Black&White-School-Network: Let us start networking of schools, students, teachers, parents and all who wish to take part in the search even through the schools (which are there to educate active democratic participation) for solutions in the face of the common global challenges:
We have set up two blogs for the school network (the number of requests and proposals for operation), one in German language: http://schulnetzwerk.wordpress.com/ – and in English:https://bawschoolnet.wordpress.com/
On Facebook we created friendship sides of the network, in English: Blackandwhite Schoolnet and in German: Blackandwhite Schulnetzwerk. On both we have created groups to form teams for the development of the school network: a group for students to come in contact to make just friendship with people of other cultures, a group for teachers contacts: here those teachers can come into contact who want to contribute for the development of the network and work in this sense at their schools, a group with the member schools of the network: In it they come in contact and can agree in partnership projects and other collaboration, a group for parents who want to support the schools and the school network, a group of black & white-student-clubs: Those pupils who want to be active in a group at their school with others and to bring the idea of the network in reality in their school and spread it to other schools and come in contact with Black&White Clubs in other schools and exchange information and opinions, an initiative group for the network, this is at first the main groups, in which those few who want to start the network, team up and discuss how to bring it up and make it stable.
Anyone wishing to participate can contact the two e-mail addresses of the network, in English: baw-schoolnet@gmx.de and in German: bawsn@gmx.de.
We hope that the initiative of the school in Sunyani in Ghana will get much support and will be a success, it is the right time for such a move and we hope, many feel it and come in initiative Black & White.
Proposal for the next steps to build up the Black&White-school network: Come in and help top make it to a success
Proposal for the next steps to build up the Black & White-school network
by the Black & White-Initiative for discussion with the Black & White Initiative in Ghana and interested schools in Ghana, Germany and other countries
The aim of the school network:
The school network supports the awareness of students, teachers and parents about the global challenges (by the standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), and tools to get to work on solutions themselves according to the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The right to life, peace, decent living and working conditions and ensuring the global natural resources are at the center. The school network’s goal is to help overcome the divisions within and between the populations of the world: We conclude that in our globalized world only a global political unification can control the global economy, can overcome the struggle of states for domination of the others and can stop the destruction of the environment. We promote the identity, which is the base of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: We are all members of one human family, regardless of religion, nationality, ethnicity or skin color and all have the equal right for a decent life. In 1948 that was not decided only as an idealistic dream, but as a necessity to avoid such developments which happened after the world-economic-crisis in 1929, a nationalistic and ethnic radicalization, where people tried to find solutions on a violent way against each other and especially against the minorities and at the end even in a world-war.
The school-net promotes friendly relations of schools, teachers, parents and pupils across all borders, so more and more people actually start in everyday life to be in contact with people of very different cultures and start to get the feeling to live really in a “human family”. The network shall mainly contribute to a change of mentality and on building more capacity for cooperative solutions. But it can also create more direct solidarity and justice by supporting the schools in the poorer parts of the world to create this capacity by schools in the wealthier regions.
1) The school network promotes initially even personal contact between students, teachers and parents from different cultural backgrounds. We use the Internet, email, Facebook, blogs, exchanges of information and opinions, pictures and videos for it. We organize this in different languages, so even those who have not foreign-languages skills can participate. And we try to win people to support as translators. We are looking for the first people who strive for the establishment of these contacts and provide a kind of moderation groups.
2) The school network, brings across the philosophy of the Declaration of Human Rights provides (we are one human family (preamble), the dignity of the individual has to be the center of economy, politics and society, all people worldwide have equal rights, political institutions and political representatives legitimate only if they are determined by the citizens, the states have to resolve conflicts peacefully and ensure environmental safety, to secure all the right to life, we need a social and international order, which guarantees decent life as a legally enforceable right to all people, and everybody has the responsibility to create that order with or to secure it) and their historical background (Kant’s idea of the Enlightenment, the categorical imperative and the lasting peace order), the globalization and the existing global dependencies, the experience of the global economic crisis, the subsequent nationalist and ethnic radicalization and the world wars.
We create blogs in which we post the material in the Internet (in English and German for now) so that it can be used from the interested parties.
