Writing for Rights 1

11 December 2016Gina B, Mackenzie ‘17; Photo by Jim Ganley

In Mr. Collis’ Lit 12 class, we all stopped and together gazed across the beautiful view of Mill Bay and Mount Baker and were told to think about what we have. Looking out over the stunning water, there were some unpleasant things that we could think about happening in our daily lives, but nothing compared to what is happening across the world with people living in atrocious conditions, unjustly jailed, beaten, or torn from their land and property. We live extremely fortunate lives here at Brentwood. This is why the English department, led by Ms Hedquist, banded together this week to get all of the English students to participate in the Write for Rights campaign. Write for Rights is a letter writing campaign organized by Amnesty International, a non-profit organization that fights against violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ and advocates for people who can’t advocate for themselves. The Write for Rights campaign urges citizens around the world to draft hand written letters to governments which are violating their citizens’ basic human rights. This year there are ten cases being written about in countries such as Canada, the US, Peru, Iran, China, Australia, Malawi, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, and Egypt. Brentwood students wrote more than three hundred letters in protest of the atrocities urging the leaders of these nations to stop violating the human rights of their citizens. It is not only a exercise on formal letter writing us, but also a way of opening our eyes about what improvements we can make to the world around us, even in the country we live in. Gina B, Mackenzie ‘17

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