Fairtrade and Amnesty Campaigning

Arthur and Harry, aged 14-15, from Dover Grammar School for Boys are both active and dedicated campaigners. Harry has been campaigning for Fair-trade awareness since 2008 and Arthur has been involved with Amnesty and campaigning for human rights since 2006. Arthur’s years of campaigning for Amnesty have helped to raise more than £1,500 for the cause, he regularly plans and delivers workshops on human rights for his peers and primary school students and he is a member of the national Amnesty Youth Advisory Group. Harry is a certified fair-trade supplier and runs stalls in his teachers lounge and in the Dover magistrates court and he is a member of the Dover fair-trade steering committee. Everything he sells he purchases with his own money and he distributes leaflets for people to purchase items throughout Ashford and Dover. Like Arthur, he has also planned and delivered workshops on what fair-trade means to raise awareness. Both of the boys are passionate about their causes and are keen to continue to raise awareness and make a difference, even after they leave school to attend university.

Getting my voice heard

Sam*, age 17, is a young campaigner who is HIV positive and working to support and mentor younger individuals who are also ‘positive’. He has taken part in the Teen Spirit programme at Body & Soul, a charity that provides support services for individuals and families, for the last 6 years. Without even trying, has become an inspiration to his peers and the volunteers and support workers he’s met because even at the age of 12, he would go out of his way to comfort younger kids in the programme. Sam has planned and delivered workshops for his peers and health care workers on difficult subjects like deciding whether to disclose their positive status to friends. Because Sam knows what it’s like, he can provide support and comfort to his peers in a way no volunteer can. And though he has chosen to keep his own status a secret to protect his privacy and lead a normal life, Sam has found a way to speak out in the hopes that in the future, young people like himself won’t have to deal with the stigma of HIV. Read Sam’s story

Happy Hands

Braden, Ellen, Eleanor, Jocelyn, Joseph, Clare, Cameron, Paul and Eddie, age 13-17, from Morpeth are Happy Hands. Last year during ‘Learn to Sign Week’ Braden offered a free lunchtime lesson for people to learn the small bit of British Sign Language (BSL) he knew. The group of students enjoyed it so much they wanted to continue, and with the support of Mr. Benson, a teacher who has a deaf son and knows some BSL, they were able to continue. The group now meets every week at lunchtime to practice what they know and learn new words. Everything they’re learning will lead to an eventual level 1 qualification in sign language. The group continues to grow and members have found they’ve been able to use their skills to speak to deaf relatives, have started working with primary school children to teach them basic signs and one member even volunteered at a school for the deaf in Uganda and is working to create a link between the two schools so they can explore the differences in sign language throughout the world.  The group plans to continue and hopes the club will become a permanent option for students in years to come.

Anti-Homophobic Peer Mentoring

Danny, age 17, from Birmingham has spent the last year training peer mentors in issues specific to young people who may be lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). Following a two-day training he attended with Stonewall, Danny began running workshops for peer-mentors in local schools to equip them with the information and awareness to support LGB students and individuals who have experienced homophobic bullying, despite their orientation. The workshops were so popular, he was asked to give a presentation for the Mentoring and Befriending foundation where he discovered that there were lots of schools who wanted to be able to offer this kind of support, but didn’t know where to start. Danny has since planned 8 weeks of PSHE lessons to run in his old school in the hopes that by raising awareness, the school will be a more supportive place for younger LGB students. Danny is passionate about the cause and knows he will continue to raise awareness throughout his life, whether it’s part of his job, or something he does on the side. In the meantime, he plans to continue to offer the training so more students; teachers and youth workers are aware and able to support LGB youth.