Friday saw the first We Day UK event at Wembley Arena in London. 12,000 students were awarded tickets after they made their pledges for local and global action this academic year. Among those were 14 students from my own school, who have pledged to fundraise for a global charity this year as well as bank volunteering hours for the most vulnerable in our local community. Like all the other students at Wembley on Friday, they will have benefitted greatly from the inspirational people, acts and other activists they saw.
All the speakers, singers, actors, sportspeople, etc. were brilliant for this one day event. Malala Yousafzai, Martine Wright, Spencer West et al. all had amazing stories to tell, and there is no substitute for hearing the words straight from the horses mouth. It is so easy today to be apathetic about terrible events like 7/7 for instance, going on in the news. Joaquin Phoenix' character in Hotel Rwanda summed it up well when he said that people watch terrible things happening throughout the world, vaguely think about them for a moment, and then carry on eating their cereal.
Emphasis was placed throughout on the fact that people don't have to be special to make a change. Prince Harry was right when he said that it just takes one act from each person to make the world a better place. This struck a chord with my students, who rightly feel empowered to take on the challenge of a local and global project from now until July.
I hope their energy and enthusiasm carries them through the challenge ahead. Good luck to all my students on their two projects!
http://www.weday.com/we-day-events/we-day-cities/we-day-uk/
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