined has started us off with $915.00, which is higher than we originally anticipated! Through both events, we have now identified to the Ridley community that we are in need of funds to help provide a new classroom for children in Guatemala that wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to go to school.
Our project, Apno Gaon 2018 (translation for ‘Our Village’), was a celebration of United Nations Day. We identified a community of 11 village schools surrounding our own and aimed to create a greater awareness for the Sustainable Development Gaols in their localities. We are trying to tackle the issues of ignorance towards basic hygiene, conflict-resolution and the lack of opportunities for locals to implement the SDGs.