Our NGO: Mount Temple Youth Action Project

       As a part of the Schools Across Borders program, we were asked to form our own NGO. An NGO is a Non-Governmental Organisation which means we get no funding from the State. Below is our list of staff and their roles in our NGO.

Chair People: Tariq Awad
                   : Hazel English

Treasurer: Lucy Hattaway

Secretaries: Lydia McCann
                 : Aifric Prior- Beliere

Press Officers: Lochlann Atack                           
                            : Hazel Doyle
                     : Amy- May O'Shea
                     : Ciara Shevlin

        Next we had to decide on what our logo would be for our NGO and as a class, we discussed what kind of things we thought it should represent and the things it would need aesthetically. 

 

We chose this logo as we felt it represented what we wanted for our NGO: to raise awareness of global citizenship and inform others of the troubles worldwide. 

                         
                           

     

Making Awareness Day Posters

       We've been preparing for the Awareness Day that we will hold for 2nd Years after Easter. Some of our class have been making posters for the awareness day. 

Making our "YAP" poster.

We also worked on the surveys as well as posters about Israel and Palestine.

We made a timeline of the Palestine and Israel conflict.

Making Awareness Day Posters

We've been preparing for the Awareness Day that we will hold for 1st and 2nd Years after Easter. Some of our class have been making posters.

Palestine

2 weeks ago,Fatin Al Tamimi ,who is part of the Palestinian community living in Ireland,came to speak to our class about Palestine and the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Fatin told us that the European Jewish colonization of Palestine began about a century ago and in 1948,the state of Israel was formed. That year,750,000 Palestinian refugees were removed from former Palestinian territories. 

As of 2010,there were 7.1 million Palestinian refugees. 6.6 million of whom are living outside of the occupied Palestinian territories. Often, 3 generations of Palestinian families are refugees. An area in the occupied territories called the West Bank has some refugees camps. Fatin told us about her own family, her parents live in Jordan and she holds a Jordanian passport. However,her sister lives in the Gaza Strip with her Palestinian husband. Fatin has never met her nieces and nephews who cannot get a passport because they are Palestinian and it is extremely difficult for her sister,who also holds a Jordanian passport, to travel to and from the Gaza Strip.

We also spoke to Akef, who was born in Ireland to Palestinian parents. He spoke about what it was like for Palestinian children and teenagers growing up in the occupied Palestinian territories.

This is a video that Akef,shared with us:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js-m5DdG1kA

It shows the difficult journey that Palestinian children have to do to go to school


We all found Fatin's visit very interesting

Bosnian Survey

Our class wrote a survey which we sent to students in Bosnia. We didn't know much about Bosnia except that there was some kind of conflict there during the 90's . In the survey, we asked questions about school in Bosnia and asked what they know about Ireland.

 Mount Temple Comprehensive Schools Across Borders Questionnaire

Q1. What age were you when you started school?

We started school when we were 6 years old.

Q2. What age will you be when you finish school?

We will be 19.

Q3. What types of subjects and exams are you doing?

We are coming from different schools so it is different for us.

Q4. What facilities does your school have?

We have cabinets, space for PE, reading room, kitchen, art studio, radio.

Q5. How do you get to and from school? How long does it take?

Luka, Nemanja, Milica: we use a bus

Mladen: On the bike

Ivana and Ena: by foot

Q6. What job/s would you be interested in doing after school?

Milica: to work in Library

Luka: some interesting internship

Ena and Nemanja: volunteering

Ivana: cooking and I go to school of foreign languages

Q7. What type of music do you listen to?

Ivana: Irish, traditional music

Luka and Milica: everything

Nemanja: everything but metal music

Ena: Indy rock

Mladen: jazz, blues

 Q8. What social networking sites do you use?

Facebook, twiter, youtube, google +, tumblr

Q9. What sports do you play?

Nemanja: football

Ena: pilates, aerobic

Mladen: fencing/sword play

Q10. Do you ever hear about Ireland in the media? What impression has it given you?

We learn about it in school, it looks green and beautiful. Also we hear about in media but not too often.

Q11. What impression do you think the media put out about your country? Would you like to change this impression?

People still think here is war, that there are no roads, that we are separatist, I general people have very negative picture.

Q12. How are teenagers viewed in your country?

“Children without a clue”, “We should only go to school”

Q13. Do you feel women and men have equal rights in your country?

Situation could be better, but it is moving in that direction. 

Update on Russian/ Crimean Crisis

This is a recent news bulletin from Vice News detailing the current conflict in the Crimean Peninsula. Vice provides regular and accurate updates via their YouTube channel on a number of current political and ethnic conflicts around the world such as Venezuela.

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