Eastern Education Group welcomed representatives from Amnesty International to the University & Professional Development Centre to mark Human Rights Day on 10th December.
The charity presented a book titled ‘My Dear Kabul’ – a harrowing memoir of a women’s writing group in Afghanistan during a time of political turmoil. The collective diary was brought to the event, where students read and discussed the contents of the book, and reflected on what human rights mean to them. One student – Farzad Kakar – was keen to learn about the experiences of the women; he said: “everyone has a right to live in this world, to share their opinion, to do whatever they want to do, to be free.” Farzard is on an English as an Additional Language course at West Suffolk College.
As part of the occasion, students and staff were also encouraged to sign cards to be sent to selected human rights activists and authorities around the world. Avril Dawson – chair of Bury St Edmunds Amnesty International – has personally met the recipients of these cards and said, “they feel better because they know that they’ve not been forgotten.”
Students and staff then gathered for the lighting of the candle – the symbol of Amnesty International.
Leader of West Suffolk Council, Councillor Cliff Waterman – who was also in attendance – said it’s incredibly important to “keep the flame burning for all those people around the world whose human rights are taken away.”
“Human rights have been hard won. My father and my mother were involved in the Second World War, and I think what they fought for was the freedom that we enjoy.”
Jo Feely is a Learning, Knowledge & Library Manager at the Centre, and organised the event. She said, “It’s very much in what we stand for and what we do across the College.”
“It’s showing students like we’ve got here today from one of the EAL classes, that we care about the countries that they’re from; we care about what they’ve gone through as well.”
