OLMatters

The 2013 Gin Conference provided a unique opportunity for both middle and high school students of OLM to reflect and debate on current global issues with hundreds of students from other American Schools across the country and around South America. Along with their accompanying teachers, students were also able to showcase their achievements and inspire changes while addressing the many pressing problems in the world, such as, poverty, children labor, poor education, waste pollution, ecosystem loss and global warming. Never before had I experienced such dynamic gathering, where participants were so committed to brainstorming solutions and creating action plans for sustainable practices.

 

Professional lectures broadened delegates’ horizons while highly interactive students’ sessions boosted additional motivation- the perfect combination to trigger the pursuit of a better world and consequent personal fulfilment for being part of those engaged to make a difference. Amongst the most inspiring keynote speakers, John Liu and Iain Duncan stood out in both environmental and social fields. Mr. Liu has concentrated on ecological film making in several ecosystems over 70 countries. What’s more, he uses television to deliver ecological awareness, sustainable development and public health messages. His lecture took us back to the very early days of our planet’s origin, life creation and evolution, through our reckless exploitation of nature’s resources, and finally, raising understanding of its consequences. In this way, he empowered his audience to collaborate locally, regionally and globally so as to create sustainable solutions for current matters.

 

In my view, Mr. Duncan represented the major driving force among the young participants by sharing his own life experience as a volunteer and the history of  what he so called the “faces of change”, role models to our society. As the director of the “Free the Children” and “Me to We” foundations, Mr. Duncan highly encouraged the students to take part in volunteering work abroad, which consists of helping to lay educational centers for children struck by poverty and, therefore, freeing them from labour. In communities that lack proper housing, sanitation and education, the “Adopt a Village” was an alternative programme for those interested.

 

Throughout the conference, some particular moments- called Film Festivals-were dedicated to present schools' projects through their film “teasers”. While involved by appealing short films, the audience could make up their minds on which workshops they would be attending later on that day. In this way, students and teachers would get familiarized and inspired by proposals in different fields of knowledge brought forward by the various American schools in South America.

 

The American school of Peru, for instance, presented their project entitled “Girl Rising”, developed by students along with the organization Care Peru, with the objective to empower girls to continue studying whilst struggling to avoid pregnancy or being disrespected by their spouses. This school has also displayed projects where students use music as a tool to raise self-confidence in children from poor communities. A school from Bolivia showed their achievements while tackling obesity with elementary schools kids, also located in under privileged places, so as to change their attitudes toward a healthier lifestyle. La Sierra School in Colombia brought a group of very young sympathetic children interested in finding social and environmental solutions for the exploited Valledupar region. This group reached their goal by using a special interaction among the audience. Last but not least, the American school of Quito in Ecuador, the Graded School from São Paulo and the School of Nations from Brasília were enlightening in providing a step-by-step procedures on how to become an environmentally friendly campus with specific information about obstacles and actions plans to implement.

 

Our shining stars Priscilla Alegretti (12th grade), Mariana Paiva (9th grade), Clara Nogueira, Isabella Lopes, Maria Eugênia Januzzi (8th grade), and Juliana Souza (7th grade) were well prepared to present and answer any question related to our project "Ecological Houses". They conducted a series of interactive activities which intrigued and demonstrated their deep knowledge in the subject to an audience of approximately 30 people. We are very proud of their behavior, commitment and effort to make a remarkable debut abroad. You can see their work in http://www.olm-olmatters.com/#!gin-project/c16qt . We are grateful to their parents and the school staff for the support through this successful journey.

 

Attending the Gin conference gave us food for thought and urge to act. We came back with our baggage full of ideas and will to make positive changes in order to become a greener campus and more self-conscious about our role in society. There, we also learned and internalized the word “Minga”, a common term used in the Andes, which means: “getting together to solve a problem that involves the whole community”. From now on, our job is to spread the word and gather as many students in this long path to enhance our future generations.

 

Let’s pledge our commitment to this cause, join us in GIN 2014!

 

Carla Mendes & Elizabeth Freire