Our Action Project

Lets Fight Back. "Dont wait for the goverment to make a difference. Make the difference yourselves."
-Jeremy Gilley-

7^{th grade} global issues classes made a dance for peace with Mrs.Palko and we presented it at an assembly. I thought a lot went well in the assembly. For example no one messed up in the dance. Unfortunately as well as things there were going right there were thing that were going wrong. A lot of people were pressured which made them forget their lines and the communication between the auience and the dancers wasn’t perfect. I think we did ok, because the two things I said weren’t that bad as the dance that we had to learn. The best part is that everyone learned from their mistakes and took it in consideration. My personal contribution to the action project is I will come in at Tuesday lunch and help people make commitments to peace day. Peace! :D

Sucess on Peace

The 21, September, Peace Day, the day when people join hands and work together. Our school decided that we want to contribute to peace. We decided that on the 21st we would raise money for peace.

The grade 7 global issues classes said they would forfeit their lunch time from 11:10-12:00 on Peace day. Peace day was on a Tuesday. On this day we accomplished may things, some of things were selling cookies, face painting, Making commitments, taking photos and many more. Many people said the game on the blue top was the best. It was a water balloon game, they loved it because they got the opportunity to splash Sandy Mathur, Stephen Watkins and Leo Rusch with water balloons.

I was very joyful to day because everybody else was to, they shared there happiness with me. In the 40 minutes of our action project was running it was mainly placed in room 254.(Mrs.Psillides) The atmosphere in this room was very delightful. You could experience the 5 senses in this room. You could taste those scrumptious cookies, You could hear those vibrant and excited voices, you could smell the dripping paint from the boiling water, you could see peoples welcoming smiles and finally you could touch these smooth computers to make a commitment.

The results of this 40 minute project were massive, we changed many peoples view of peace. We also were able to raise 611RM. (184 dollars) This money will go to our teacher racing team which we will make t-shirts for when they go to Cambodia. This teacher team will raise thousands of dollars by running and they will sent to people in need. Specifically the team will send it to people who were wounded by land mines and orphan children who have AIDS.

I am very Proud of our school for putting so much effort in this project especially the teachers. As Tenzin Gyatso once said"If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for one another.

Peace-A Fight for Survival

The One Day. One Goal. Soccer Campaign

Celebrate peace with oneanother.

Let it grow and be a part of you

that you will never let go.

Jeremy Gilley is a documentary filmmaker who established the first ever Peace Day. He grew up in a place with anger and full of violence; he never understood why we humans can't get along with one another. The more he noticed this, he knew what he had to do. The more hate and violence he saw, the more frustrated he got with not being able to change anything. In July 1998 he committed himself to make a film about peace. Only then he realized there was no day of peace, there was nothing that united the world. Jeremy decided he was going to do whatever it takes to make peace, and ventured across the planet meeting people like Mary Robinson, the Dalai Lama and Kofi Annan.

On September 7, 2001 the Costa Rica Government suggested Jeremy Gilley’s plan at the UN Assembly . The decision was that 21 September was to be PEACE DAY. Peace day was observed to be a global ceasefire day and which everyone is caring for one another.
Peace links with development very well because if we have a day of global cease fire and nonviolence you could transport supplies to warzones that would normally be impossible to reach. In Afghanistan 1.4 million children were immunised on peace day last year. The Taliban said that they wouldn't shoot any aid movers and they handed in their weapons. I thought this was a magnificent idea so now they can get even more children vaccinated and they can hand out more bed nets to protect children from Malaria.

There are open costs and hidden cost of war. The most well-known open cost of war is when the military uses money on weapons and gunpowder. We should put effort into changing these costs from bad to good. Some hidden costs are in struggling countries which are mostly poor and have a wat going on. Some hidden costs are that most people must leave and fight including farmers and worker. . Without these people there crops grow bad and their kettle dies which all leads to starvation and sickness. Children at the age of 8+ leave for war because their families aren’t able to feed them but the army will. Also if everyone leaves there is no-one to support you and to protect you. The next hidden cost is directed at children, in countries with wars going on children see violence and death every day and it becomes a part of their life and they become much influenced. So when they would move they would always use physical solutions to their problems and since they weren’t educated they wouldn’t how to make a mental solution. Also people can never live a happy day because they don’t know where the next bomb or bullet is coming from. There are also some costs that I have explained before. Humanitarians can't bring food to the people who need when there is violence going on in that area. Eventually many people turn ill and their immune systems get destroyed and then they die.

In over 100 countries Peace day is now being celebrated, so do whatever you can to help. Some people organise football matches. The UN has started a campaign called “One day, One Goal” which helps people. In over 180 countries soccer games are being held for peace.

In conclusion Jeremy Gilley wished for a equal world and his summary in one sentence. It is "If we want to move from a culture of war to a culture of peace then we are going to have to unite and the 21st of September is that starting point”.

What is Global Issues and Why should I Care?

Global issues is important because we evaluate global problems. For example, in some countries plastic bags are now illegal. If people litter and throw plastic irresponsibly, an animal could come and eat it. Animals die when they choke on plastic. It takes a ridiculously long time to break down and who kbnows what happens when we eat meat that has plastic in it? In Malaysia you have to pay 20 sen extra for a plastic bag. It takes 500 years for one plastic bag to decay, there is a pretty big difference between 20 sen and 500 years. The price is not righht.

Global issues also means a lot to me because I think it is extremely tragic that in Africa children die each day from malaria. This is a preventable disease, people just need a bed net to protect themselves from mozzies. I am very proud of my dad because he went to Africa and fought malaria. He visited Central Africa and talked to his co-workers about this issue. His company, Exxon Mobile, wanted to help and so they were investigating ways to save people from this disease.

There are also some other situations that affect people. For example, there are farmers in Africa that trade bananas for five cents, but they are worth one dollar. Big companies are ripping them off. Fair Trading is a big topic in a lot of continents. This is an important global issue.

In many parts of the world people don't have enough safe drinking water. A lot of people die from drinking polluted water. Another natural killer is LBM, otherwise known as diarrhea. Mostly diarrhea kills children since they don't get the right amount of nutrition, and their immune system can’t fight this simple problem.

To conclude, global issues is trying to help people and save them from poverty.