Club journal
3 langues 2 cultures 1 club journal
Hi My name is Juan David. I'm from Medellin, Colombia. I'm 10 years old and I'm in the tenth grade of Elementary School. This is my room, I don't have to share it but I live with my grandparents, my parents and my twin sister. I have a special gift for music and I'm very good at guitar. I'm also a football fan and my favorite team is Rey De Copas, the national soccer team of Medellin.
Only my father works but thanks to the UNICEF's relief packages my sister and I can go to school. We study at the Elementary School of Medellin from nine o'clock to twelve o'clock. I have lunch at home with all my family, I study two or three hours, depending if I have an exam or not on the next day, and then I go out with my friends. We have a ride on the bicycles or we play a football match. But we need to be very careful, because Medellin is a very dangerous city. If you decide one day to visit my city, I would suggest that you take proper measure against possible pickpockets, robbers or persons trying to trick or cajole you, enticing you to go with them. And also street vendors who will try to cheat you. Aside from these negative aspects, Medellin still remains a beautiful city worth seeing; all you have to do is take appropriate security measures.
Some friends have to walk around two kilometers to have water, so it's a good help from the UNICEF's collaborators to have water resources at home. And because of that, I have more free time to study or to go out with my friends. I would like to continue to study in the Elementary Medellin School and then go to high school or to the University like my grandparents and my parents, but I don't think I will have the opportunity because Medellin is a poor city and the crisis is very hard on my parents.
Also, my sister is cleverer than me and she will have more opportunities than me, that's a reason why I prefer that she studies. The other reason is that I prefer to go out with my friends and play a football match than study. I would like to live in another country and have more opportunities. For example, my Grandmother has a heart problem and in Colombia we don't have the resources to have the operation done.
As imagined by Carlos Santos Seisdedos, 2nde.
My name's Ahkohxet, I'm eight years old and I live in the Amazonian forest, in Brazil. I have an older brother named Karim and a smaller sister,Yanna.I would describe myself as a shy person, I find it difficult to socialize with people my age and prefer being alone.Although this flaw has sometimes a very negative effect, it has also made me a more creative and dreaming person, my imagination has no limit.I'm part of the”Kanoe”tribe.
It's a small tribe of approximately 30 people. We're like a big family living all under one roof. The men are in charge of the hunting whereas the women stay at home and do the cooking. We all take part in the fishing. To be part of the tribe, you have to take part in a ritual at the age of 10 when you're considered a young adult. Once you pass it, you're allowed to vote and participate in the organization committee.My parents and I have a normal relationship, not very close. I see my parents more as my instructors, they teach me how to hunt, take care of the household, fish, self defense... so I can survive in the forest when I'm on my own.My father is a fisherman, he wakes up as the sun rises everyday and he spends all day on his canoe with my brother. My mother is a housewife so she looks after my sister and the other children and she cooks food for the members of the tribe.
My name is Ryan, I'm thirteen. I live in Clayton, North Carolina, with my whole family. I've got two younger brothers and a baby sister. Luckily for me ,my parents are together despite the fact that the majority of my classmates have divorced parents. I think that's one of the main reasons my siblings and I manage to be happy. We don't have much comfort nor luxury stuff but we don't need it. Personally, I like doing all sorts of things. I like reading comics and crime novels, as I want to be a police officer.
We're four children so we aren't allowed to ask every time we want things like books or games. Maybe that's why my favorite activity is to imagine with my brothers and sister how we'd live if we had more money. In fact it's really fun, my baby sister usually imagines herself playing with all kind of toys, one of my brothers, John, imagines our father is a lawyer and so on. I always have to take care of them as I am the older one, I think that made me more mature that any regular child of my age. I really think that my parents give me all I need and I feel completely free. As I've told you, I live in Clayton.
I don't imagine myself living anywhere else. Clayton is a very good place, we've got lots of public parks and areas we can go to. I thank my parents for that, it's a very green place so my baby sister can go wherever she wants with us, playing around, going to the park... If we lived in a big city, a family like us wouldn't be so happy. Luckily, when I grow up, I'll be able to go to university and study law, that's why I'm working so hard, or I try to. I try to be a good student because I think studying and succeeding in life is my only way out but I have to say I don’t have natural gifts, I am really messy and I don’t tend to have excellent grades. I want to achieve my personal goal and I’ll do everything for it, I am extremely motivated. Education here is getting worse every day, some of my teachers come to class after working somewhere else. I don't care, I can go to school and that's a lot. I see on the news that some children don't have access to education. However, I want to have a good foundation skills for the future.
