The Opportunity of International Day of the Girl

Posted on October 18, 2012 by admin

One of the fundamental principles at LCC is equality: equality in terms of opportunity for all students, and of course, especially between girls and boys. We want each student to have an equal voice and capacity to discover and develop personal potential.

Unfortunately, gender equality is not practiced around the world. So much so, that on October 11^th, the United Nations launched the very first International Day of the Girl. It was an effort to recognize that gender divisions do exist, but in a positive way celebrate, discuss and advance girls and their potential. On this inaugural occasion, there was a particular emphasis on the need for basic universal education, which in some cultures is often denied to girls.

It was notable that around the same time as the first International Day of the Girl, a dreadful event occurred in Pakistan that highlighted the need for such a global campaign: the shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai. She’s a Pakistani teenager – a student who has openly advocated on an Internet blog for the rights of girls to be educated in Pakistan and other countries. Shockingly, she was viciously shot in broad daylight last week as she returned home from school. The shooter was a member of the radical Taliban extremist group seeking to stop Malala and other like-minded girls from going to school and speaking out. The shooting has caused global outrage and reminds us that there is much work to be done.

Beyond this abominable reality, consider a few of the issues faced by girls in our world:

Annually millions of girls are required to leave school after only a few years and forced to move into a lifetime of domestic chores with no more education made available to them.

It is estimated that today some 70 million girls under the age of 18 – and as young as 8 or 9 – have been forced into marriages where they have little say about anything, and these girls are often victims of domestic violence. Statistics show that 25,000 girls become child-brides every single day. One in nine girls between 10 and 14 years old has been forced into marriage. Child-brides are often bought, sold and discarded at the whims of men.

Often, girls and women in many developing countries have limited access to work and a fair wage, not to mention little or no legal rights to inherit property or wealth.

Issues affecting girls are not an exclusive matter of developing countries. Studies show that in United States more than a half of all rapes of females happen before age 18. One in five high school girls in the USA has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.

On this front the voices of Canadian girls and boys really matter. They can be advocates and should consider ways to speak out to increase global awareness. It is possible to better girls’ lives, allow them to reach their full potential and raise the level of development and engagement in the most challenged communities in the world.

Melinda and Bill Gates are co-chairs of the Gates Foundation, which funds health and anti-poverty projects in developing countries. On the occasion of the inaugural International Day of the Girl, Melinda Gates tweeted “A girl’s potential is explosive – the sky isn’t even the limit – so pass it on.”

Please do so. – Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Round Square: Conquering Fears

Posted on October 17, 2012 by admin

Our conference in Denmark was entitled, “Exploring Heights” and on the fifth day of the conference we woke up at 6:30 am as usual, to catch the bus to “Kragerup Gods,” Denmark’s first and only high ropes adventure course. Once we arrived we were split into two groups. Those in the first group were the first to start the high ropes course while the second group had to wait one hour so that there wouldn’t be too big of a line. Since I was in the second group, we crossed the street to what looked like an old barn from the outside. But to my surprise once the big barn doors opened we were shocked to see a human sized foosball table and an archery station. Easy enough to say we were well amused for that hour playing several soccer games with our arms harnessed on a long pole. While I was busy playing human sized foosball with some of the German students Maxwell had got a bull’s-eye in archery.

Once the hour had passed and it was our time to take on the high ropes course we were all excited. After everyone had been harnessed we were taken though a quick demo of how to safely go about the high ropes course. I had already done something similar to this in Tremblant so I considered myself ready to take it on. There were four different adventure courses, all with different levels of intensity, green, blue, dark blue and red. Green being the easiest we all had to start there. A German boy and I were the first to give it a go. At first it was pretty easy but once we were all the way up to dark blue I started to get nervous. The German boy I was with, Moritz, didn’t seem to mind the height. Once it was lunch break, Moritz and I manned the BBQ’s and made everyone’s burgers and sausages. The lunch break was well needed but we still had the red course to do!

Half way through one of the sections in the red course I hit a wall. At over 40 feet above ground, I felt I could no longer push myself to beat this course. But then I remembered something my dad always says, “mind over matter.” If it were the same course but only 10 ft. off the ground it would be a piece of cake. So I overcame my fears and finished as much as I could with the time I had.

