Monthly Archives: February 2014
Water Week: An Opportunity for Year 9 Students
Posted by Peter MUIR
Would you like to get involved in something meaningful? What do you know about water?
Due to water borne diseases, one child dies every 21 seconds (a bit like a jumbo jet full of people crashing every 4 hours!!!).
780 million people lack access to clean water. Grim, huh?!
Can you make a difference? The DC Waterweek will coincide with World Water Day – if you are a year 9 student, then sign up to help plan and run our Water week. SIgn up on the googleform that was emailed to you recently. We need enthusiastic people who care.
Positive Alternative Recreation Teambuilding Impact
Posted by Peter MUIR
The Positive Alternative Recreation Teambuilding Impact (PARTI) programme’s mission is to promote youth education around healthy lifestyles and healthy decision-making. Since 2001, they have served over 5,000 high-risk, impacted, and intentional youth in areas in California. On of their projects is the Team All Bullying Ceases in San Jose, California. It is a network of youth and community stakeholders working with ten middle schools and high schools that train youth on activities that address all forms of bullying. The innovative youth-driven initiative will affect over 200 students directly and 10,000 indirectly.
How could you plan and implement something similar to take action on bullying here in Hong Kong?
Zoe Gillies – CAS insipiration
Posted by Peter MUIR
With an initial vision and goal of providing teen girls in her community with prom dresses who could not afford them, Eighteen-year-old Zoe Gillies of Maine, USA, expanded her vision in order to make a bigger impact on her community and a lasting impression on her peers. To do this, she started up the club Cape Closet. Through Cape Closet, 125 girls received prom dresses through various donation drives at schools. Through a partnership with The Maine College of Art, college students donate their time to redesign donated dresses in order to appeal more to current trends and styles. In addition to providing prom dresses to those who are unable to afford the expense, Cape Closet also conducts workshops for middle school girls on topics ranging from media literacy to positive body image. By collaborating with the local middle schools, high school volunteers are able to providing mentorship and serve as positive role models for younger students. Zoe is creating a guide so that other middle and high school students can use her Cape Closet model in their schools.
A great example of a CAS project that aims at equipping middle and high school girls with tools to bolster positive body image and self-esteem!
GYSD Project
Posted by Peter MUIR
What fires you up? What issues do you care about? What would you like to change to make your world better? Explore ideas to help plan your Global Youth Service Day project!
Choose your GYSD project at www.GYSD.org/project_ideas
Shark fin off the menu
Posted by Peter MUIR
WWF has reported that the HK government has dropped shark fin from their official banquet menus, recognizing that this is not a sustainable practice. More and more large corporates are also pledging NOT to serve shark fin soup. To see the companies on this list, click here. Know of a company not yet on the list? Why not organise a petition to get them to change their practices? Click here for some support materials and tips to help you turn your ideas into action.
Hit the road and make a difference!
Posted by Peter MUIR
Here is a message from DB based organisation Life Cycle, whose aim is to help everyday people break the chains of poverty and slavery about an upcoming event. You need to be over 16 to join, and will need to get your parents to sign a waiver. AN easy step to getting involved in a good cause!
When; 10;00am, Saturday the 1st of March,
Where; Meet at the Bobby London Inn, Tai Po (cnr Kwong Fuk Rd and Tung Cheung St). The ride will take you round the scenic areas of the New Territories and bring you back at around 4pm.
ENTRY BY DONATION – 100% of money raised will be forwarded on. (see below for info on the NGOs)
Difficulty getting a bike there? No problem, bikes can be hired at the meeting area for $90 (if it’s difficult to get yours there.)
Here’s who you’ll be helping…
1. Who Will Village – An alternative to orphanages, a school and village set up on 2ha dedicated to the care of disadvantaged and orphaned children and poor Cambodian communities. www.whowill.org
2. The Cambodia Charitable Trust – Breaking the poverty cycle and transforming lives by working with local schools and communities to identify what their priorities are. www.cambodiatrust.org.nz
3. Sala Bai Hotel and Restaurant School – Lowering the risk of trafficking for young disadvantaged Cambodians by providing free training for in hospitality industry.www.salabai.com
4. Hagar International – Restoring wholeness to the lives of women and children that have been torn apart by human rights abuse.www.hagarinternational.org
Global Youth Service Day
Posted by Peter MUIR
Millions of youth, 135 countries – the world changes on Global Youth Service Day. It’s a powerful story of change that grows larger and stronger each April.
