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GYSD 2006
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The teachers and students of the Rangunia Gonobidyalaya School in
Chittagong wrote and staged a dramatic presentation to raise
environmental awareness. In the show, characters encountered
environmental problems and showed what they could do to fix them.
More than one hundred spectators attended the performance.
The students of the Adventist International School in Comilla put
together a huge presentation on healthy living, and took it to their
community in the form of a parade and public exhibition. Students
created posters and placards with short messages about healthy living:
eating well, getting enough exercise, receiving vaccinations,
preventing accidents, and other topics. The entire student body
participated in the event and made it a success. The Adventist
International School is a partner school in the Global Connections and
Exchange Program.
Thirty-five students at the Yusuf Multipurpose High School conducted an
anti-smoking campaign in Comilla on the ocassion of the 7th annual
Global Youth Service Day. In addition to holding a community
discussion on the health consequences of smoking, they took to the
streets with anti-smoking stickers. Wherever they could get
permission, they applied their stickers so their message would be
visible. Last year, the Government of Bangladesh made smoking in
public areas illegal. Smoking is a major cause of preventable
illness throughout the world, affecting everyone from low-birth weight
infants born to pregnant smokers to elderly community members dying of
lung cancer and oral carcinoma as a result of their habit.
Thirty student volunteers from the Chowara Girls High School in Comilla prepared
informational leaflets about the negative social consequences of early
marriage and distributed them door-to-door in their community, as part of their observance
of Global Youth Service Day 2006. By law, girls less than 17
cannot be married, but almost half of marriages in Bangladesh violate
this law.
One of the most active clubs associated with the Global Connections and
Exchange Program in Bangladesh is the Girls Power Club at the Chowara
School in Comilla. For Global Youth Service Day 2006, the GPC organized
a digital learning camp for younger girls from the Comilla area.
Over the GYSD weekend, girls from disadvantaged areas of Comilla, many
of whom had never seen a computer before, were introduced to computers
and the internet. With their volunteer student mentors from the
Girls Power Club, the campers created works of art, sent email, surfed
the web, and made a story book.Citizenship & Youth Philanthropy Program and has been made possible with major funding from the United States State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Global Catalyst Foundation.