Skype Session with Kamable!

Ideas from the first Skyping session with Kambale!

School is offically over and I totally forgot about this post! I'm such a dork! :P Exams felt brutal......anyways, here's the post! Hope you enjoy it!

So a couple of days ago (quite a long time ago), we did our last Skype session with Kambale, the famous Social Activist. Remember our last skype session in March? If not, I'll fill you in! Kambale Musavuli is a Social Activist for the Congo. He currently lives in New York (I wish I lived there!). I felt like I was talking to a celebrity! He gave us tons of cool facts and ideas of how we can carry out our Social Activism projects. You can read his bio here!

Basically our last Skype Session was wraping our projects and summurizing our goals and successes and presenting them to Kambale. I was extremely happy when he said that he remembered my name! I feel special.........I actually talked the most because I was talking about the blog. I love talking how great the Congo blog succeeded. He asked questions like, "Where did you get your information", "Where did you put the boxes" and stuff like that. I of course answered them with a happy face. I'm so proud of my group!

After the mini presentations from each group, we presented a big cheque for the Congo. I smiled so much when Kambale told us he was touched. I can't remember what he told us exactly but it was along the lines of, "out of all the Social Activism groups I have known, none of them achieved what you achieved". Sorry if I'm wrong but this skyping session was quite a long time ago! I'm really happy when he said that to the class!

In total, the class raised (drumroll please!) $2541.66! If you asked me, thats pretty amazing! :D

The next day, Kambale tweeted about us! Did you read that? About us!!!

kambale ‏@kambale

A campus of 500 students in a city of 5000 people in Canada mobilized to break the silence through 6 student groups in social activism class

22h kambale ‏@kambale

Speaking to students at Wm. E. Hay Composite H.S. today gave me greater hope for Congo. Never seen any school do what they did for Congo.

 

Students at Wm. E. Hay Composite High School shattered the silence around @CongoCrisis+raised funds to support Congolese youth on the ground

I just checked my Social teachers blog and the Friends of the Congo sent an email to her! This is so exciting!! :D :D Also, our class is in the Newspaper!! :D

Hello Ms Shepherd

This is Maurice Carney, the Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. I wanted to thank you personally for the remarkable work that you and your students have done. It is not only encouraging but also inspiring. We are truly touched and grateful. Please let every single student, teacher and others who participated know that they have made a difference. We will feature this great work on our website and in our newsletter. At some point, we would love to arrange for you to speak directly with the youth on the ground via Skype. We can arrange for the youth on the ground to speak first to the key organizers and later to a large gathering at your school to thank you personally for your efforts to support their work on the ground inside the Congo.

Please send us the link to the article once it is published. We will look out for the check in the mail and we look forward to your participation in Congo Week.

Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We look forward to continue building with you and the students.

Maurice Carney

Executive Director

Friends of the Congo

Our last day of Social class was really interesting. Unfortunetaly Mrs. Shepherd couldn't make it to the class because she had to interview teachers for the art position. Sniff.......sniff........my favorite Art teacher is leaving me!!!! T_T That means there won't be a Sign Language club......sigh. :(

Anyways, in Social class, Mrs. Shepherd gave us Fair Trade chocolate (AMAZING!) and Fair Trade Sparkling Juice. > x < It tasted so good I could die! The food was great and it helped people around the world! The chocolate made me so happy! I'm going to miss our social class.......

Have a great summer!! Spread the Word!!!!

Congo Health

I would love to thank all our viewers that have been reading our blog! We have reached 1,000 views! Yay! Thanks so much for spreading the word! I believe we made a difference in the world just by doing this!

 

Today I found out that we soon unfortunately have to wrap up our social activism projects. That kinda makes me sad. I enjoy posting on this blog and I'll admit, I get a bit competitive when it comes to blogging. :P There's still a lot of things to do before we wrap up this project!

 

Spread the Word!