I think my parents have raised us in a really good way. They have taught me how to live without whining, to ask only for what I really need, always be happy, share what I have … I think those are normal values but I’m aware that in our society people don’t learn to be happy, generous … It’s a real problem. First of all, my parents work really hard. That affects my daily life, of course. My father works helping on a farm and my mother works downtown in a little store. I know my parents don’t have jobs to be extremely proud of but I get to eat everyday. Of course we don’t live in the best conditions: our house is constantly having problems. When it rains the water goes everywhere and I usually get wet so I have to sleep on the upper bed of the bunk. The floor cracks all the time, the heating doesn’t work regularly…
We’ve also got some problems with the food allotments they give to us. Sometimes, we receive aid from the Baptist Church, that really helps us. Here, in North Carolina, there are huge differences between Republicans and Democrats and I think that’s a thing to be said. We see people protesting on the streets every day, they never agree even if there are health care problems, education issues... I'm really sick of it, maybe that's one of the main reasons I want to be a police officer.
I just want things to be done with dedication. They always complain about the police here because of the problems we have, I want to change that. I might be a little ambitious but I think hopes, ambitions and strength push us to the best. Now, I'm happy, despite the fact that I would like to change some things. If I could work or we could have a little more money, it would be great. I’m starting to worry about the future of my siblings, maybe they won’t have the same luck as I do. I’d also change my parents’ situation, I see how they get more tired each day, giving all their strength to us. However, maybe if all of this really changed we wouldn’t be so happy and wouldn’t value everything so much.
I really think that I’m the way I am and where I am for a reason...
As imagined by Blanca Pérez, 2nde
She has made up all her recipes and everybody enjoys her meals.I think my routine may be unusual for people my age from other parts of the world as I don't go to school. I spend my days helping my parents and hunting. But my favorite thing in the world is, without any doubts, music. We always play music at nights as it's part of our culture and I've acquired a great ability and knowledge of the traditional amazonian flute.I don't really like thinking about my future. I'm still young and prefer living in the present. Destiny will lead me wherever I need to go. But my dream has always been to become a professional musician.
Despite my young age, I've realized that , lately, people in my tribe have been specially worried. The reason of their strange mood is the disrespectful behavior of the White Men of Mother Nature. Their thirst for money and power is blinding them. They cut down our trees nonstop to establish their agricultural activities without thinking of the irreversible effects it has on the rainforest biodiversity. This invasive activity modifies the water cycles as well as disturbs the species in it, making it harder for us to feed ourselves.My biggest fear is to lose my brother, he has a very weak immunological system and has been very ill lately.
As we don't have access to any health service, we are trying to heal him with natural homemade antidotes. But that won't keep him healthy forever. He's my best friend and I don't know what I would do without his love and support.
As imagined by: Carmen Candau 2nde
My name is Jaime, I live in New York, USA. I haven't got brothers or sisters, I'm an only child. My father is a lawyer and my mother is a university teacher. All my family lives in New York. It´s my parents'choice, they like to live in this city and I do too. It's great if you are rich and if you live in a big building, You can do many things in New York. However, if you are poor and you live in a bad district, you can have security problems. It is difficult to socialise because there are a lot of people and they don't talk to one another. I like to play the cello and I play in an orchestra. I also enjoy being in my room because it is an enormous bedroom, there are many objects, like my bed, my desktop, and a lot of souvenirs that I buy during my trips... My life !
I live in a rich district in New York, Brooklyn Heights. My school is not free, but it´s not very expensive. It is a private school, but I don´t know the exact price. After school I do lots of things... I play with my friends, I go shopping, I do my homework, I play golf, I play the cello...
In the future I want to have a political career, I would like to be president of the USA! Although New York rocks, I hope to live one day in Washington DC, which is my favourite city in the USA.
As imagined by NÚÑEZ María, 3ème
Where Children Sleep
Where Children Sleep is a photography project by James Mollison, that was turned into a book in 2010. It shows stories of diverse children around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms.
The artist didn't want it just to be about 'needy children' in the developing world, but rather something more inclusive, about children from all types of situations.
Students in 3ème and 2nde worked on giving a voice to the children on those silent pictures. They wrote each child's unique story, researching their likely individual circumstances according to where they came from and to what emotions transpired from their bedrooms and portraits. They tried to include all their geographical and political knowledge into a creative writing work of art of their own.
