Students Spread Message of Love

Our students took the lead during Peace Week (19-23 September) to commemorate World Peace Day (21 September). Some of the older students took the lead in conducting a wide variety of activities for each year level ranging from debate to poetry writing to meditation, culminating in a beautiful Peace Concert on Wednesday evening. Members of the Peace Week Team share their experiences from the week with us:

Messages of peace written on doves displayed around the Peace Banda What is Peace to me?

"Peace is a freedom; a freedom from hate, unkindness and conflict within ourselves and with those who surround us. For some of us, peace is a luxury. The choices we make in all spheres of our lives influence peace in the world - we are the initiators of peace." Samara Nassor (DP1)

"Peace to me means inner happiness and I would say that [working with] the Year 6s let me experience that peace. Seeing them coloring and writing those beautiful creative words about peace, the involvement and time that they put in, the gorgeous wide smiles they gave me after coloring those doves –  I couldn’t compare it to anything. I felt a sense of satisfaction that I actually made someone smile, that I was doing something productive and beneficial; serving my own community." Anzhela Mirzoeva (Year 10)

"The vision of peace goes way beyond the absence of war or conflict, extending to the ability to live in harmony with the people around us and respecting their views." Inaara Gangji (DP2) 

'Peace' written in different languages What were the activities we organized?

"My group, which consisted of Anisha, Kashish and Denise, and I were working with Year 7s. We were looking at peace through social media. We started a hashtag that was #mediashoutspeace. We encouraged the Year 7s to post pictures on any social media and caption the hashtag. It was interesting to see the different ways people perceived peace in just a picture." Joy Abuto (Year 10)

"We wanted to, through the creation of a poem, show the Year 9s that different personalities and individuals can create something creative and proper. Our goal was to have each of the different Year 9 mentor groups write a small 3 to 5-line poem, and my partner Justice and I compiled a coherent poem from the submissions about peace." Ishaan Alidina (Year 10)

DP1 meditation session on mindfulness led by DP2 students, using chocolate as a focus"The meditation session with the DP1s was based on mindfully making the world a better place, learning to love themselves first and then spreading the love to others in order to achieve peace...The meditation process itself was done using a chocolate bar where they had to consciously eat the chocolate and think about everything it went through before getting to them –  the people who made it, those who collected the cocoa beans and how that one chocolate bar had gone through a whole process before being delivered to them." Zarina Mamadbekova (DP 2)

"Random Acts of Kindness...highlighted the good deeds we do in our daily lives and how these are also a form of spreading peace. Students wrote about one good deed from a friend on a slip of paper which will be displayed around the school." Inaara Gangji (DP2) 

Members of the choir performing at the Peace Concert What was it like being part of the Peace Week Team?

"This year's Peace Week was very interesting due to the fact that it was student-led. We had various activities that enabled us to express our different views on peace. Our class was very involved and many of us had activities where we led other grades." Joy Abuto (Year 10)

"The experience of being part of the organization of this week was humbling because I got the opportunity to encourage people to spread love and happiness in our diverse school community, which is essential for us to work and live together, both here in school or when we go out into the wider world." Inaara Gangji (DP2)