On Thursday the 14th of September, our TY class were invited to the 'Young Saint Vincent de Paul Social Justice Conference' which took place in Knock, Co.Mayo. During the day , we listened to talks from some very influential and inspiring people.
I was immediately separated from my classmates when we were assigned our seats for the day and put among students from other schools.In between the speeches,we discussed the topics in these groups. The first speech of the day was from Father Peter McVerry , founder of the 'Father Peter McVerry Trust', who spoke about his experiences with homeless people. I was particularly interested in this because we had studied his trust during our Junior Cert Course. He told us stories people who he had helped and the main thing I took from the speech was to treat homeless people with dignity and respect.Not all homeless people are 'dangerous drug addicts' but they have fallen on hard times.And those that have turned to drugs , is because they've been through tough times and try to 'forget their pain.'
I was immediately separated from my classmates when we were assigned our seats for the day and put among students from other schools.In between the speeches,we discussed the topics in these groups. The first speech of the day was from Father Peter McVerry , founder of the 'Father Peter McVerry Trust', who spoke about his experiences with homeless people. I was particularly interested in this because we had studied his trust during our Junior Cert Course. He told us stories people who he had helped and the main thing I took from the speech was to treat homeless people with dignity and respect.Not all homeless people are 'dangerous drug addicts' but they have fallen on hard times.And those that have turned to drugs , is because they've been through tough times and try to 'forget their pain.'
The next speech was given by the chairperson of Friends of the Earth, Dr. Cara Augustenborg. The Friends of the Earth campaigns on climate change to further our vision of environmental justice and sustainability. Dr.Cara spoke about how important our generation's role is to save our planet and to help stop climate change and global warming.
The final speech of the day was given by Joanne O'Riordan , a disability rights activist. Joanne was born with a rare condition that only 7 people in the world have called 'Tetra-Amelia Syndrome' , leaving her without any limbs. Joanne spoke about how she doesn't let her disability affect her on living her life to the full. She says that she doesn't believe in the word 'disability'. Even though Joanne is severely handicapped, she has still achieved remarkable things in life such as winning the 'Young Person of the Year' , speaking at U.N Conferences and making several appearances on the Late Late Show.Joanne truly is an inspiring person.
The final speech of the day was given by Joanne O'Riordan , a disability rights activist. Joanne was born with a rare condition that only 7 people in the world have called 'Tetra-Amelia Syndrome' , leaving her without any limbs. Joanne spoke about how she doesn't let her disability affect her on living her life to the full. She says that she doesn't believe in the word 'disability'. Even though Joanne is severely handicapped, she has still achieved remarkable things in life such as winning the 'Young Person of the Year' , speaking at U.N Conferences and making several appearances on the Late Late Show.Joanne truly is an inspiring person.
REFLECTION: Overall, I found some of the speeches on the day to be very worthwhile.Meeting and listening to Joanne was extremely inspiring and made me realise how lucky I am. Also , Father Peter McVerry's speech has shed a new light on homeless people for me. Although some of the speeches were boring at times, the conference helped me to look at life differently and maturely.