3) The school network presents the tools to teach students so that they can analyze their situation in life in today’s complex world, the economy, the political system, in society, both in their countries and in the world system. Also the network provides basic material available, especially on the following four themes: a) overcome violence and war and create peace, b) securing the uniform participation of all in the economic development and ensuring basic services for all, c) Change in life and economic manner, meaning that we no longer overuse the planet, d) securing the democratic design of all decisions from the local to the global level
4) The school network is not organizing general news work but find out more about the possible sources for reliable news, especially also refer to the information-work, which organize the initiatives Black & White. The school network organizes news work on the events in the schools of the network, especially their own activities and to school and education issues. That will happen on the blogs.
5) On the sides of the school network the member schools should introduce themselves, with pictures and video (if possible) and the coordinators of the teachers, parents and student-groups or clubs. But individuals and other interested organizations and institutions can imagine it too.
Organization of the network:
The members of the Black & White-school network are schools. However, individual teachers, students, parents, students, scientists, and other individuals or organizations that support the idea of the school network can participate and become also a member.
We create several Facebook groups in which we can slowly build up teams (first pages in English and German, and later perhaps also in other languages):
Students friendship contacts – we encourage students to come into contact with each other and make friends
Student clubs – here, students may come into contact, who want to create or participate in Black&White-school-clubs to share their opinions and information
Teacher contacts – teachers who are interested in the aims of the network come in contact, sharing their experiences and opinions, support each other, later a division of the group according to different school-forms is possible
Parents contacts – contacts from parents who want to support the school and the students in the networking
Member schools – here come the schools in contact, which build the network together and can agree on partnership-projects
These groups are on the blogs and sites with material on the work and also personal preferences of the group members and schools.
Construction steps:
1) First phase of construction:
A) We form an initiative-group that shares the vision of the network and share creative works in its construction. Teachers should participate in it; possibly parents and even students as possible, and we of the Black & White initiatives will support and participate in the initiative group. We will provide office facilities for supporting the development of the school network. The goal is to build the blogs and Facebook pages and win moderators or coordinators for the various activities and groups and to gain members and start the team-work. We try to win schools to be members of the net and create in the schools groups of teachers and encourage students to organize Black & White-school clubs.
B) The initiative-group makes the idea of the network known and interests more schools to take part. We work from the Black & White-Initiatives with the initiative group and publicize the idea in our school performances and together with our partner-initiatives in Africa.
C) The initiative-group reports on a blog and on Facebook, and a round-mail about the progress in building the school network and the work in the different schools and builds a mailing list.
D) We will create a flyer and email to call in German and English, which presents the idea and the work calls.
E) In the network we organize translation capacity, thus schools can participate, to thosewho are not so good at English.
2) Second Phase: We organize from 26 to 30 August 2013 in Ghana, a seminar jointly for the Ghana initiative Black & White and Black & White School Network for Ghana;. It will go in the first place to lay the foundations for two Ghana wide networks (the school network and the association network Black & White) But it can take part also participants from Germany and other countries to promote international networking.
3) Third phase:
Construction of a Black & White Center in Ghana in Sunyani and in Germany, in Wanfried, for the capacity building of the school network and the Black & White Teams, especially continuing education for multipliers for the club network and the school network. They should help to bring people together from North and South and from all cultural backgrounds.
The centers should also organize news work (in bringing the implementation of Human Rights forward) and education with which they support the work of local multipliers and especially the school network and in the schools and the Black & White-Initiative. This work shall be borne jointly by people with different cultural backgrounds.
4) Fourth stage: Promotion and networking with organizations and new centers in other countries in the North and South.
The Initiator: St. Mary’s Preparatory and Junior High School in Sunyani/Ghana
1.) A class of St. Marys, the teachers informed the pupils about the intention of the call to create a international schoolnet. 2.) The schoolyard, the school has more then 2000 pupils, 3.) Discussion in the teachersroom of teachers and members of the Black&White-Initiatives in Ghana and Germany, 4.) The teachers and Black&White-members presenting the call, 5.) A schoolclass of St. Marys and 6.9 the slogan of the school: Wisdom is better than riches.
the area of St. Marys:
Sunyani:
Sunyani
| Sunyani | |
|---|---|
| — City — | |
 The Sunyani Cocoa House |
|
| Nickname(s): Sun city | |
 Sunyani
Location in Ghana |
|
Coordinates:  7°20′N 2°20′W |
|
| Country |  Ghana |
| Region | Brong-Ahafo Region |
| District | Sunyani District |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 80,245 |
Sunyani is a city in the West African republic of Ghana, and is the capital of the both the Sunyani District and Brong-Ahafo Region.
According to the 2005 population estimates 80,245 people reside in the city of Sunyani, with a growth rate, in the city, of 3.4% per annum.[1]
Contents |
History of Sunyani
Surrounded by the forested Southern Ashanti Uplands, the city of Sunyani arose as an outpost camp for elephant hunters during the 19th century. The name Sunyani derives from the Akan word for elephant ‘Osono.’ In 1924, The British colonial government designated Sunyani as a district headquarters. Following the construction of a road connecting Sunyani and the city of Kumasi, Sunyani became an important hub for the distribution of cocoa, kola nuts, and staple foods such as maize and yams.
Education and Commerce in Sunyani
Today Sunyani is home to both the regional government and high court, the region’s post-secondary institutions are also based in the city; including two polytechnic schools, the College of Renewable National Resources and the Catholic University. Several of the country’s best primary and secondary and technical schools can be found within Sunyani and its suburbs, including: St. Mary’s; Holy Spirit; Wesley’s; Divine; Ridge Primary;Twene Amanfo Secondary Technical School (TASTECH);and Don Bosco Voc. Technical Institute. Attracting students from throughout the region and beyond, is the highly ranked Sunyani Senior High School (Susec) and St. James seminary which has been rated among, the best five Senior High Schools in Ghana.
Although considerably smaller than nearby Kumasi, Sunyani is growing rapidly and has effectually engulfed the suburb towns of Fiapre and Abesim, amongst others. Sunyani is a clean and well maintained city with a thriving economy. The economy is predominantly agrarian with approximately 48% of the population engaged in agriculture production. About 24 percent of the population is employed in the service sector, followed by commerce and industry which employ 15% and 13% of the populace, respectively.
The city’s growth is boosted by the city’s high-quality water supply. Water sources include pipe borne water, bore holes, hand-dug wells, rain water and water from streams, rivers and springs. However, in severe harmattan (dry) conditions, water can become more difficult to access. Sunyani is provided with electricity by the Volta River Authority.
The City of Sunyani is outfitted with modern communication facilities which include fixed telephone and fax lines, pay phones, mobile phones, internet and e-mail services. Additionally; postal services are available in the form of post office, as well as expedited mail services provided by EMS (Express mail service), DHL and FedEx.
The city has a number of financial institutions including a branch of the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Commercial Bank, Barclays Bank, SG-SSB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank,EcoBank and the National Investment Bank. There are also six rural banks, a number of credit unions and insurance institutions complementing the financial service provision of the city.
The city also has three hospitals, one of which, Sunyani General Hospital, is a state-of-the-art development, which opened in 2003. Eight clinics and three maternity homes also operate in Sunyani.
The Sunyani Prison is home to approximately 719 inmates.[2]
Tourism
The Sunyani airport opened on 13 July 1974. However due to runway length limitations the airport is unsuitable for use by medium range aircraft, and generally only connects passengers to the Kumasi, Accra and Takoradi airports. Sunyani is a seven hour drive from Accra linked by a first-rate highway. Despite the lack of dedicated tourism facilities, tourists are beginning to venture to Sunyani in greater numbers, attracted by the areas of natural beauty surrounding the city. Such visitors can take advantage of the city’s three 3-star hotels,over fifteen modern hotels and rated hostels. A number of guest houses and restaurants can also be found in the City.
