A PUBLICATION OF THE ALBERTA COUNCIL FOR GLOBAL COOPERATION
V O L U M E
AUTUMN 2015
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International learning experience benefits youth The following piece was written by Deanne Savard of Peace River, who was chosen to go to South Africa this summer on ACGC’s Change Your World: Alberta Youth Leadership tour. South Africa seemed like such a faraway place before our trip. It's hard to notice how insulated your world is when you are living it everyday. In northern Alberta, it's especially easy to separate yourself from the rest of the world. The world seems so big, and that somehow makes your problems bigger, too. Especially being a youth, it's difficult to see how your dreams could possibly come true when the world is so full of people who also have dreams - it's a zero-sum game that you can't win. Visiting Hamburg in South Africa with the Keiskamma Canada Foundation and seeing how people flourish under hardships made me
realize how small the world really is. All of the problems that the people in Hamburg face seemed to actually strengthen the community. Everybody felt a personal responsibility to protect the most vulnerable Pictured are Lasha, Reana, Sean, Abdul, and Deanne members in the village. Looking back, it's not that trip, success isn't a zero-sum game people in Hamburg have a stronger to me anymore. The world has moral compass than Canadians do, opened up to me; there are but here these subtleties sometimes innumerable possibilities. Without hide from plain sight. Being an all of these new experiences, I don't outsider in Hamburg, seeing these think I could have believed that I dynamics, and then coming home could have success. Now, though, I changed my perspective. Everybody have never felt this excited about has these morals in common, and so, my future or as motivated to do South Africa isn't such a faraway well. place after all. With a new school year I used to feel afraid of dreaming too approaching, this trip couldn't have big because I didn't want to be come at a better time in my life. embarrassed when I lost. Since the
Teach the World’s Largest Lesson! On September 25th the United Nations will announce the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of goals for the world that aim to make our planet fair, healthy and sustainable by 2030! The SDGs are intended to build upon the expiring Millennium Development Goals, to finish the work that was started and to improve upon the implementation. To help educate about these goals, numerous agencies across the globe have come together to promote The World’s Largest Lesson and ACGC is encouraging teachers in Alberta to join in!
www.tes.com/worldslargestlesson
To participate in this global movement, teachers are encouraged to plan a lesson between September 28th and October 2nd which educates their students about the SDGs, and what they can do to help achieve them. Don’t know where to start? Start with our two-page insert in this newsletter about the SDGs and the campaign, and follow up by visiting ACGC’s website. And don’t forgot to check out the various campaign websites below!
www.globalgoals.org