Monaco PeaceJam Slam
A group of students from The Mount School, York have been invited to attend a film premiere in Monte Carlo later this month (June 13 and 14), but it’s a film premiere with a difference. Instead of glittering Hollywood A-listers, the ‘Rivers of Hope’ documentary film charts the extraordinary life of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel who put aside a career teaching architecture to campaign for human rights in the face of imprisonment and torture during the brutal Argentinian military rule in the 1970s and 80s. The Rivers of Hope premiere is part of The PeaceJam Foundation’s work with Nobel Laureates to ‘mentor youth to change the world’. The two-day Monaco conference also features workshops, presentations and group reflection to inspire younger generations on social justice issues. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who will also give the keynote address, is no stranger to The Mount, having met another contingent of students from the all-girl Quaker school at a PeaceJam Slam in Bradford in May 2012. The Mount is the UK’s only Quaker school for girls, and the Quakers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1947 in recognition of the movement’s worldwide work for peace, and particularly their relief work during and following the two world wars. Deputy Principal of The Mount, Jo Hayward, who will accompany the students, said ‘This is a great opportunity for the girls to better appreciate the international perspective of their PeaceJam work.’ ‘In previous years, girls chose local projects, such as drawing attention to the plight of York’s homeless community, or running a campaign to encourage the local community to reduce food waste.’ Said Jo: ‘This year, girls are supporting the Pencil Power campaign, which promotes girls’ education to stop the cycle of violence and conflict in the developing world. The Mount is heavily involved with Ibba Girls’ School in South Sudan, which was established by one of our Old Scholars.’ Through their involvement with PeaceJam, Mount students have already met with and listened to HH the Dalai Lama and Jody Williams (Nobel Peace Prize winners in 1989 and 1997 respectively). Mount student Isabelle Guyler, who will part of the Monaco group, was so inspired by meeting Jody Williams, who campaigns against anti-personnel mines, that she has undertaken an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) on the topic, ‘Why Do We Glorify War And Violence, And Make Peace Seem The Folly Of Fools?’ Seventeen-year-old Isabelle said: ‘It was an incredible thing to hear Jody Williams talk and get her insight on how to achieve change. It helped me to better understand what constitutes peace and I hope I can in turn help other people to understand this.’ ‘I’m really excited about Monaco and meeting other young people from different countries and getting to know their views on peace and change. They may have different issues effecting their countries, and I’m very interested to get bigger insights into what topics are important to them. I believe The Mount is the only school from the UK to be invited to this year’s event; hopefully that will change too.’ In Monaco, the girls will present their various projects, which include promoting the Pencil Project through the school’s work with successfully establishing Ibba Girls’ School in South Sudan. They will vlog their trip on the school’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMountSchoolYork The Mount, was the first school in England to introduce the PeaceJam Ambassadors’ Programme into the curriculum and the first school in the UK to introduce PeaceJam Juniors into the classroom. Previously, schools in the UK ran PeaceJam programmes only as after-school activities or clubs.