Schools ‘Did
the G8 Listen to Me?’
6th FORM CONFERENCE
On 31st October 2006, Street
Child Africa organised
an innovative Schools Conference
which drew in cross party political
support, development experts and
academics together with the charity's
patron, TV presenter and comic actor
- Tony Robinson. Hilary
Benn, Secretary of State for International
Development, addressed
a full house of 200 sixth form students
from all over the country at the
City of London School for Girls
in the Barbican, London. Also addressing
the young delegates was Andrew
Mitchell MP, Shadow
Secretary of State for International
Development.
Jossy
Sitoe chats to Secretary of State
Hilary Benn
Here's
some of the feedback we've had:
“The
conference gave us lots of information
and it really brought home the
subject of street children - it
was not just another item on the
news. I would say that the whole
day was eye-opening and emotional
and made me realise that in the
west, we make assumptions about
what poverty is – mainly
about material things, but these
children wanted an education,
family and friends.” Emily Kent, sixth form
student, King Edmund School, Ashingdon,
Essex
"The
organisation was really, really
good and our students took in
a lot
over the day. On the way back
we started talking re how to get
the message across to others (sixth
formers and lower school) to be
able
to get a bigger group involved
and organize carol singing
etc." Miss Bernadette Sammut
Briffa, School Chaplain, Ursuline
High School, Wimbledon
Professor David Simon, Professor of
Developmental Geography, Royal Holloway,
University of London introduced
the students to the complex problems
facing modern Africa, whilst Christopher
Mulenga, Executive Secretary
of ‘Friends of the Street Children’
explained the challenges of helping
street children in Zambia. Students
learned about the problems of living
on the streets in Africa from the
first hand experience of Jossy
Sitoe, an ex-street child
from Mozambique. Motivated delegates
were given guidance on effective lobbying
by Susan Kramer MP, Liberal
Spokesman for International Development
and Sadiq Khan MP,
Labour MP for Tooting.
Students
finding their seminars
"Please
may I offer my thanks on behalf
of my pupils for yesterday's conference.
It was so
well organised and enlightening
- myself and my pupils were incredibly
inspired and we are meeting on
Friday to organise carol
singing
in our town centre." Karen Lonsdale, Teacher,
Epsom & Ewell High School,
West Ewell, Surrey
This
conference is the first in a series
of conferences that Street Child Africa
is planning and is part of a programme
that we are developing for working
in partnership with schools to support
street children in Africa. We can
lead classes, seminars and assemblies
linked to curriculum delivery particularly
in citizenship and geography, supported
by relevant resources.
For information about our 2007
conference, or our in-schools programme,
please contact: Jacqui Hegarty on
0208 972 9820 or volunteer2@streetchildafrica.org.uk.
‘Singin’
on the streets for kids on the streets’
during the Christmas period, schools
took to the streets to raise money
for street children. They raised
an amazing £2600.00!
