Social Justice conference 2013 reflections
Day 1:
Monday morning opened bright and early although having
breakfast a bit later meant more sleep, which helped me concentrate and focus
whole-heartedly on the beginning of amazing conference. We sat in the Bradenstoke
hall, listening to a passionate speaker talk about what her idea of social
justice was and how important it is in the world. I found her talk inspiring
however, due to the fact that I am a teenager after the first 45 minutes I was
quite twitchy and wanted to get up and stretch. After a quick break I was again
ready to take part in activities, which were run by our second years. I loved
this activity especially the poem we had to run about where we were from; it
really allowed a deeper insight into my co-years and their views of their
countries and cultures.
The day finished with an amazing speaker who captured
everyone’s attention, which was important as he was talking about internet
safety and about how important to be careful on the internet especially putting
photos up. I thought it was a really good way to end
Day 2:
Tuesday started off again with a lovely breakfast and then
meeting in the glass room. Firstly I love the glass room, it has an amazing
atmosphere and it was much more interesting then just sitting in the usual
hall.
The activity that we did was called “Open spaces” and it was
so incredible. It started off with 26 people in the audience raising an issue
to the everyone and then writing down to be placed on the wall under a letter.
I raised the issue of “How humans
actions impact largely on the environment” it was really interesting and I lead
a discussion with 6 people about the environmental impacts in their own
countries and then we discussed what is the main cause of humans continuing
their actions and what sort of actions we, the world, could take to save the
destruction of the environment. I found the discussion really enlightening.
Although I wish that more people had joined as it made me realize how people
sometimes forget the environment over human causes.
After a quick break we came back and another round of issues
and discussions commenced, I really loved going to a discussion and
experiencing everyone’s views on feminism. It was really interesting especially
as I am from a family of very strong women and so hearing different ideas of
what everyone that it actually was, really opened my eyes.
I thought the activity was amazing because we were able to
learn from one another rather then being talked to by one speaker. The session
ended on a beautiful yet honest realization that although many people have good
ideas only very few people actually act on them.
The afternoon started with a presentation from a speaker
from “Save the Children” which was very inspiring to hear from and I thought it
was a very good introduction into how much work running a charity is.
The day ended with a very emotional discussion with Selena
who was one of the main speakers of the conference. We sat in a circle and
discussed how being able to be ourselves in social justice and how so many
people don’t have the rights to free speech. I felt that this was one of my
favourite parts of the conference and it allowed me to connect with more of my
co-years.
Day 3: House presentations
Gwynedd: My house did our presentation on self-immolation in
Tibet; this was a personal issue because one of the girls in our house is from
Tibet and her uncle self immolated in order to protest for the rights of the
Tibetan people. Learning about this issue was very interesting and raised my
awareness of how much of the world is oblivious to the voices of the people in
need. I thought our presentation was really powerful and the stop motion video
made by 2 very talented people in my house has now been put on YoutTube and is
being used nationally to show people the unvoiced protesters of Tibet. I am so
proud of my house and even though we didn’t win we made an impact by raising
awareness.
The other houses:
Morganwwg did a chilling presentation on organ trafficking
and how people are kidnapped and kept in order for their organs to be sold to
the highest bidder on the black market.
PK did their presentation on children beggars in Bangladesh,
their presentation held the audience and ended up winning using an emotional
and interactive way to grab the audiences attention.
Powys gave a shocking and informative presentation on female
infanticide with a professional looking video that captured people attentions
and allowed the topic to stay an important issue in our minds.
Tice did their presentation on the issue of whistle
blowers’. this is a controversial issue and I thought it was very well
presented and brought to everyone’s attention how important to issue is.
Sunley gave a stunning and powerful performance on the
importance of women’s education. It was presented without PowerPoint and was
based around the experience of Shazia who along with her two friends, one of
them being Malala, where shot on their home from school as they were protesting
against the Taliban’s dislike of women being educated. The personal account of
her story sent chills across the hall. Definitely makes you think about how
lucky those who live in equal countries are.
I thought that the house presentations were an incredible and
an amazing way to finish the conference.
Link to stop motion video on Tibet, its amazing! Please spread the message:
