Social Justice Team Update

We just began studying a new social justice issue- AIDS. One night we played a game to reveal all of the staggering statistics associated with AIDS in Africa. At the end we spent a significant amount of time discussing these heartbreaking statistics and how they made us feel. Most of the youth were saying how sad they felt or confused that such pain and suffering existed.

Each time we introduce a new social issue to the group it visibly impacts our team’s hearts. You can just see it on their faces. On the social justice team, our students get look outside themselves and their personal circumstances and they reflect on injustices happening around the world. It is really cool seeing their compassion for others intensify every week as their awareness grows.

One young woman raised her hand during our AIDS lesson and said, “Miss Miriam, I feel like I’m in school because I’m learning so much, but they don’t teach us things like this in school. You real! You make it interesting. You make me want to learn more!” I was shocked. There are times when I wonder if the issues we study really are reaching these youth. For this young woman, I know they do.
--Miriam Heider, Social Justice Coordinator