PEACE MISSION: Students from Avonbourne Trust are set to meet a Nobel Peace prize winner as part of their Trusts mission to contribute acts of kindness to the world. This mission is being supported by Bournemouth East Cliff Rotarians and Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood. Here are some of the students attending the conference, they are pictured here with Mr Ellwood (centre) and Avonbourne Trust CEO Debbie Godfrey-Phaure (far right).
Students from Bournemouth are set for an inspirational experience thanks to the support of local Rotarians.
Fourteen students from Avonbourne College, Harewood College and Avonbourne Sixth Form will be attending the PeaceJam Youth Conference where they will get to meet Nobel Peace Laureate and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leymah Gbowee.
Their attendance has been made possible thanks to Bournemouth East Cliff Rotary Club, which has given almost £1,000 to fund this opportunity.
The Rotary Club has also worked with Avonbourne Trust in launching the PeaceJam programme across all four of its academies.
Honorary Club member and local MP, Tobias Ellwood, visited the Trust to find out more about the work and to meet the students who will attend the conference.
He said: “I am delighted to see so many Avonbourne students participating in this year’s PeaceJam conference, and working to increase ‘Acts of Peace’ in the Bournemouth area.
“This is a very worthwhile cause, and something also fully supported and encouraged by Bournemouth East Rotary Club.
“I am delighted to see so many young people working together to help PeaceJam to hit its target of one billion acts of peace around the world.”
PeaceJam is a world-wide initiative that is aiming to encourage a billion acts of kindness in a bid to resolve conflicts peacefully.
It does this by connecting young people across the globe with 13 Nobel peace laureates to work together on exploring peaceful resolution to disputes.
Avonbourne Trust became involved in the project when chief executive Debbie Godfrey-Phaure and the principals of Avonbourne and Harewood colleges attended a presentation organised by East Cliff Rotary.
Peacejam was then integrated in the Trust’s curriculum and students are being encouraged to perform acts of peace and kindness.
Barometers have been set up at the entrance of each college to record progress, contributing towards PeaceJam’s international target of a billion acts of kindness.
And now 14 students will attend the annual PeaceJam conference in Winchester next month (March 11-12).
The conference will include a question and answer session with Leymah Gbowee, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for leading a non-violent women’s movement to end the second civil war in Liberia.
CEO of Avonbourne Trust, Debbie Godfrey-Phaure, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to meet a truly inspirational woman who has helped to bring peace to her country.
“We are very grateful to the Bournemouth East Cliff Rotarians for making this possible and working with us on introducing PeaceJam into all our academies.
“As an international business trust our ethos is very much about recognising the positive impact we can make globally and the PeaceJam mission complements this work perfectly.”
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