Be the Change: at Northumberland Park Community School, Tottenham

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Journey to Justice was invited to run a session with students at NPCS in Tottenham as part of their Be the Change Day which aims to inspire and motivate students to make a difference through volunteering.

We talked about our work so far: in Leyton, the travelling exhibition, Newcastle and more and we discussed the factors which make human rights campaigns successful (or not) and asked them to describe issues they care about most. Their concerns include: equal education for girls world-wide; eradicate discrimination; homelessness; the need for peace and respect (‘don’t insult each other’, ‘be more positive’); more family time.

The young people outlined how being a volunteer can help achieve change and the range of skills needed. Then they worked in small groups; focused on helping plan our London launch of the travelling exhibition for 2016. The themes were: fundraising; PR & Communications and the line-up itself.

Feedback to the whole group was fantastic! Detailed, enthusiastic, thoughtful and invaluable. Happily for us, many students signed up to volunteer with JtoJ. It was a brilliant morning full of quality questions and responses. In their evaluations, students said:

‘I really enjoyed the class. I didn’t want to come because I thought it was going to be boring but I really learned things and understand that it’s in my hands and the hands of all people to make a difference. We just need to join together.’ (Ruth)

‘My favourite part of the day was when we planned next year’s show in London.’ (Kaan)

‘The part that I liked was when we were sharing things about our world that we would like to change.’ (Marianna)

‘I really enjoyed it when my group had to present our ideas for the launch.’ (Ryan)

‘I really enjoyed everything. I thought our session was well planned and there was nothing to improve. Everyone got involved and it was a fun experience I won’t forget.’ (Ketura)

Thank you very much staff and students of Northumberland Park Community School