National Conference 2010: Newfoundland high school students connect with Africa

12 January, 2010 @ 12:37

On Friday January 8, the 300 EWB members attending EWB’s National Conference in St. John's helped over 4,000 high school students across the province understand the importance of their daily actions for Africa. EWB challenged these students, ranging from grades 10 – 12, to “think globally and act locally.”

In true form, this is what we call massive outreach – and for 2010 we couldn’t have picked a more engaged and energetic audience. In different schools across the province, thousands of high school students took part in an interactive workshop led by EWB volunteers, listened carefully to the presentations, and asked thoughtful questions. Overall, they walked away excited to learn that they have the power to create change for rural Africans.

“The speakers were charismatic and the information they provided was both compelling and shocking. I can finally understand the different issues.” said one student. Another one noted, “I can finally understand that we are a part of a global community, and that my choices here [in Newfoundland] affect the world outside my own.”

Following the in-class workshop, students watched a live broadcast keynote speech by Shauna Sylvester, Director of Canada’s World, an organization focused on shifting Canada’s role in the world. Along with sharing her extensive experience in development, Sylvester’s speech emphasized the connections and the similarities between people here and people in Africa. For the students, she concretely reinforced the impact that we can have as Canadians on rural communities overseas.

“It really just made me realize how Newfoundland is a cog in a huge global system, and so our actions and decisions have an impact on different circumstances in Africa,” said a high school student after Sylvester’s address.

In a unique technological twist not uncharacteristic of engineers, the event coordinators had questions sent in via text message from students watching all across the province. Over 230 questions were received – so many in fact that Sylvester continued answering questions well after the official event was over.

To get started acting globally, students then participated in the national launch of EWB’s One Million Actions campaign. The campaign is challenging youth across Canada to take steps both big and small to change the world we live in. Among others, actions include buying fair trade products, sharing your learning, or even making your voice heard by the Canadian government regarding foreign policy.

And this is exactly what happened. At the end of the event, each student sent a post card to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to take action to improve Canada’s role in Africa. So far, almost 5,000 actions have been taken – and still counting.

This year, we used the power of the 2010 National Conference in St. John’s to foster tangible action for Africa. “Conference is generally made up of intentions”, said Chris Mong, Fundraising Team Lead for the National Conference. “And while obviously planning and education are important, while we are all together we should do something – and today we took action.”

To find out more about the One Million Actions campaign, visit: youth.ewb.ca/millionactions