By Constantinos Psillides
TWELVE students from the Pascal English School in Nicosia are trying to raise public awareness on the issue of young girls around the world being denied access to education, by abstaining from food for 30 hours.
The students, ages 16-17, began what organisers described as a “famine event” at 7am on Friday, which will end at 1pm on Saturday.
They were spending Friday night on school premises, under teacher supervision.
A “famine event” is a form of protest initiated by World Vision, a religious non-profit humanitarian organisation. The “30-hour famine event” initially aimed at raising awareness on world hunger but spread as a form of protest.
The students were inspired by the 2013 documentary “Girl Rising”, which told the stories of nine girls around the world, in their struggle to gain access to education.
“As a class we are very active when it comes to charity”, says Maria, one of the students. “When we first saw the documentary we were pretty shocked. We decided to do something about it”.
The students attended a screening of the documentary, which has since evolved into a world-wide movement, and were inspired into raising money to donate to the “Girl Rising” campaign.
“I’m so proud of them”, said one of the teachers, Nektaria Hadjisergi. “When they first started they tried to find sponsors but couldn’t get enough support. Then they proposed to the school board to stage the event but the board was initially hesitant, concerned over the children’s health. The students didn’t give up. They presented their case to the school board again and this time managed to convince them. They didn’t just give up. They saw this though, all the way to the end.”
Asked how the students were planning to raise money by staging a famine event, Hadjisergi responded that was not about money but about raising public awareness on the issue. “And also, about taking a stand and not just give up when things don’t go your way. As many people nowadays tend to do,” she said.
Hadjisergi is one of 11 teachers tasked with supervising the students. The teachers took shifts so there is always someone around she said. Hadjisergi told the Cyprus Mail that the teachers had first-aid training, while the parent of one of the students who happens to be a doctor had been notified and he was on standby.
