AIME high

At the Vanguard last night we not only listened to some great music (headliners Saving Grace ) but in the process raised money for what can only be described as an educational revelation!

Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) is one of those not-for-profit organisations that you can't help but be in awe of. The program partners university students with young indigenous students, from years 7-12. This unique, one-on-one education based mentoring program aims to improve year 10 and year 12 completion rates and university admission rates for all participating students.

Beginning in 2005 with just 20 students from Redfern, AIME is now looking to engage more than 1000 students and plan to expand into Victoria and Queensland in 2010. What a fantastic acheivement! Do take the time to check out their website, truly inspiring.

The Social Studio

On a recent visit to Melbourne I stumbled across this great community concept. On first glance you expect this Smith Street studio to be just like any uber trendy cafe/clothing store that Melbourne so often delivers. However The Social Studio provides a unique opportunity for young refugees to not only use their style and skills to produce a clothing range but offers them emplyment, advice, encouragement, counselling and training.

At a time when it is becoming more and more important to reuse and recycle The Social Studio collects excess manufacturing material and reconfigures it into funky fashion! Take a look at their website, such a fantastic social enterprise!

We have just been introduced to EdKenya through the Chairman of Harambee Schools Kenya who has just set it up. It is an online community for NGOs involved in Kenyan education. It has only just started and is just getting going, but it's free to join and looks great! 

It will be such a valuable tool when looking at planning schools, networking with those who have worked on educational projects previously and to share like experiences.

If you are involved with a school project or with school policy and education in Kenya make sure you sign up.

glorious gardens

We were blown away by the Thuthuka School garden in Tembisa Township near Johannesburg as seen last week on Around the World in 80 Gardens. After viewing some stunning botanical gardens in Cape Town and a beautiful and opulent garden and home in Parktown, Johannesburg - the Thuthuka School garden brought tears to my eyes! The students work in the garden of their school to grow edible herbs and flowers, vegetables and trees. The children are so happy and delighted to have the space and resources to be able to beautify their school and you can feel their enthusiasm and passion when they show you around...

(it's about 3.20 minutes into the clip here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgUJHL7-qGY)



There's not much information around about how they started the garden or how they have made it so beautiful- as far as I can google they have had support from Food and Trees for Africa - a South African based organisation that embrace best practices in sustainable environmental activities that empower poor communities while also playing an important role in reducing carbon emissions- truly inspiring!

ASF-UK

The main aim of Architecture Sans Frontieres - UK is to make global agenda issues, in particular those impacting on disadvantaged and vulnerable people, integral to the practice and teaching of architecture.

b+c is attending the Governance in Practice Workshop next week held by ASF-UK and Practical Action. We feel it is really important to continue our education so that the communities we support can benefit from the sharing of knowledge from organisations with a wealth of experience. This will assist us to be more effective in the empowerment of communities and to better understand issues surrounding participation and planning.

We will make sure we report back so that we can share our findings with you all also!

Sydney Writers Festival - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

There was a great article in the Sydney Morning Herald this weekend about Nigerian born author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Adiche is opening the Sydney Writers Festival in May and it sounds like it would be worth going along if you can make it.

I had never heard about this woman or her books before and she sounds like an inspiring, interesting, strong and intelligent woman. I'm hanging out for my turn to read this book.

2009 open architecture challenge: classroom

The 2009 Open Architecture Challenge is to design the classroom of the future. This competition in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity and Orient Global is asking teachers, students, architects and designers to get involved and to design a classroom for a school of your choosing.

According to the World Bank, educating all children worldwide will require the construction of 10 million new classrooms in more than 100 countries by 2015. This is a global competition and is a great opportunity to come up with some excellent classroom designs. So get involved if you can, we are!

Below are 2 images of the Kutamba AIDS Orphan School in Uganda, which is just one of the examples of some beautiful and inspiring Architecture on the Open Architecture Network.

world malaria day

Each 30 seconds, a child dies from malaria. Each of these deaths is avoidable. Join the world’s largest international effort to end malaria deaths. The countdown has begun.

25 April is a day of unified commemoration of the global effort to provide effective control of malaria around the world. This year's World Malaria Day marks a critical moment in time. The international malaria community has merely two years to meet the 2010 targets of delivering effective and affordable protection and treatment to all people at risk of malaria, as called for by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon.

The next two years present a rare window of opportunity to save a million lives by rapidly delivering malaria interventions - protective nets, diagnostic tests, antimalarial drugs and indoors spraying - to all people at risk of the disease and to pave the way towards virtually ending deaths by 2015.

You can read more at the Roll Back Malaria website here.

This is also an interesting and tragic story of Briton Harry Yirrel who was volunteering in Ghana.  For all of us fortunate enough to be travelling in endemic areas there could not be a more compelling and convincing reminder to take your malaria prophylactics...

meet green thing

Do the Green Thing is a public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. The website is an interactive one where you can watch brilliant short clips, add to the blog or add a story of your own. The mission is to get as many people in as many countries doing the green thing and then use that power to persuade government and business to do the green thing too. 

So make sure you take the time to watch Green Thing do his thing, very funny and imaginative. Oh and Plug Out Boy is also very cool!

invest in a girl and she will do the rest.

This is a brilliant video and I couldn't resist watching it 3 times in a row.  It left me with chills and feeling very inspired. 

There are 600 million adolescent girls around the world living in poverty.  By giving one of these girls a chance, you start what can be referred to as The Girl Effect.  When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive.  And when they thrive, everyone around them thrives too. 

If you want to end poverty and help the developing world, the best thing you can do is invest time, energy, and funding into adolescent girls.  It's called the girl effect, because girls are uniquely capable of investing in their communities and making the world better.   The following poster outlines 10 things that are standing in their way...

If you want to read more, go to girleffect.org

60 years of human rights

We let this momentus occasion accidently slip by last week... i thought we should mention this anniversary even though it has passed.

On 10 December 1948 in Paris, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Declaration was the first international recognition that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms and it continues to be a living and relevant document today.

Of particular interest to bricks + cartwheels and our secondary school project is Article 26: Everyone has the right to education.

We agree and so do the community of Katolo, Kenya!

To learn more or read a full history of UDHR visit here. Also this is a great summary of the 30 articles.

Letter to a headmaster

This is a letter written by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1861-1865), to the Headmaster of the school where his son was studying.

Just a little piece of educational wisdom for you all out there... imagine if every child was taught these values by their teachers and parents...

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just,

all men are not true.

But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero;

that for every selfish Politician, there is a dedicated leader…

Teach him for every enemy there is a friend.

Steer him away from envy, if you can,

teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick…

Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books…

But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,

bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him it is far honourable to fail

than to cheat…

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas,

even if everyone tells him they are wrong…

Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd

when everyone is getting on the band wagon…

Teach him to listen to all men…

but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth,

and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him if you can,

how to laugh when he is sad…

Teach him there is no shame in tears,

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders

but never to put a price-tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight

if he thinks he’s right.

Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him,

because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage to be impatient…

let him have the patience to be brave.

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself,

because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order, but see what you can do…

He is such a fine little fellow, my son!

~ Abraham Lincoln