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Sri Lanka
Video Conference
March 4, 2004
Students at UHS observed a live video conference between
New York high school students at Asia Society in New York
City and students in Colombo, Sri Lanka. New York and Sri
Lanka students asked and answered questions related to the
December 26,2004 tsunami. As the many locations for the conference
were being connected, UHS students saw pictures of Sri Lanka
and heard facts and stories about the disaster.
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| Post-conference student journal entries: |
| The unfortunate disaster that took place in late December
of last year caught the world by surprise. It is frightening
to imagine that one day, you lead your life as usual,
making plans for the future, and then the next, everything
that represents you is completely destroyed. Family members
or friends you may have spoken to the previous day are
now just distant memories. I think the tsunami was a big
wake-up call not only for those in Sri Lanka, but for
everyone. As the numbers for the death toll were released
at an alarming rate, people probably began to appreciate
the value of life even more. Personally, it was yet another
reminder for me that every day of my life should be lived
to the fullest, and that it is important to constantly
ensure that all of my relationships are receiving the
attention they deserve. I also found it somehow sad that
it took a tragedy of this magnitude to bring people together
and teach a valuable lesson about life. The video conference
was very inspiring since the people, despite losing everything,
still had hope, and still wore smiles on their faces.
It also served as a reminder that even thougfh the tsunami
is off the headlines, reconstructive efforts have just
begun. Letitia |
| I thought it was really cool how we could talk to and
interact with the people in different countries and cities.
Even though our school couldn’t talk to them, it
was interesting to see the other schools and, hopefully,
our school will be able to in the future. I didn’t
really know much about the tsunami before this. I knew
that it had killed a lot of people, but it was interesting
to see the people who were actually there and lived through
it talking about what happened. It was also really sad
to hear them talking about the relatives and friends that
they lost. Helen |
| I thought the presentation was really interesting. Lots
of questions were asked and they really helped me understand
the situation. It seemed weird that they didn't even see
this coming on radar or anything. I feel bad for all the
kids who lost their families and everyone who lost their
homes, jobs, and everything else. I thought it was a little
difficult to hear most of the time and not much of a variety
of questions were asked. I thoutht that it would have
been more interesting if no questions were really asked
(maybe at the end), but just that the students could have
shared how it affected them, and how they're coping with
it. It would be really interesting if we could be a part
of one of these and were able to share our thoughts and
ideas. It was still interesting to hear about how it really
happened from people who were there, and how it really
hit home for almost all the students. It was a really
good experience. I hope I can do it again sometime. Ashley |
What can we do now that the tsunami has come? The easy
thing to do for some is say, “Well at least it didn’t
affect me.” You might even hear people make a remark
like, “Did you hear about the tsunami in the east?”
“Yea I did but too bad there is nothing I can do
because I can’t go over there.” Well, when
I first heard about it, I was, sadly enough, one of the
people who said, “Oh, that’s terrible,”
but I didn’t do anything about it. After I heard
the statements from the children who had, firsthand, experienced
the problems, my heart immediately went out to them.
When the question was asked about who had given more to
the relief efforts, it was so typical. It’s funny
how the U.S. always makes everything into who is the best.
The response from the Sri Lankan was that it doesn’t
matter who gives the most, we’re just thankful that
you give at all. The Sri Lankans seemed to be quite strong
considering that all of them had been affected in a big
way by this tragic experience, a lot more firsthand than
others. Also, the teens from America had on September
11 been affected big time. They had both seen death, pain,
and suffering in similar, yet very different, ways.
The idea of being able to connect live with people your
same age across the world is awesome. It is a big step
in getting to know the world around us. Though we can
not talk to them face to face, we will be able to see
and hear them through the telo-conference. With this power,
we will be able to share things going on in our day-to-day
lives, our social lives, and political events, and our
world events, as well. Nate |
A tsunami is a giant wave that goes with extraordinary
speeds that amass a large amount of destruction. The teleconference
was between New York and Sri Lanka.
Within our school we did a fundraiser for the victims
of the natural disaster. The conference lasted into fourth
period. The questions that were asked were decent. I believe
there could have been better ones to ask like how would
this set back affect their culture?
My thought with this is that this day that has happened
has brought unity to the world. If you have seen “A
Day After Tomorrow,” it shows the unity in the end
that we need. We need to learn that staying together is
better than dividing into groups.
I liked the conference because I learned some things about
a different culture. I learned that in Sri Lanka families
live together like the Japanese. It was scary to see the
mass destruction done and what’s worse was the numbers
of lives lost in this disaster.
I liked this also because it was a chance for me to open
my eyes to see what’s in this world besides what
is happening here. Joshua |
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