In all it was a great day. Not only did I become good friends with Moritz, but I had also challenged myself and found a way to conquer my fears. I had literally “explored the heights.”– Charles Laframboise ’13

Round Square: Elephant Whispers

Posted on October 11, 2012 by admin

The very last day of our pre-conference tour took us to Elephant Whispers, a sanctuary for elephants. What an amazing and unique experience! How many times in your life will you be able to interact so intimately with the largest land animals on the planet? After listening to the handler’s explanation on all things elephant and some cheesy, overused jokes, we went to touch the elephants. Full of prickly sensor hairs, they were rough to the touch. Their trunks were cool too, albeit nearly impossible to keep still when they know there’s food around (they can smell tens of thousands of times better than we can). We actually got to ride them too, a bumpy but unforgettable experience.

The elephants are still wild animals and are free to roam across the 3000-hectare property as they wish. They have only been trained through positive reinforcement (perform a task=food reward), and their intelligence has allowed them to learn over 150 commands without much difficulty.

Elephants are such magnificent animals. So much raw power, but they can still pick up a twig on the ground with tremendous dexterity and precision. They have a very gentle nature to them, but don’t mistake them for wimps; they will attack when threatened. Family is incredibly important to them too. A pack will actually take care of its sick and even mourn the death of lost loved-ones. And it’s not just a myth; elephants do have incredible memories and are notorious for holding grudges for decades. Oh yeah, did you know that elephants are right or left-handed? Who knew? — Zachary Dionisopoulos ’13

Round Square: Service Day at Primary Schools

Posted on October 11, 2012 by admin

On the second day of the conference, we headed out in small groups to spend the morning at primary schools. Arriving at the schools, we were greeted with smiling faces and warm hugs. We spent an hour with individual groups of ten children cutting out pictures from magazines and creating personal artwork for them to bring home. The boys enjoyed gluing pictures of motorbikes, while the girls had a blast adding glitter to the cutouts of dresses and models they had stuck onto their bags. It was great seeing their smiles as they held up their own unique pieces of art.

Once the classes were clean, we celebrated our visit with games, dances, and songs. There was a feeling of nostalgia as we sang the words to songs like “London Bridge” and played “Simon Says.” The children were fascinated by our cameras and asked us for group pictures. They were so excited to see their faces on a screen.

The memorable events of the morning were sadly coming to an end as the students from the primary school sang a few of their favorite songs from their culture. Hugs and kisses were offered when we said our last goodbyes. We felt a sense of community and warmth from the children and their smiles and affection. Although we did not leave having given a large sum of money or supplies to the schools, we look back on our visit with hope that the feeling was mutual.

That night, the Jump! Foundation led two hours of icebreakers and personal development activities. Not only did this allow us to meet a range of new people but it also taught us respect for other cultures and opinions. Those who were courageous stood up and voiced their points of view; their confidence was praised with a loud cheer by the delegates screaming “ROCKSTAR!”

The impact of the days memorable activities were recognized at the end of the trip, as almost all of us marked this day as one of the trip’s high points. — Sabrina Aberman ’13

Round Square: A Global Experience

Posted on October 11, 2012 by admin

September 29

Tonight we visited the Blue Moon cafe. Sitting on a hill facing the stage, we ate, chatted with some of our new friends, and heard from local artists. The musicians, many of them alumni or even students of our host school, played a mix of their own music (in a South African style) and songs we knew and could sing along to. We also had the experience of looking up at the South African night sky, free of light pollution. This enabled us to see all of the stars in their full glory – there are, after all, different constellations in the Southern Hemisphere.

So far, I believe I can speak for all of us when I say we are having a blast. We’ve all made friends from the four corners of the globe, listened to speakers on a range of topics on the theme of coexistence, and participated in a range of adventure and service-based activities. Personally, my baraza group (a sort of discussion group) includes two Canadians, a Bermudian, three South Africans, a Brit and two Indians. Our speakers have included an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, a motivational speaker and the first African to climb the Seven Summits (he has also made an unassisted trek to the South Pole). We also had an “adventure day,” where we participated in our chosen adventures and made even more new friends, since we weren’t in our barazas or our school groups.

We have had amazing sessions with the Jump! Foundation, a group which encourages participation in leadership. In one activity, our right hand became our “heart,” and our left, our “sword.” The objective of the game was simply to survive. By the second round, we learned to band together in groups of 2-4, and the third round featured people in groups of 30. We eventually learned to follow the objective to the word : there really isn’t a need to kill each other at all to “win” at the game.

We’ve had an amazing time, and Tuesday will definitely be a sad day, as it is the last time we will see many of these people. — Andrew Hamilton ’13