Summary Report on Zero Discrimination Day
Itsekiri NextGen Project: 2022 Session 8 Report
Date: Saturday 05/03/2022
Volunteers Present: 5
Total Number of Attendees: 88
Timings: 9:00am – 12:00 Noon
Venue: Former Caravan 4, Aji Pessu, Warri
Main Topic/Activity: Zero Discrimination Day
Resource Person: Itse Mirabel Ukubeyinje
SUMMARY OF THE SESSION
The session was designed in line with United Nations (UN) Zero Discrimination Day 2022. The delivery of the session focused on teaching participants about the types, and the impact of discrimination on victims. This session aims to educate participants of the Itsekiri NextGen project on how to avoid being the agents of discrimination, with the impact of treating everyone in society equally irrespective of their status.
Session Delivery
The session began with an animated video titled ‘fireheart’ . The lead character was a young girl named Georgia. Georgia’s dad was a retired Fire Chief, but she wasn’t aware of this information. Georgia dreamt of becoming a firefighter, but was always discouraged by her dad that; “girls can’t be firefighters”. Those words became her source of motivation to prove her dad wrong, and she kept training and exercising her body to be physically fit.
One day, an opportunity came when the mayor of the town had a secret visit to her dad. The mayor wanted the retired fire chief to head a team of volunteer investigators to find out the arsonist that has been terrorizing the county. Georgia joined the team by disguising herself as a man. Georgia’s bravery and curious mind helped solve the case, which led to the arrest of the arsonist.
The key lesson from the video: Although Georgia was discriminated against by her father, she never gave up and was able to prove to her dad that she was capable of becoming a successful firefighter.
This was followed by a review of the last session as participants recalled the highlights from the previous session.
Miss Itse Mirabel Ukubeyinje anchored the session proper by taking Participants through discussions on the need for zero discrimination. This is in line with the United Nations annual zero discrimination day, which is marked on the 1st of March. It is a day set aside even amongst other days for people to speak up and prevent discrimination from standing in the way of achieving ambitions, goals and dreams.
Discrimination has been prevalent in our society. As humans, we have the tendency to segregate ourselves into various categories based on income, disability, gender identity, race, class, sexual orientation, sex, occupation, education etc.
This year, the theme for Zero Discrimination Day is ‘Remove Laws That Harm, Create Laws That Empower.’ The theme signifies the ardent need to fight and take action against the myriad discriminatory laws in multiple countries that result in people being treated differently. While some laws harm the sanctity of human rights, some seem to cripple the fundamental freedom in society.
We all have in one way or the other suffered discrimination. Miss Itse and other volunteers narrated previous personal experiences of being discriminated against in social gatherings. The participants also provided details of when they had suffered discrimination from their teachers in school. Some also narrated discrimination they faced at social gatherings, with one example being asked to sit at the back even while they arrived at the venue early due to their class and income profile.
Participants were admonished never to discriminate against anyone or even laugh at people with disabilities because it is not good, as they would not want other people to discriminate against them. They were advised to always be nice to others and treat everyone they come across in life fairly, and with respect.
Uwala Tedeye rounded up the session by reminding and discussing with participants about the business ideas they intend to bring to reality. The emphasis is on what they need to know and do to bring these business ideas to reality and potentially have a preliminary sales day for items from the idea on our film day.
Other Key Activities During the Session
The participants borrowed books to read from the Itsekiri NextGen Library, which would be reviewed during the next session.
