Chatham High School students will have a new club to participate in this fall, the Global Awareness Club. Created by Tess Kolker in March 2012, this club grew out of the KONY 2012 campaign which swept through the public consciousness with the help of Facebook and Youtube. The KONY movement gained massive support from Chatham High School students, but as soon as it came into focus it faded away. Sophomore Tess Kolker saw a problem with this. “Students show passion for helping people in need, yet it can be confusing knowing which organization to support. The Global Awareness Club is an organization that will help students to understand complex humanitarian issues around the world, as well as how to best address them”.
In the first 3 months of its existence, the club has already raised close to $500 which it will use to fund educational events and also to donate to charity. The majority of funds were raised through a profit-sharing endeavor with Project Have Hope, http://www.projecthavehope.org/. This organization sells jewelry handmade by women in the Acholi Quarter in Uganda. All the jewelry was made from scrap paper from local printing presses, clay, bones and African coins. Project Have Hope sponsors the education of children, vocational and literacy training for adults, and provides microenterprise loans to women. The club’s sale earned $608 for Project Have Hope. “This was a perfect partnership for us, because helping women in Uganda is exactly what this club is about. They supplied beautiful items and we were happy to bring them to market” said Ms. Kolker. The club sold these items in Chatham at both the Fishawack festival on June 9th and the Girl EmPOWERed Fair on June 16th.
The Global Awareness Club’s main goals are to learn about cultures, government, news and humanitarian issues in 3rd world countries, and to use this knowledge to raise awareness and support.
For more information, contact Tess Kolker at tesskolker@gmail.com.
