By Mariel Gousios
UNICEF club is a new club here at East High School that’s connected to the organization’s mission of advocating for child protection and rights. They started up in the past month with meetings twice a month in Room 307. Their focus is to educate, discuss, and raise funds for children’s rights. So far, they’ve covered ways to prevent violence against children in their first couple of months as a new club at East. Their meetings consist of going over the main missions that UNICEF provides the club with and trying to reach out to other organizations to work on a local scale as well as a global scale. Noor Faisal, the club leader said, “It’s really important to not just focus on one area especially when others are going through the same or even worse situations.”
The club is currently working with Hope Rising Together, formerly known as Let Them LOL, run by Kennedy Intihar. Hope Rising Together is a local community that delivers meal packages, educates, and inspires children in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Throughout January, the UNICEF club will have meetings and projects related to human trafficking and take part in human trafficking awareness month. They also hope to work with WNY PATH during this month, which is an organization created to stop human trafficking in Western New York. Children make up about ⅓ of all human trafficking incidents, so it’s a vital topic to cover. They also hope to start a fundraiser and partnership with local businesses to raise money for the cause. After January, they even want to set up a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for UNICEF.
Noor Faisal said, “The club is all about child protection and inclusion. No child should be left to fend for itself and not be denied basic human rights regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion.” The UNICEF club is dedicated to human rights and advocacy, and they want people at East with similar dedications to join. They recommended that people in similar activist clubs, such as Girl Up and Hands Around the World, would enjoy the club. Along with Noor Faisal, other members are: Sarah Jaffri as vice president, Kennedy Intihar as treasurer, Gia Panesar as secretary, Harshini Subbiah also as secretary, and Nour Touti as project leader. To join, use the code “CZTORZX” on Google Classroo. The UNICEF club hopes that people with similar aspirations and dedication to human rights will join the club and help them make a difference.
