Schools Across Borders

Two weeks ago, we had a talk with Darren Irvine, the founder of "Schools Across Borders" about the work he does with students in areas of conflict. Darren has worked with students all over the world. He helps young people to connect with their peers, both locally and internationally,to help work for a more just, equal and peaceful world. 

We are taking part in a project they are running called Global Citizens Network 2013-2014. This is a network of schools in Ireland and it also includes other schools around the world. There are two main stages to this program the Research Stage and the Campaign Stage.  We will be learning from each other and discussing different key themes in the world. 

Our class has started the Research Stage. During this each school group shall research, reflect and debate key local-global themes. We have been coming up with a theme that we will be researching. First of all we put our ideas forward and we wrote the top 7 ideas on sheets of paper. We got into groups and went around the classroom writing down what we know and what we would like to know about each theme. In the end everyone agreed with the overarching question that we came up. It is: "Is the world child friendly?".

We will be getting into groups and researching the life of children all over the world from different points of view like education, gender, conflict, etc.. In the end we will answer the question from all these aspects of a child's life, discovering where in our world is the most child friendly.  When we have finished this we plan on developing a “mini-NGO” type campaign.

You can find out more at http://www.schoolsacrossborders.org/

Ellie's TY so far

Wow! Where to begin? Since the beginning of TY the amount of things we have all got involved with is huge.
From going away to Carlingford, having numerous workshops and information talks from organisations like Schools Across Borders and Color Me Beautiful and so many more. Social development days, to Pilates and CPR classes, to various projects in class subjects and taking part in the W factor- our school talent show.

We also got to go into Dublin for an Irish trip. Can't forget our amazing work experience week, when we got the opportunity to work in a place of our choice.

In my opinion so far, TY has been a whirl wind of experience and we have gotten to do so many fun things! We have been able to get involved, work and gain experience in different things other than just basic school activities and of course got the chance to get to know lots of new people and make new friends! :)

Ellie

Schools Across Borders

On the 16th of November, we had a talk with Darren Irvine, the founder of “Schools Across Borders” about the work he does with students in areas of conflict. Darren has worked with Protestant and Catholic students in Northern Ireland and in the Republic in order to help the young people make a change by helping them to realize how similar they are.

Darren has also been working with Israeli and Palestinian teenagers which we discussed during his visit. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict began in 1948 when the State of Israel was established and Palestinians were forced to move into small areas of land in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The conflict in Israel and Palestinians was started during World War 2 when Jewish people fleeing from Hitler and his persecution, took over the area, sending Palestinians away. Since this event, there has been a conflict between the two communities. Palestinians feel angry that they are being confined to small areas of land and that they are not being acknowledged as a country. The Israelis feel they rightfully own the land. However on both sides, there are many people who want peace.

There is an incredible amount of injustices and lack of human rights in this area. Israelis are under conscription meaning that all people over 18 must join the army which takes away all other job opportunities. The Palestinians rights are being violated by having their houses searched daily by armed Israeli soldiers and being
arrested for no other reason than being a “bad influence”.

The entire day was a real eye opener for me and made all of us think about how many people suffer in the world and how very lucky we are. I was very moved by the stories of families whose lives had been torn apart and the entire experience made me want to help. We were delighted that we would get the chance to communicate with
Israeli and Palestinian students through the “Schools Across Borders” programme as it was a chance to help other young people and by working with each other to make very worthwhile difference.


We're all having an amazing time in TY, every week it gets better :D

See the work of SAB at http://www.schoolsacrossborders.org/

Louise GM

Development Education workshops

On the 30th of November we all hopped on a bus to Maynooth but we nearly had to postpone the trip because of the terrible floods that occurred the night before. In the end we got to NUI Maynooth.

For the workshops we got split into 3 groups and put into different rooms for different talks. The first talk we got was about HIV and AIDS. Two women from Uganda and Tanzania came to talk about the dangers of the disease and how to prevent it.

The 2nd talk was about all the problems in the world today like drought, famine, inequality and disease.

The 3rd talk was by Darren Irvine from Schools Across Borders which we have already heard from. He talked about the conflict on Palestine and Israel.

The day was organised by Self Help Africa and the Combat Diseases of Poverty Consortium, NUIM. It was very beneficial. Thanks to Patsy Toland, Self Help Africa, and Joe Clowry, CDPC, for organising it.

Nicolle