Contact
iEARN Centre For
Education And Technology
Flat 1, National Stadium Hostel
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Phone: 00232-76-654282
Fax: 00232-22-224439
info@iearnsierraleone.org

United Nations Annual Exhibit, "Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World"

Mr. Andrew Greene of iEARN Sierra Leone was featured in this UN exhibit in 2004 and was privileged to view it in 2005.

This exhibit illustrates the importance of building a culture of peace at all levels and across geographical lines. The exhibit highlights the work of a dozen people famous for their role in conflict resolution, while showcasing the essays and artwork of children who are destined to inherit this task. Click here to see the entire 2005 exhibit.

Drawing submitted by Garrett, courtesy of of www.bullying.org.

  If you are someone working on the issue of bullying who has already developed resources, programs and expertise about the issues relating to bullying and teasing, please visit www.bullying.org to share your information through the "Helpful Resources" section of the website. It is important to let others know that they can go for help or support through www.bullying.org.

Bullying (www.bullying.org)

iEARN Sierra Leone co-participated in the www.bullying.org tele-collaborative project which deals with the issue of bullying at school. This was a collaborative attempt to address the issues of bullying and teasing.

In the spring of 1999, one week after two students went on a deadly rampage at a high school in Colorado, a similar attack struck Taber, Alberta Canada. A 14-year-old boy opened fire inside W.R. Myers High School. One student was killed, another was wounded. Within hours after the shooting, stories began to emerge of the relentless bullying the accused had previously endured. As a result, iEARN Canada's Coordinator, Bill Belsey registered the domain name http://www.bullying.org and asked others if they wanted to contribute submissions which would be published on the website in order to help others around the world deal with bullying and teasing.

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'Educating on Peace and Reconciliation after a Decade of War'

This website, entitled http://peacereconcile.virtualactivism.net, is a tele-collaborative project between iEARN Sierra Leone and Virtual Activism USA. Our efforts through this site have been earned us second prize at the 2003 ChildNet Awards in the not-for-profit category. Please visit our photo gallery to see photos of the awards ceremony.

The goal is for students to interact and share ideas about peace and try to explore their talents in various forms on the theme of peace and reconciliation.

We hope to fully implement the peace and reconciliation programme in schools and communities in order to educate the youth, and in so doing, drastically reduce the rate of conflict within schools. We predict that conflict will drop substantially as children are more empowered to use their artistic talents to educate their peers, parents, and communities about peace. We also predict that school and community leaders will become more effective in transmitting the skills and knowledge required for the non-violent resolution of conflict, and that individuals will be encouraged to integrate what they have learned into their daily professional and personal lives.

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Award for Film: "My last hope"

My last hope is a film done with help from WH Day school.

The 2003 New Media movie entitled 'My Last Hope' illustrates how young people of war-torn countries such as Sierra Leone face enormous challenges of healing from trauma related to war, HIV/AIDS, and unemployment. To these young people, education through information technology and new media is their last hope and iEARN Sierra Leone has braced itself to offer these possibilities.

A shortlisted winner in the 2003 Listen Up project 'Beyond Borders,' the team of young film makers are now moving forward to utilizing the video camera to produce short stories of how they grapple with fear and build security around that fear.

The Hague Intl' Model UN Conference (THIMUN) exists "to uphold the ideals of the United Nations Among The Young," involves youth in making the United Nations "effective and responsive to the needs of the people worldwide." - KOFI ANAN, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE U.N.

On January 28th, 2004, Andrew Benson Greene, Jr. (iEARN SL's National Coordinator) had the honor to be summoned as a Guest Speaker to the 36th session of The Hague International Model UN by the THIMUN Foundation. The overall theme of the THIMUN conference this year was ‘Information, A Power for Change.'

Greene spoke amongst several renowned speakers including Lucie de Lophem of UNHCR, The Hague. His speech was entitled ‘The Question of the Promotion and Protection of The Rights of Children’, with particular focus on children in areas of armed conflicts. Like previous speeches and workshops delivered in Beijing, Capetown, Moscow, UK, Geneva, etc., he shared his native country Sierra Leone’s tragedy of its children being torn and tattered apart from family and friends through recurrent acts of violence emanating from the civil war.

Greene made mention of the far-reaching effects of physical and emotional scars left on the more than 300,000 children due to warfare. He emphasized the extent of human barbarism of children’s hands being hacked by the sheer brutality of a rebel group in Sierra Leone. Greene also suggested that to assure human rights, the global community must constantly express support and solidarity to the children of the world who are caught up in wars, and that they must be prepared to help the children in any possible way. In turn, the children and youth will be inclined to raise awareness of the need to protect children’s rights on a global level, thereby building a solid foundation for peace and human rights.

Andrew Greene on the importance of THIMUN:

"When I first heard several years ago about The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN), I was not quite convinced of the impact such a simulation could make to the UN and humanity as a whole. My thoughts were that merely having young people brainstorm issues of the UN at such a conference, when decisions at the UN are made by their seniors, rendered the exercise ludicrous. But my perceptions have since changed as I realized that THIMUN delegates were youth who could do more than merely brainstorm, but who also have the verve to put their thoughts into concrete action upon returning to their respective countries. More often than not, the resolutions taken at THIMUN are constructive and presented in the form of an action paper that can be unitized by UN organizations."

My Hero Helps Spread Messages of Peace

MY HERO is a partner of iEARN Sierra Leone helping to spread the message of the Childsoldier.org Project and supporting the growth and development of the iEARN Youth Center in Sierra Leone.

Thanks to MY HERO, the center will have temporary internet connection to facilitate a collaborative project for iEARN SL youths.

Members of iEARN Sierra Leone have been featured on The MY HERO Project web site. MY HERO is proud to share the stories and art work of the members of iEARN Sierra Leone with teachers and children in schools around the world. Andrew Greene, Jr. is featured as a Teacher and Peacemaker Hero .

The ART WORK of Tormusa Koroma of Sierra Leone is featured on MY HERO.

The ART WORK of Sheku A. Turay of Sierra Leone is featured on MY HERO.

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Although the stories told by the children in www.childsoldiers.org are agonising, they are true and authentic, and not tainted by the lens of mass media journalism. Through their compelling artwork, drawings and music, our youth are bringing the seriousness of the issue to the international community through the Internet.

Commendation for Child Soldiers Project

www.childsoldiers.org is an ongoing tele-collaboration project between iEARN SL and iEARN Canada. It is a multimedia showcase of essays, images and music that tells of the human toll of our civil war -- a showcase all created with the contributions of students and youth.

This project has touched the hearts of many people. The UN's Office of Displaced Persons in New York is considering it as a potential model for use in four additional parts of the world that have been affected by war: Uganda, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Palestine. This focus on the human rights of children used in armed conflict was the subject of a national broadcast in Canada. In much the same way, our collaborative efforts have won us laurels. We have been commended by the UK based 2002 'Cable And Wireless ChildNet Awards' in the not-for-profit category. http://www.childnetacademy.org.

  The www.childsoldiers.org tele-collaborative project has moved into a new, wider and equally contemporary phase, the 'Peace and Reconciliation stage.' The website for this new stage has been awarded 2nd prize by the 2003 'Cable and Wireless ChildNet Awards' - you can visit it at http://peacereconcile.virtualactivism.net.

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