Pupils tackle social issues in GINergy weekend workshop

This weekend pupils visit the Cleanco women's labour camp to spend quality time with the school's support staff

ABU DHABI // Lamia Makkar and her fellow pupil Brittany know that behind every uniform of the cleaners at their school is a mother, a sister, a daughter and a friend.

So as they walk through the corridors they greet the women and ask how they are doing.

The pupils at American Community School share a special bond with their cleaning staff, many of whom have worked there for years.

On Friday, just as they did about this time last year, they packed into a bus and headed to the Cleanco women’s labour camp to spend quality time with the support staff.

There was a catered dinner, paid for by the pupils, and a dance party.

“We care about them, and we want to spend time with them and give them that experience of you’re not alone and we want to help you and be with you and have fun,” said Brittany, 18, an American studying at the Abu Dhabi school.

The visits help the pupils see the workers in a new light, said Lamia, 15.

“They go from being invisible to, ‘Hey, I understand’,” said Lamia, a French-Egyptian.

“And all of a sudden you’re saying ‘hi’ in the hallway and ‘how are you?’ You’re starting conversations and you become more aware and understanding, and that connection’s just built and it keeps building.”

The labour camp visit was part of an annual weekend-long Global Issues Network-inspired event organised by the pupils to teach their peers leadership and skills needed to tackle social problems in their own neighbourhood.

About 70 pupils in Grades 6 to 12 from American Community School, American School of Dubai and Wellington International School are taking part in GINergy Weekend, as the event is called.

The pupils break into five global action networking groups, or Gangs, to focus on issues such as the environment, labour and workers’ issues, women and gender inequality, refugee support, and poverty and education.

The groups will spend two days devising an action plan to raise awareness about these problems or help to solve them.

They will also hear presentations from social activists such as Frank Cohn, the Canadian founder of the group Global Potential.

“Taking small steps and making drops in the bucket are what we need to do to solve these issues,” said Mr Cohn. “They’re putting it in a framework of this is a massive, convoluted, ongoing challenge that we are being a part of.

“If we put it in a framework of how can we begin the habit of being a part of solving this challenge, I think that’s really where the answer lies. I think what we have here with this conference is young leaders developing that habit.”

The conference opened on Thursday night with a Hunger Banquet. Guests were be given a ticket telling them where to take their seats.

A small percentage of the attendants were offered a place at an elegant table where they were served a large portion.

But most diners were seated on the floor where they were given a small portion of food and no utensils.

“We’re doing it so that the people who are sitting on the floor represent the poor majority of the population who don’t ever get extra food. And we want them to leave feeling the injustice of it,” says Brittany.