Among the city’s attractions is the Cocoa House, a high rise that dominates the Sunyani skyline. The building houses the headquarters of several regional companies, four radio stations and numerous boutiques. Other buildings of interest in Sunyani include Christ The King Catholic Cathedral, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Queen of Peace Building, Knight of St. John House etc . In addition, the Kintampo waterfalls and the Boabeng monkey sanctuary in Fiema, are a short distance outside the city.
Trivia
Sunyani was voted the cleanest city in Ghana for the year 2007 by the Ghana Tourist Board.[3]
Sister city
Sunyani, in partnership with nearby Techiman, currently has a sister city relationship with:[4][5]
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States
References
- ^ http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/2005_world_city_populations/Ghana.html
- ^ http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=94393
- ^ http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=146557&comment=3868269#com
- ^ “Tuscaloosa Sister Cities International”. Tuscaloosa Sister Cities Commission. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ Turney Foshee (August 26, 2011). “Sister Cities delegates gather in Tuscaloosa to mark friendship”. Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
External links
- Cleanest city in Ghana
- Sunyani population data
- Encyclopædia Britannica blub
- Ghana Web: Sunyani Profile
- Districts of Ghana from statoids.com
- Notre Dame Senior Secondary School
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunyani
Ghana-information:
A Call from the African St. Mary’s Preparatory and Junior High School in Sunyani/Ghana to the schools in the world, to create a school-network as part of an alliance of the common people to find solutions for our global common threats in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and take part in organizing a long global march of the common people
A Call from the African St. Mary’s Preparatory and Junior High School in Sunyani/Ghana to the schools in the world, to create a school-network as part of an alliance of the common people to find solutions for our global common threats in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and take part in organizing a long global march of the common people
Facing huge global challenges we as an African school in Ghana call on the schools of the world to contribute to find solutions for these problems. Again we are facing growing unemployment and poverty, more social inequality and see politicians running out of ideas, how to reform our economy. We have more wars and violence and even facing the risk of a new global confrontation and war. On top comes the ecological crisis, which already leads to more and more natural-disasters.
We are feeling that we are in crisis as big as in and after the world-economic crisis in 1929, which led to nationalistic movements, dictatorships and the worldwar. Movements grow again everywhere, which search solutions in violence and wars against minorities, people of other nations, ethnics or religions.
In 1948 the world adopted a strategy to avoid a disaster as the Second World War. The adopted Universal Declaration of Human Rights asks us since this time
– To understand us as one Human family and create friendship between the people of the different cultures and nations, so that we overcome our divisions
– That our states cooperate globally to make sure, that everybody lives in dignity, with work, social security, food-security, healthcare, education, housing
– That our states therefore have to create an international order, which guarantees the right to live in dignity for everyone
– To educate us as common people in these rights, so that we control our governments and administrations that they decide in this spirit of brotherhood and for basic living-conditions for all
The states have not followed these principles up to today. Instead of organizing a stable international order with equal rights, the states and state-coalitions are still struggling to dominate each other and spend much of the resources of our world, which we need to create a decent life for all, in these conflicts. Profit not social development for all is still the dominating aim of our economy.
In face of the today’s challenges it is high time to take the 1948 agreed aims now very serious and overcome this struggle for domination before it totally escalates and reform our global political structure, so that we can control the world-economy for our social aims.
We support from our school the call to the common people to organize a global march of the common people to create worldwide majorities in our societies for the global cooperation in the sense of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And we support the concept of this march as a march through all public institutions with the aim that they all finally decide according to our global constitution.
It is our task as schools to introduce the Universal Declaration of Human rights and its historical and philosophical background to our teachers and pupils. We should also develop the abilities of the teachers and pupils, to research how far we have come in implementing the declaration. We should educate them that it is the citizens who have to find the solutions and that they should take political responsibility and take part in the democratic process. We should encourage them, to use their foreign-language- and internet skills to create this human family in real in coming in contact and building friendships with other pupils across the world. We should also create partnerships and exchange our ideas as teachers and pupils how we bring the global march forward and what we do to form alliances of the common people in our regions and countries.
