The pupils at Bethany School near Goudhurst are keen to raise awareness and learn more about the effects of poverty, so with this in mind they have meticulously planned and organised an innovative ‘poverty day’.
The Head of School Jamie Hagerty from Hawkhurst said, “As Bethany is a private School those that are lucky enough to attend, find themselves in a much more comfortable position than the majority of people in the world today.
We want to highlight and explore certain themes which are all linked to poverty so we have planned our ‘poverty day’ to bring home the message to both pupils and staff alike. At the same time we will be fundraising to support Barnardo’s, Comic Relief and Battembang Orphanage in Cambodia.”
The themes for the day will be:-
No electricity
- 1.6 billion people worldwide live without electricity. (1)
This means no electric lighting, no electric heating, no electric cookers or appliances, no electronics like computers, TV’s and phones.
To see what this is like, we are going to turn off the electricity within the School for the day. This means the use of lights, laptops, projectors, kettles, and even heating will not be used during the School day. The School will make a £250 donation to the Barnardo’s charity which will be the approximate amount of electricity saved during the day.
Food shortages
- In 2010 there were 925 million hungry people in the world. Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. (2)
- Every year 15 million children die from hunger. The World Health Organisation estimates that one third of the world is well fed, one third is under fed and one third is starving. About 183 million children weigh less than they should for their age. (3)
To bring home this message at lunchtime everyone will draw a raffle ticket, if it ends with a 0 then that person will receive a luxury lunch, the rest will receive a very simple lunch of soup, bread and rice pudding. They will eat from a table but they will have nowhere to sit to reinforce the message that it is a privilege to own furniture. This is to highlight the injustice and inequality in the world.
Charities
There are many charities across the world working to counteract poverty. We have chosen to hold our ‘poverty day’ on the same day as Red Nose Day which is organised by Comic Relief. Their motto is “a just world free from poverty”. This motto sparked our interest in investigating poverty issues.
Our pupils will be given the chance to wear clothes with a camouflage theme and they will donate money to Comic Relief in return. There will be other fun Comic Relief events such as ‘Sponge the Teacher’ which our pupils will pay for and this money will also go to Comic Relief.
The whole School community will also be involved in the ‘Phil’ the Bag scheme. Staff and pupils will be encouraged to fill these bags with their unwanted textiles. These will be collected from School and used by the charity ‘Phil’ the Bag for recycling initiatives.
It is a unique opportunity which helps to demonstrate the significance of textile recycling and re-using on both a local and global scale and provides valuable clothing for people in developing countries whilst enabling the School to donate the money they raise to other charities. For more information see www.philthebag.co.uk
Poverty affects early childhood
- Barnado’s reports that in the UK there are 3.6 million children living in poverty without a single toy.
- Families living in poverty have just £12 per day per person to buy everything they need such as food, heating, toys, clothes, electricity and transport.
It is with this in mind that we have chosen to donate the funds we raise during our Bethany ‘poverty day’ to Barnardo’s.
The £250 electricity saving plus the funds raised by our ‘Phil’ the Bag Scheme, and a donation from the School’s catering company Pabulum will all be sent to Barnardo’s to help support the valuable work they do to lessen the impact of poverty during childhood.
We will also support one overseas charity. A parent of two Bethany pupils has a connection to ‘Hope of the Children Orphanage’ in Battembang, Cambodia. This is an orphanage run by monks with 150 children aged between 2 and 18. We will encourage pupils and staff to bring in unwanted toys, books, games and sports equipment to donate to this orphanage.
The Headmaster, Francie Healy said, “the aim at Bethany School is to prepare pupils for life beyond Bethany, and to furnish them with the life skills and values necessary to take on the challenges of the world today. With this in mind I wholeheartedly supported our Sixth Form when they came to me with this challenging idea!
Our last Independent Schools Inspectorate report said, “Pupils’ personal development is excellent, and they demonstrate strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness, which underpins the whole of their experience of life at Bethany School.
The pupils’ excellent social development is a considerable strength throughout the school and owes much to the way in which members of the community work and play co-operatively and supportively.” Bethany pupils learn the place for tolerance and compassion and I think the Bethany ‘poverty day’ will enhance these skills greatly.