School rallies to bring back our girls

Members of the Western Heights High School Amnesty International group spent yesterday educating their fellow students. Photo/Stephen Parker

A Rotorua high school has joined celebrities such as Michelle Obama, Salma Hayek and David Cameron in backing the global Bring Back Our Girls campaign.

More than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped last month by terrorist group Boko Haram, who claim to have "liberated" the girls by converting them to Islam. Human rights groups and celebrities have been using social media and the slogan Bring Back Our Girls to raise awareness of their plight, with actress Hayek pictured holding the sign on the red carpet at the recent Cannes Film Festival.

Now Western Heights High School students are joining in, with the schools Amnesty International group leading the way.

Year 13 student Sylvia Song, who helped resurrect the group last year, said the goal was to raise awareness of the issue.

"I was seeing it happen and thought it would be good to get involved and help out."

The 30-strong group has spent lunchtimes making white ribbons and yesterday they distributed them to fellow students, gathered signatures for an Amnesty petition and went to Year 9 and 10 social studies classes to talk about the issue.

"A lot of students are not aware of whats going on because no one tells them," Sylvia said.

She said she had always been interested in human rights and believed even small actions could help make a difference in the world. " I am quite surprised when I see people that are not very passionate about [human rights], I just want to change it," she said.

Sylvia is a member of the Rotorua Youth Council and plans to raise the subject at today's meeting in the hope of getting other schools and the wider Rotorua community involved.

She said New Zealanders were lucky to live in such a privileged place, as people in many other countries didn't enjoy the same rights and freedoms. "Teenagers are the next generation, future leaders who will run the country or community or even the world."