Are you still looking for that perfect project? If so, then check out these ideas to help you get started. Have a project prepared? Then, put your project on the GYSD Map!
To support you in your efforts, click here to download the Youth Changing the World Toolkit.
S2S: A 12-hour benefit
Posted by Peter MUIR
Year 12 DC student Boris Choy reports on the upcoming DC event S2S
Consider this coming Saturday 1st March: another lazy Saturday for those without school? Perhaps 12 hours of idleness, 12 hours of inactivity. Enough time to sit mindlessly through a season or two of your favourite television series. Or perhaps long enough to change your lifestyle. Perhaps long enough to do something worthwhile for yourself and for others.
Saturday 1st March offers you an opportunity to get active – both physically and for the benefit of the community. From Sunrise to Sunset, you could be, along with 6 to 24 of your closest friends and family, relishing the challenge of competing for only your personal goals.
An un-timed and friendly event open to all, Sunrise to Sunset (S2S) allows for participants to run when they wish and at whatever pace they wish. It proposes that runners in a team take it in turns to run as many laps as they can of a 1.35 km course before passing on the role to the next runner, and so on.
Not only can you reap the satisfaction of giving your body a good workout, but sponsorship money generated from each team goes towards supporting the Chung King Mansions Refugee Service Centre. These proceeds go towards providing asylum seekers with basic needs, food, and employment.
With Flow Yoga sessions and Discovery Bay’s premier DJs, “Psyke” to energise you in between laps, and not least a barbecue to draw the event to a close, Sunset to Sunrise is definitely worth giving up a lazy Saturday.
The organising committee – a small group of senior students at Discovery College – look forward to you getting involved. Team registration is HKD 300 per team going towards administration costs covering vests, water, race pack, and food. For more information and to register, go to http://www.discovery.edu.hk/s2s/index.php
CAS Project idea #2
Posted by Peter MUIR
Copied below are details of an event orgnaised by World Vision – the Reveal Realities Photo Contest. Planning and implementing a competition/event such as this would be a great CAS project – think about revealing the inequality that is reality here in Hong Kong…
This February 20 – the World Day of Social Justice – we (World Vision) are launching the “Reveal Realities” Photo Contest to reveal the realities of inequality in our communities and across the Americas.
This contest will challenge young people across the Americas to share what inequality looks like through their lens. The top photos will be used to advocate government leaders and the general public on issues of inequality and child exploitation, abuse, and neglect. We will do this through a Photography Exhibit that will tour the Americas and an Advocacy Calendar that will be given to government leaders.
DP CAS Project idea
Posted by Peter MUIR
The following details from Feeding Hong Kong gives details of an event that they are holding, one that provides a good example of what could be considered a CAS project.
Feeding Hong Kong launches the city’s first ever Pancake Day Race and would like to invite you to join us!
For the first time ever, Feeding Hong Kong, in partnership with Clifford Chance, is bringing the Pancake Day Race to Hong Kong! The event will take place on Tuesday March 4, 2014 at The University of Hong Kong campus in Pokfulam.
Day falls on Tuesday March 4. In the UK, Pancake Day is traditionally celebrated by eating pancakes and running in pancake races.
This is the first race of its kind in Hong Kong. The aim is for the Pancake Day Race to become an annual fundraiser for
Feeding Hong Kong, as well as a fun way to cement relationships with our supporters.
In this madcap relay race, teams of five participants will don aprons, grab frying pans and then compete to toss their pancakes
while completing the course. The event will consist of a knockout tournament, ending in a grand final, after which the winning team will take the coveted Fastest Tossers Trophy. There will be additional prizes for Best Tossing Technique, Best Dressed Tosser and Most Entertaining Tosser. Fancy dress is not just allowed it is encouraged!
In keeping with Feeding Hong Kong’s mission of reducing the volume of food waste going to landfill, there will be onsite compost bins, for all non-eaten pancakes. This compost will then be worked back into the grounds at The University of Hong Kong, via their edible garden, ensuring zero waste.
