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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 19, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| September 1, 2004 |
Building Global Citizens – Global Kids
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| Global Kids delegation members Kareem, Michelle, Elidaysi, Marcus and David |
Accompanying Peace Boat from Dover to Belfast, members of the New York based youth organization Global
Kids came onboard to share with Peace Boat their work on developing alternative forms of education,
leadership skills, and raising awareness among young people to grow into better global citizens. The
delegation was made up of Global Kids trainers Michelle Luc and David Velasquez and Global Kids Elidaysi
Morisette, Kareem Simon and Marcus Cruz. |
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| Michele singing onboard |
Michelle Luc, Associate Director of Training for Global Kids, believes youth empowerment is key to
building youth leadership and ending conflict among young people. "I think that people often
times want equality - in theory - but they don't necessarily want it at what it really costs. It means
sharing power. Adults don't necessarily believe in sharing power with young people, so youth empowerment
means - as an adult - being able to give up some of your power and control and entrusting in young
people to do with it what they will." |
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| David standing at a "Peace Wall" in Belfast |
Global Kids began in 1993, and in the last year Global Kids reached approximately 9000 youth and adults
through its school-based and after school programs, special projects and development training. According
to David Velasquez, a Senior Trainer for Global Kids from Brooklyn, Global Kids "...focuses on
preparing our students to become global citizens and community leaders, through interactive workshops.
These workshops challenge them to work in teams and individually, while addressing global and local
issues." |
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| Peace Boat participants in the Global Kids "identity" workshop |
David believes that working in teams challenges students to better their communication skills, listening
skills, and builds up their self-esteem, and allows them to hear opinions which may reinforce their
own mindset or to hear new opinions, which challenges them to think about others' opinions. David
stressed "We are very careful, and feel very strongly, in our workshops to raise issues. But
we always allow students to walk away with their own opinions." |
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| Participants holding string during a workshop exercise |
While onboard Global Kids held several workshops and exercises focused on teambuilding, dealing with
differences in culture, global issues, and becoming global citizens. In one workshop, Global Kids
began an exercise by asking: What is a global citizen? To find the answer, a group of around 40 people
participated in an interactive exercise led by Kareem, a 16 year old from Brooklyn. To begin the exercise
the participants were asked to stand in a circle. Moving around the circle, one participant at a time
called out another participant's name and tossed that person a ball of yarn without letting go. The
catcher of the string was then asked to state one global issue. After a long list was compiled, ranging
from conflicts in the Middle East to global water shortages, participants were left holding what appeared
to be a giant spider web. Kareem used this image to demonstrate to the participants how issues are
all interconnected and emphasized how the workshop was designed to show what a global citizens is,
by showing us how important it is for people to see we are all connected to these issues. |
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| Michele holds up drawing of a "global citizen" |
To David these workshops are just one way to develop broader education styles in New York's school
systems. Many of the schools where David works have very high drop-out rates and David works hard
with the schools to reduce this through new forms of education. He said one of his goals is to spread
new teaching strategies to educators, while engaging students in interactive ways of learning.
Michele also works tirelessly to find new ways to engage students in today's issues. She believes
her own journey and background as a person gives her a unique perspective as a trainer for the program. "When
I became a trainer, I knew very little about foreign affairs, or about foreign policy. But I was lucky
enough to fall into this, and as a result have forced myself to learn much more about world affairs
and different cultures." Now she continues to find ways to make these issues accessible to young
people. "I think it's an asset coming from this background because it helps me to put myself
in the mind of a young person, or someone who may know nothing about foreign affairs, and break it
down in way that they can understand it." |
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| Elidaysi facilitating a workshop |
So how has the program benefited some of the Global Kids? According to Elidaysi, a 16 year old from
Manhattan: "I was able to see that I was capable of doing much, much, more than I thought I was
capable of. I was really motivated by this, and as my time proceeded with Global Kids, I began to
work in workshops where I had to facilitate. I became a much better public speaker where as before
I was very shy, and intimidated very easily. Global Kids showed me qualities that I had within me,
but that I had never expressed to others. I learned how to motive others, and how to expose people
to new ideas." |
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| Marcus sitting in the Peace Boat theatre |
Marcus also feels that Global Kids has developed his leadership skills. "It has given me the
chance to meet other people, to interact with them, and to learn about their culture and beliefs.
In terms of building confidence Marcus said, "When you're facilitating a workshop, you have
to work with crowds of 50 or more people, it definitely helps to build confidence." |
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| Kareem before the final workshop |
For Kareem, "It's the best education now, to promote society. The more kids know, the more
it promotes the future. Now I'm heading to Northern Ireland, I wouldn't have done this on my own,
it's one of those once in a lifetime opportunities." |
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David also wanted to emphasize that the work of this Global Kids delegation will not end after they
depart from Peace Boat in Belfast. "The experience doesn't end here. When we leave Peace Boat
the students will be asked to do several workshops to share their experience and the knowledge that
they've gained. So when we leave, their journey doesn't end." |
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