Trip blog: Final day of the workshops

Today marks the end of what has been an absolutely brilliant week!

We marked the achievement of the workshop participants with a closing ceremony and the presentation of certificates to all teachers who took part, to acknowledge all their hard work and learning in becoming ‘human rights champions’. These certificates were presented to the qualifying teachers by the Deputy British High Commissioner, whose office funded the teacher training programme, and whose support we have been very grateful for.

During the ceremony myself, Chris and Clem received some beautiful gifts, for which we were very surprised and so grateful!

The inspiration and motivation for providing the teacher training workshops this week was the hope that it would help facilitate an understanding of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its relevance to everyday life. We hoped that by the end of the course the teachers attending would feel inspired to become ‘human rights champions’ for their schools, and confident in delivering the course to their students, and that they would also commit to sharing this knowledge, training and resources with other teachers and the wider community.

We are pleased to report that our hopes were not only met but exceeded. The teachers we have worked with have impressed us greatly. We have seen and heard them speak of their passion and dedication to their profession. They have a willingness to work hard for their students and do the best they can to prepare them to take up their places in society as good citizens; to encourage them to work towards a future society of increased equality, justice and continuing positive change. The teachers have also generously shared with us their knowledge and resrouces. We hope that this spirit of professional collaboration will continue when we return to the U.K.

While in the Solomon Islands, what has struck us most is the kindness and gratitude we have encountered everywhere. We have been graciously welcome by so many people, and overwhelmed by the kindness and friendship we have been offered. For this we are more thankful than we can express.

And with the week sucessfully coming to an end, we’d like to end this blog with some words which sum up our motivation for running this programme and our hopes for the future:

“Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for the day: it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity.”
-Kofi Annan (United Nations Secretary General 1997 – 2006)

Best of luck to all the teachers who became ‘human rights champions’ this week, and we hope that this is only the very beginning of human rights education in the Solomon Islands.