Plenary, 24 Oct 2007
Meeting date: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Official Report
473KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. Our time for reflection leader today is Claire Martin from Holyrood secondary school in Glasgow.
Claire Martin (Holyrood Secondary School, Glasgow):
Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to lead today's time for reflection—it is a great honour.
As a pupil of a faith-based school, I feel that a continual development of faith alongside learning has made me more aware of the ever-shrinking world around me. At a meeting of our school fair-trade group, we decided that we wanted to run a project to improve the lives of young people our age who lacked the opportunities that we had been able to receive through our education—an education that we often take for granted. It was then that the idea of a backpack appeal was put forward. In partnership with the charity Scottish International Relief, we ran a pupil-led appeal for school pupils in Malawi in which we asked for old school bags with simple everyday objects such as pens, pencils, a T-shirt and a spoon.
The appeal was more successful than any of us thought it would be: 2,006 bags were sent to Malawi, with the transport costs of more than £2,000 covered. As a result, 2,006 children in Malawi were provided with the tools for learning and the tools to end poverty.
Later in the year, we received a film of the children getting their bags. However, while watching the film, I wondered, "Why aren't we all happy too? Why aren't we all clapping and smiling as they are?" The reason was that the reality of everyday life in Malawi had hit us. In the background, there were buildings without windows, doors or paint. There were classes of more than 140 pupils with only one teacher and no desks, no chairs and no books. The film showed us not the completion of our project, but merely the beginning of it. Reflecting on a task can be important but, as I am sure Parliament has found, it is even more important to look forward.
In June next year, 22 pupils from Holyrood secondary school will travel to Malawi to work alongside a community and build two classrooms to provide a sheltered and properly equipped area for pupils to learn in. Within our learning community, we hope to raise in excess of £50,000 so that, as well as begin that project, we can provide facilities for special educational needs pupils and work as part of the Mary's meals project, which currently feeds more than 200,000 children in Malawi at a cost of only £5.30 a year each.
I now wish to read a small quotation from Mother Teresa, who put into words the motivation for our continuing project:
"Love is not patronising and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same—with charity you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead."
In reflecting on those words, I wish to say what I said at the launch of our backpack appeal last May: education is a human right, and we here today—and I, along with the other young people of Scotland—must fight for it. We must fight for those who do not have a voice, and do our bit to make poverty history.