Students Enjoy Global Celebration Day
January 19, 2012
Filed under Top Stories
Educational, inspiring, amazing and fun are all adjectives used to describe Wednesday’s Global Celebration Day Jan. 18.
All students saw a spirited performance by Spirit of Uganda, the performing arm of Empower African Children, a non-profit organization which has successfully partnered with Africa’s vulnerable children over the last 15 years. Maddie B. ’15 said the performance was the best she had ever seen.
“Their performance was amazing,” said Rachel E.’13. “The performers are so talented and excited to be up on the stage. They must feel so proud to be representing their home,” she added.
Another highlight was hearing speaker Sarah Culberson, author of A Princess Found and the bi-racial daughter of a West Virginian woman and an African tribal chief from Sierra Leone. Ms. Culberson, adopted by white parents when just a baby, spoke of her search to find her biological father (her biological mother is deceased). The search led her to Sierra Leone and the realization of her desire to help the people of this war torn country which later welcomed her as their long-lost daughter.
“Sarah taught me to always go after what I want in life. Even if people tell you no, that your dream is stupid or that you can’t accomplish it, go for it anyway and don’t care about what other people think,” said Tuesday W. ’15 when commenting on what she learned from the speaker’s determination to significantly aid Sierra Leone.
A recess period, honoring UA’s relationship with South America, featured free time for yoga, salsa dancing, photo exhibits, student travel information and a chalk drawing for the UA Community Mural, “Local & Global, What I Love,” in the FFC Courtyard.
Also included during “recess” was a book signing by Ms. Culberson and a Global Market where girls could buy African jewelry, Uwezo Shoes and rugs handmade by Sudanese Refugees along with soap and origami boxes.
“I bought a beautiful multicolored bead bracelet. I also bought some of that amazing smelling soap,” Christina P. ’15 said.
Bead for Life, who provided the majority of jewelry for sale, is a non-profit which promotes sale of jewelry and soaps made by African women in hopes of leading themselves and their families out of poverty . Soap Hope, a manufacturer of scented soaps and other bath and beauty products also sold, invests 100% of its profits every year into anti-poverty non-profits. These organizations use the funds to issue business loans to women in poverty, training them how to start and run their own small businesses.
Additionally, girls chose to attend a presentation from a variety of opportunities. Clairemarie B. ’15 enjoyed hearing the delegation who went to Wimbledon describe their trip
“They were able to describe their trip effectively without leaving out important details or including any boring details,” she said. Olivia A. ‘13 is planning to pull out the salsa routine she learned at the session she attended at future school dances.
Currently, two delegations of students are visiting Ursuline from sister schools in Chile and Peru. Each presented a session. “I attended the presentation by the delegation from Peru in the morning,” said Courtney N. ’14. “The girls spoke great English and gave a lot of good information, ” she said. Katy C. ’14 said she really enjoyed both delegations’ presentations.
“It was cool to learn about girls’ lives in other countries, and really made me want to travel,” she said.
Other students’ spoke of the harsher realities encountered during presentations. “Seeing all the devastation in Uganda, makes me want to go and help there. By the end of the day, I really wanted to go on a mission trip to Uganda,” said Christina P. ’15.
“The workshops were life changing; they made me feel like a jerk because I have so much and these innocent children have nothing. It really inspired me to help,” said Maddie B. ‘15
Toward this end, Rachel E. ’13 praised the Soap Hope presentation. “The speaker told us that when we are deciding what we want to do with our future, we should all work toward solving a big issue because each of us can do something,” she said. She also found his explanation of micro financing to be quite interesting.
Ultimately, all girls kept returning to the Spirit of Uganda group and its impact on the day. “The Spirit of Uganda was fantastic,” summed up Katy C. ’14. “They have so much love for dancing and hope for their future and education. These kids have lived hard lives, and it’s amazing that they have been able to recover from that and become amazing performers. I was inspired by these children and young adults, and definitely want to see them again,” she said.
Global Celebration Day alternates each year with Global Issues Day. Ms. Cecilia Nipp, Dean of Diversity and Global Education and the coordinator of this event, said,” I am thrilled with the enthusiasm that our students displayed and am encouraged by all the positive feedback about our presenters and special guests. It was a marvelous day, and we are already looking forward to Global Issues Day next year.”
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