Ayiti: Take Action Haiti
Description
Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a role-playing video game in which the player assumes the roles of family members living in rural Haiti. At the start of the game, the player chooses a primary goal for his/her family: achieve education, make money, stay healthy, or maintain happiness. During the course of the game, the player encounters unexpected events and must make decisions that contribute to or detract from achieving the chosen goal. This section will suggest possible actions your students can undertake to make a difference. This activity is part of Global Kids' Virtual Classroom for Ayiti: The Cost of Life. Click here to access the complete teacher's guide.
Time Required: At least one hour, depending on the action project(s) selected.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
•Use an online game to understand conditions in contemporary Haiti and how poverty is an obstacle to education.
• Develop problem-solving, critical thinking and such life skills as resource management, budgeting, and planning for the future.
•Learn about ways in which they can advocate for action to confront poverty and increase access to education in Haiti.
Teaching Process
Written for students. You can add this directly to your class as an assignment!
Take Action with one of the following steps, or your own ideas.
1. Write a letter to your Congressional or Senate Representatives to find out what they are doing to improve access to education for children in Haiti. http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm
2. Create a petition, collect signatures, and send them to any of the following U.S. government offices or agencies calling for programs that increase access to education for Haitian children:
•The Embassy of the United States in Haiti
U.S. Ambassador to Haiti
Ms. Janet A. Sanderson
Boulevard Harry Truman no. 5
Bicentenaire–Port-au-Prince, Haiti
•USAID/Port-Au-Prince
Department of State
Washington, DC 20521
Tel: 509-223-3805
Fax: 509-223-9603
Write a letter of inquiry to the Haitian Ambassador to the United States or United Nations to find out about the current status on access to education in Haiti:
•His Excellency Ambassador, Raymond Joseph 2311 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
Washington DC 20008
Telephone: (202) 332-4090
Fax: (202) 745-7215
E-mail: embassy@haiti.org
http://www.haiti.org
•Ambassador Leo Merores
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Haiti to the UN
801 Second Avenue, Suite 600
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212-370-4840
Fax: 212-661-8698
Email: Haiti@un.int
www.un.int/haiti
3. Introduce your peers to the game and educate them about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
4. Raise funds to support a local organization in Haiti such as the Maison Fortuné Orphanage in Hinche which is working to provide food, shelter, clothing and education to orphaned Haitian children. Also review the document "Organizational Contacts in Haiti" or do a search of TakingITGlobal's database to find more organizations in Haiti.
5. Write a few paragraphs about what you learned playing the game and post it as a blog entry. Be sure to select 'Class & TIG' visibility and 'Haiti' as the country that your entry is about, so that Global Kids can include your contributions to their compilation of student action on Ayiti.
You may also send your entry by email to Global Kids to post on its website. Email to: info@globalkids.org with “Ayiti Action” in the subject line.
6. Educate your peers and members of your community by writing an article on poverty as an obstacle to education in Haiti in your school or community newspaper.
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Creative Commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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Administration:Edit Resource
Source:GreenLearning
Resource Type:Lesson Plan
Subject(s):Civics & Citizenship, Health & Wellbeing, Interdisciplinary Studies,
Topic:Solutions, Taking Action,
Level:Secondary
Grade: 8 9 10 11 12