Vow of Silence

On Friday, November 20, 2009, 7AG took the vow of silence to create awareness about child labour. Our inspiration was Craig Keillburger. We did not use any electrical devices or speak for half a day. Many schools around Canada participated in this event to try and stop, or at least lower the amount of child labour across the globe. We made many signs and posters to show our school what we were trying to do, and many were inspired by our perseverance in keeping silent. It was very hard, but we came through in the end for the children who cannot help themselves.

Vow of Silence

For most of us, it’s the same routine everyday: wake up, go to school, come home, homework. But for other kids your age around the world, some of them aren’t as fortunate as us. For example, In Africa or India: rather than going to school, they go to work in coal mines to help support their families. If they’re lucky, they’ll get $1.25 a day without getting abused by their employers but for others…they might not be so lucky. The children will also be exposed to deadly chemicals which can effect their health dramatically.

To help create awareness of children’s rights, our class decided to accept a challenge called The Vow of Silence. The Vow of Silence was created to help create awareness about the children who aren’t as fortunate as us. The object of the Vow of Silence is to not talk for a whole day and limit communication as much as possible. We did this to help us understand what it felt like to not have a say in this world. The Vow of Silence took place inside our classroom, and even continued outdoors during recess. During these periods, we still did not speak.

Next year, take the Vow of Silence and hopefully, you willcreate some kind of insight on the children who work under the harsh conditions and put a stop to it.

For more information see the following websites:

www.metowe.com

www.freethechildren.com

Haiti

In Haiti there was a earthquake that was around 7.o. The earthquake was very devastating to the Haitians, and both Canada and the United states of America. Many were killed, or left homeless with no food and in many cases separated from their families.

As a school, we all feel it is very important for us to do something about what has took place. We feel, we are very fortunate, so therefore, we should do what’s right. The student council came together and discussed the topic. We brainstormed many ideas, and decided that we would do a coin drive, and then a celebration for everybody’s hard work on Friday, by wearing hats. We called this Hats for Haiti. The coin drive was held from the 18th to 22th and it was very successful, as we raised $5000-$6000 in total. Also, since the government doubles any donation, we really raised $11000. We did the coin drive through the red cross. We are very pleased with the results.

We thank everyone who participated in this generous act and we are very proud that we were able to accomplish this. We hope our donations will contribute to this devastating event.

For more information see:

www.freerice.com