Soukeyna Pitroipa, Grade 11
UWC Costa Rica
The first question that might have popped up in your head when you saw this title was probably “How come a teenager can write a letter to a government?” When you are involved in the Write for Rights CAS at UWC Costa Rica, you have the opportunity to do so and these letters are changing lives of people who live rightless. Write for Rights is a social movement launched by the Amnesty International Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), which aims to unite people in writing a letter to advocate justice for people who have faced a violation of their fundamental rights. It is also one of the most important CAS ( Creativity, Activity, and Service) activities on the campus of UWC Costa Rica.
During September, while I was trying to find my footing in the UWC Costa Rica community, all the students received an email from the Write for rights leadership team which invited us to sign up. At first, I was thrilled by this idea of writing to help a stranger getting back his/her rights yet afraid of the idea of writing in English. Since English is not my first language, I was scared to make mistakes that would discredit the aim of the initiative. I thought that my writing skills in English were not good enough to impact anyone’s life. I didn’t feel that I had the right words to help someone. I was just a teenager, who didn’t even know entirely her own rights. However, I clicked on the “filling out the form’’ button attached to the email.
The Write for Rights sessions happened usually on Mondays and Wednesdays my first session was during one of these days. I came with my school backpack, a lot of papers and my pencil case, it was as if I was ready to take an exam. The leaders were presenting the case we were going to write about, if I recall correctly, it was about the Kashmir conflict. We were going to pressure the Indian government to end the communication blackout on Kashmir residents. By the time they said that we were going to write to a government, it felt unusual. I mean, I don’t even dare to write to my own government, so how can I address a letter to a government in India!?
Thankfully, we had these paper guides that were really helpful. Throughout the session, I continued asking questions to the leaders in charge of the activity. They kept helping me all along even though they were busy helping other new participants, like me. I took a long time finding the correct words and searching on the internet for the right spelling of a certain word. However, the leaders made this session relaxing while making the case of the day important. I was not feeling as in an exam, where there is an examiner to judge any of my grammar mistakes. As a result, in just an hour of CAS session, we became activists and we were trying to advocate for complete strangers. Then the fear of writing faded away. I was more confident while writing and I started appreciating the influence I could have on the world.
After the first session, there was a second one, then a third one, a fourth one and it became a habit to go to the literature classroom on Mondays and Wednesdays afternoon. Every session a new case, a new right violation in a different country but the same feeling of engagement and satisfaction with the writing stayed. It was so important to me to contribute to the CAS that I used to run up for the Write for Rights session before I missed Crossfit. You could see a large number of people, including second years, participating in every session. It helped me better understand this new community that I belong to, and I finally found my footing in this new UWC lifestyle. Furthermore, I found confidence in my writing skills by participating in this activity, and every time I would go to the literature classroom I felt less intimidated, more relaxed, just a pen in my hand.
Therefore, this activity became a routine that turned out to be more and more meaningful to me. I got so engaged and thrilled by this activity that I applied for one of the leadership positions for leading the sessions in the next academic year. I am now part of the logistic team, which is in charge of providing the materials necessary for the sessions. I appreciate that I can do more for this movement than just writing letters, I can contribute by pursuing the initiative, going forward, and developing new ideas to preserve the UWC Costa Rica students’ engagement. It was sad that at the last Write for Rights session of the 2019-2020 academic year, we had to host the meeting online and it was not the same feeling as an in-person session. It is like we are disconnected from the people that used to motivate us to write. However, the whole Write for Rights leadership has motivated me to pass around petitions for the case of George Floyd and as much we get experience online we get this connectivity back.
I would say that the reason the Write for Rights activity is so meaningful is because it goes beyond the letters. It is about taking actions against injustices all around the globe, even smaller ones such as signing petitions and sending emails to help people who are in need of significant action from the world. This activity is one of the ways I found myself connecting to the people in the community and getting more involved in UWCCR activities. I think anyone in the world can do this kind of initiative. we need to start from somewhere and take it to a greater scale as the Write for Rights Movement did. So, are you ready to write a letter to change someone’s life?
During September, while I was trying to find my footing in the UWC Costa Rica community, all the students received an email from the Write for rights leadership team which invited us to sign up. At first, I was thrilled by this idea of writing to help a stranger getting back his/her rights yet afraid of the idea of writing in English. Since English is not my first language, I was scared to make mistakes that would discredit the aim of the initiative. I thought that my writing skills in English were not good enough to impact anyone’s life. I didn’t feel that I had the right words to help someone. I was just a teenager, who didn’t even know entirely her own rights. However, I clicked on the “filling out the form’’ button attached to the email.
The Write for Rights sessions happened usually on Mondays and Wednesdays my first session was during one of these days. I came with my school backpack, a lot of papers and my pencil case, it was as if I was ready to take an exam. The leaders were presenting the case we were going to write about, if I recall correctly, it was about the Kashmir conflict. We were going to pressure the Indian government to end the communication blackout on Kashmir residents. By the time they said that we were going to write to a government, it felt unusual. I mean, I don’t even dare to write to my own government, so how can I address a letter to a government in India!?
Thankfully, we had these paper guides that were really helpful. Throughout the session, I continued asking questions to the leaders in charge of the activity. They kept helping me all along even though they were busy helping other new participants, like me. I took a long time finding the correct words and searching on the internet for the right spelling of a certain word. However, the leaders made this session relaxing while making the case of the day important. I was not feeling as in an exam, where there is an examiner to judge any of my grammar mistakes. As a result, in just an hour of CAS session, we became activists and we were trying to advocate for complete strangers. Then the fear of writing faded away. I was more confident while writing and I started appreciating the influence I could have on the world.
After the first session, there was a second one, then a third one, a fourth one and it became a habit to go to the literature classroom on Mondays and Wednesdays afternoon. Every session a new case, a new right violation in a different country but the same feeling of engagement and satisfaction with the writing stayed. It was so important to me to contribute to the CAS that I used to run up for the Write for Rights session before I missed Crossfit. You could see a large number of people, including second years, participating in every session. It helped me better understand this new community that I belong to, and I finally found my footing in this new UWC lifestyle. Furthermore, I found confidence in my writing skills by participating in this activity, and every time I would go to the literature classroom I felt less intimidated, more relaxed, just a pen in my hand.
Therefore, this activity became a routine that turned out to be more and more meaningful to me. I got so engaged and thrilled by this activity that I applied for one of the leadership positions for leading the sessions in the next academic year. I am now part of the logistic team, which is in charge of providing the materials necessary for the sessions. I appreciate that I can do more for this movement than just writing letters, I can contribute by pursuing the initiative, going forward, and developing new ideas to preserve the UWC Costa Rica students’ engagement. It was sad that at the last Write for Rights session of the 2019-2020 academic year, we had to host the meeting online and it was not the same feeling as an in-person session. It is like we are disconnected from the people that used to motivate us to write. However, the whole Write for Rights leadership has motivated me to pass around petitions for the case of George Floyd and as much we get experience online we get this connectivity back.
I would say that the reason the Write for Rights activity is so meaningful is because it goes beyond the letters. It is about taking actions against injustices all around the globe, even smaller ones such as signing petitions and sending emails to help people who are in need of significant action from the world. This activity is one of the ways I found myself connecting to the people in the community and getting more involved in UWCCR activities. I think anyone in the world can do this kind of initiative. we need to start from somewhere and take it to a greater scale as the Write for Rights Movement did. So, are you ready to write a letter to change someone’s life?
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