After years of fundraising and awareness-raising events, 45 students of St. Vital School were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend We Day 2011 in Winnipeg.
We Day is a day-long event held in arenas in several cities across Canada since 2009. It is intended to raise awareness of global issues including poverty, child soldiers and global food insecurity and inspire those attending to make a change in the world.
The event typically has a large slate of celebrity guests, including politicians, musicians, religious leaders, actors and activists.
This year's Winnipeg event featured former Prime Minister Paul Martin, Rick Hansen, a friend of Terry Fox's and fundraiser for spinal cord injuries, actress and activist Mia Farrow, along with a wide variety of others, including a number of musical guests. The event also had an appearance by Michael Chikwanine, a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which those in attendance considered especially moving.
Attendance at We Day is free, but tickets are given out to schools that have shown an effort to improve the world in some way. In the case of St. Vital, this was done by a series of projects that raised thousands of dollars for both local and international organizations.
In their first year of fundraising, they raised $2000, and by their third year they were able to raise $2,800. The money was raised through a variety of projects, including straightforward candy sales and "Welcome to Poverty," a tour of the school in which students acted out a variety of poverty-based roles.
The money raised was split evenly between a school in Ecuador and the local food bank, in keeping with the school's commitment to programs that helped children.
For all of their fundraising efforts, the school was given a Big Dreamers award from Free the Children, the NGO that organizes We Day. The award took the form of a $500 donation from one of Free the Children's sponsors for the school that St. Vital sponsors in Ecuador, but they also received 55 tickets to the We Day event in Winnipeg.
Once the school had received invitations, they rented a bus and drove to Winnipeg. The students, chaperones, and teachers slept on the gymnasium floor of a local school. Nevertheless, the event turned out to be well worth the difficult journey.
The students explained how the event had inspired them and led them to organize events in the school. They were also shown how, while their fundraising efforts may not have created a large amount of money, they did make a difference in people's lives.
"It kind of opened people's eyes about child labour and what's happening in other parts of the world. And it showed that no matter how small you are, you can still make a difference," one student explained.
After returning to the school, the students, inspired by the testimony of a former child soldier, organized a "Day of Silence" that over 50 students took part in. For the day, these students were silent to raise awareness of all those children who had been silenced by poverty, child labour, war, or other issues.
