Self-help Africa

As part of the millennium development goals which we are studying in religion, today we attended a Self-help Africa workshop in the parish centre in Carlow.
CBS in Carlow and the Clane school were also there. After a brief introduction, we were divided into groups to attend 3 out of 4 workshops. They organised the groups in such a way that there was at least a few students from each school in every team.
The first workshop I attended aimed at making us more aware of the worldwide problem of HIV & Aids. I suppose the thing that stood out to me the most in this workshop was that although Ireland has one of the lowest percentages of HIV & Aids sufferers, the amount that we do have is still incredibly high & the risk of infection so great.
Next we moved on to a talk about Lesotho, a small landlocked country in South Africa. Jim Kirwan spoke about his experiences during his two-year stay there, where he was a teacher for local pupils. Some of the stories he told us & the pictures he presented really opened my eyes to the hardships faced in these developing countries. It was interesting to hear that people as old as 22 were completing their junior cert & were so eager to learn! Another thing that struck me was the level of racism in this country...although apartheid was made illegal in 1994, there still is a sense of discrimination evident today.
To finish up, after lunch, we went to our final workshop of the day which was centered around conflict resolution, using Israel & Palestine as examples of countries where this seems to be an immense problem. First we were told about why conflict exists between the two countries & told about why the different flags cause such disturbance...even using the Irish & British flag as an example. We were also told about the work that they do over in Israel & Palestine...ie, developing connections with teenagers. The man giving the presentation showed us some clips of Israelites & Palestinians talking...it was truly moving to hear what they've been through at such a young age.