Doors to Diplomacy Participants

Saint Louis University Laboratory High School (2012 Doors to Diplomacy Project ID 7275)
Philippines, Benguet, Baguio City
Official Status: Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 2. Promotion of Peace and Democracy: Social Issues

We estimate 4 student(s) from 15 to 15 will work on this entry.

Description of Our Team: "Our group is composed of four 15 year old high school students. King, Ciara, Jessica, Maridel. As close friends, we go out together and when we walk along the streets, we encounter beggars of different ages. Alarmed with this situation, we decided to create the website to bring out a reality that when addressed well by a united community can be solved.

King F. He is a 15 year old boy who loves to discover the world. He is always ready to lend a hand to others and is against discrimination. He documents what he believes is unjust in a society and his compilation of these pictures led to the creation of this site.

Ciara B. She is a generous and cheerful young lady who believes that life must be enjoyed to the fullest. She has a deep interest in photography because of this, she is behind the pictures and videos of our website.

Jessica B. She is a girl of service and at a young age, she was exposed to the reality of life in an orphanage so her heart aims to be of help to the less fortunate kids. She is also fond of computer applications and her willingness to work overnight made this site presentable.

Maridel Q. Her aim to be on top of the class never kept her away from others. Being a writer of the school paper and a debater of the school, her ideas and insights are reflected in this website."

Project Description: " “Anything is possible with a heart that aims and with a mind that dreams.” This quotation sums up everything in our website…from the content to its creation.

Equality among the people is the main purpose of our project. As citizens of a third - world country, we are faced with the fact that we have different levels of living in our society: rich, average and poor. Rich, those who can afford to buy all the luxuries and things they want, who can easily spend money on things that are not essential and can easily waste money without hesitation. Average, those who live comfortably, those who can provide the necessities in life like food and shelter. Poor are those who are described in Filipino as “isang kahig, isang tuka” (hand-to-mouth existence; meaning, people who works so hard but still unable to have a sustainable life).

Beggars on the streets, whom we consider as less fortunate and are not able to meet the demands of the society are signs that the way of living differs but it should not be a reason to put them down or discriminate them. We would like to bring out that the beggars play an important role; they serve as eye-opener to both the government officials and the ordinary citizens to look for ways and means to solve the problem which has been a burden to the society for a long period of time.

We all deserve to be respected, to be loved and to be accepted, as the Golden Rule states, “Don’t do onto others, what you don’t want others to do onto you”. Let us always remember to respect others, to love and to lend a helping hand, no matter who they are, what they are and no matter what position they have in the society."

Click Here to View Project Narrative