The Refugee Project: Exhibiting Exile
by Gloria Lin
Kelley Beaverford, the Assistant Professor of Interior Design
at the
University of Manitoba, is working with students of the
Masters of Interior Design Studio One to create a three-dimensional
exhibition experience to shed light on the global refugee crisis.
The project is being done in collaboration with photojournalist Bikem
Ekberzade and the Winnipeg Refugee Education Network (WREN). Ms.
Ekberzade's photography makes statements about the global community
and has been exhibited in galleries across the US, Europe, and the Middle
East, and has been seen in many publications.
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Japanese students participate in letter exchange
by Shi Min Tan
For a typical Japanese high school student, leisure seems like
a luxury because on top of his normal school workload, he still
has to attend cram school (private specialized educational
organizations which help students in a particular type of course,
say entrance exams for foreign schools). Nonetheless, this did
not keep 39 students from Kokawa Senior High School in Wakayama
Prefecture, Japan, from participating in RESPECT's global
letter exchange program.
Initiated by Julie, a Canadian Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) on the
JET program, one 2nd-year class of 39 students has participated thus far
and another 2nd-year group of 40 is waiting for their letters. The
introduction of a letter-exchange program was easily approved by the
principal of the school as both students and teachers alike were surprised
and excited with the prospect of students exchanging letters with African
students. Most of Julie’s students have never traveled out of Japan before
and this was a good opportunity to educate students about a different part
of the world, as well as to remind them that life was neither as easy nor
peaceful in some parts of the world as at home.
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French Letter Exchange
by Jason Miks
The best way of helping young people develop an understanding of distant
countries and cultures is to somehow find a way of bringing these cultures
directly into the classroom.
It is with overcoming this geographical hurdle in mind that RESPECT International
has been developing a letter exchange programme between students in France, and
French speaking refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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French Law Affects Global Letter Exchange
by Sandrine Cortet
Some of the refugee replies received by French students had to be edited before being
given to the students. The letters contained religious references in violation of French
law.
The Jules Ferry laws, enacted as early as the 1880's, established free, secular,
and compulsory schooling for every French child up to the age of twelve; modern French
law makes education compulsory to age sixteen. A teacher who violates the laws risks
being sanctioned.
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