Although Rosanne started this post, I believe she deserves a slice of karma. So I, Jen, am going to finish it for her! Mwahaha.

Two weeks from now is the official deadline for our activism projects (well, according to Mrs. Shepherd that is). But, the glorious thing about a blog is we can leave it unattended, and people will still be able to read all the fabulous information we have posted! And who knows, maybe we will be back once in a while.

To be honest, I have really no idea what Rosanne meant by the title. So I am going to interpret it as the health care available in the Congo.

One of the causes of mortality in the DRC is malnutrition. Unfortunately, this accounts for 11% of total deaths. This is due to ongoing violence preventing the young and weak from adequate nutrtion. This is especially upsetting, because you don't need to be a doctor to know how to "cure" it!

The majority of victims of illness suffer from infectious diseases such as malaria, which is not uncommon in third world countries. Of course, these can be avoided as well as treated under normal circumstances. But unfortunately limited health care hinders this.

According to this source, the mains barriers to access of health care are:

• inadequacy or non-existence of healthcare provision
• patients’ inability to pay for healthcare
• non-availability of quality medication
• lack of supervision and training of medical personnel
• non-payment of health workers’ and officials’ salaries
• geographical inaccessibility and non-existence of the communication structures

needed for the long distances between patients’ homes and the nearest health

centre.


Another need for health care stems from the ongoing violence. Out of an interviewed 986 families, fiftey cases of rape were reported, as well as 72% had admitted that a member of their family was a victim of violence.

Here is a frightening quote I found while I was researching:

Most Congolese people live in absolute poverty on an average of just $0.30 a day. In the rural areas most of the families are vulnerable and sickness or disease are regarded as a tragedy. Just like four years ago, most of the victims are still dying in silence, while the world’s attention is elsewhere.

According to this source, only 20% of the DRC currently has access to health care. The two major reasons are poverty and terrain. Not only do two thirds of the people live on less than $1 a day, but the country is vast and with no paved roads. This doctor goes on to talk about various cases, which is really quite interesting!

I hope as the world becomes increasingly globalized, ordinary people like us will have the ability to make a significant difference in Congolese lives. The first source I read was from the Doctors without Borders program. This has always been a dream of mine, to be able to treat sick children and young people in poor countries. If I worked as a doctor in Canada, I would inevitably be dealing with cases of drunk driving accidents, drug abusers, gang members, and careless accidents. Although these people should not be denied care, I would much rather help people who value their lives much more. Why are we spending so much money on people who throw away their lives and who are likely to repeat the same actions, while so many deaths are caused by a lack of funds for basic health care.

Well that was my rant for the day. I better leave it at that. I hope it gave you some food for thought.

Spread the word!

Music to Empower

Hey, it's Jen here!

This has been a successful weekend for Students for the Congo, that's for sure!

As Rosanne mentioned before, about a month ago we had the chance to have a video conference with real live Congolese youth! We learned that they are also working to educate the world about the Congo! They are using music and dance to bring awareness and to send the message. The organization "Friends of the Congo" is raising money to send recording equipment and other technological advancements to assist them in this project.

Inspired, we decided to take the same idea, and apply it to our own situation. Yesterday, a couple of friends and I (Yay! More Students for the Congo!) set up at the local Art Walk, and busked for donations towards this cause! Along with having posters explaining our group, we also handed out pamphlets letting people know where they could donate and how else they could help.

Although we didn't raise as much money as we had hoped ($31.36.... It's a small town!), we are hoping that we spread the word to many people!

Here are some quotes from our pamphlets!

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." - John Lennon

"A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things." - Barack Obama

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only things that ever has." - Margaret Mead

"We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Elie Wiesel

"We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history" - Sonia Johnson

"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours." - Cesar Chavez

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi


Here is a video of us playing 21 Guns by Green Day. It's only the middle part, my apologies. Oh and if it doesn't play, it's my fault not yours! (I always look so serious while playing piano... -_-)

Spread the Word!