What do you think about our proposal? Do you want to create with us this network? Would you work with us to find solutions for our global challenges? Please discuss and make this call known, even to the parents and let us build a strong global network of schools to contribute to the global march and make the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so real.
the Call of the St. Marys School refers to this initiative:
Call to the common people worldwide to unite
Facing very dangerous global challenges like growing social insecurity, unemployment and poverty, violence and even a risk of a new world war, climate change and de-democratisation we call upon the common people of all states, ethnics, nations, religions to form a global alliance of the common people and prepare a long global march for the common people to create an social and international order in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Deciding in a meeting in Sunyani, Ghana, January 2013
Let us now unite for a global alliance of the common people and start to organize a long global march to take our global society in our hands and bring the right from us all through to live a decent life in dignity, which the state-community has agreed more than 60 years ago with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights! Let us overcome a system, which does not take the aims of this declaration as the main aims of our world, but profits and dominance!
We call upon the common people to unite us globally to bring our rights through: The right to live, to live in social security and peace, the right to work and to get salaries, which make a decent life possible, the right for healthcare, education, housing and food-security, for equal rights and freedom. All these rights were declared as rights of everyone worldwide already in 1948.
Our current political institutions do not decide according to their duties to keep the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in all their decisions. In our world we can feed more than 12 billion people, but almost one of 7 billion have no food-security and in every hour still 300 children die because of hunger. More and more people are facing because of unemployment a life of perspectiveliness, first for all among the young generation. In this soil criminality, extreme movements and wars are growing more than ever since 1945.Even a new global war can’t be any more excluded. Furthermore we already live much above the limits of our planet and destroy already the living conditions of more and more people worldwide and of the next generations. And this though still 80 percent of the world population is living in poverty and the world population will grow from 7 to between 8 and 9 billion in the next 40 years.
Today the dominating political alliances are not willing or able to govern our world in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We do not have to accept this. The problems are manmade and men can change them and we have the right to do it!
We therefore propose to you, those who do not get their rights and/or stand for equal rights for all: Let us form a global alliance of the common people, let us unite, independent to which religion, nation or ethnic we belong to or which skin-color we have and let us prepare together a long global march of the common people. As members of the one human family, as the Universal Declaration has declared.
We should start to organize for it a global network for friendship (1), to bring us in contact and so start to bridge the divisions. We should (2) organize a network for information and education, to make us as common people competent to bring our rights through. We should start (3) to work on reform-programs from local to national, continental and even global level: Especially for work, social security, peace, environment and democratic culture. And we should even as minorities start to change the world and organize as citizens for those who are under threat help through self-organized projects (4).
So prepared we should start a long global march, to bring our aims in the public and then start the march through all our institutions, till they worldwide start to make decisions in the sense of global humanity and according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Let us build this global friendship-network and committees to research and agree on reform-programs, which answers on the following questions:
- How the wealth of our world can be used to create such workplaces, which makes a decent live for the working possible and guarantees through its products and services for all men worldwide food-security, clean-drinking-water, education, housing and healthcare?
- How we can end the ongoing wars, how we prevent new wars and violence, overcome the ethnic, national, religious and social divisions and avoid a new global conflict or even war? How can we organize a peace-system for peaceful conflict-resolution, which enables us, to use the huge amount for military and wars to overcome global poverty.
- How can we adjust our lifestyles and economic-performances, so that we do not overuse anymore our planet and stop to destroy the living-conditions of more and more people, of the still growing world-population and the next generations?
- How can we make sure, that these our human interests for a decent life for all will be the focus of the political organs from the local to the national and even the continental and global level and not any more profit and dominance?
Call for the preparation of a long global march of the common people (Shortversion)
The universal declaration of human rights declares us to one human family. This from the states of the world accepted agreement or global constitution demands from our states to cooperate in such a way, that everybody worldwide can live in dignity. We want to bring this idea forward and create therefore a global alliance of the common people, a network to create friendship between people of all religions, nations and ethnics, a network to work on economic and social reforms especially to overcome poverty and unemployment, a network to end the wars, prevent new violence and create a global peace-order, a network to stop the ecological destruction of our planet and a network to strengthen the democratic culture from local up to the global level, to be able to find and bring through solution in the interests of the common people.
Come in and create with us these networks and alliances of the common people everywhere in the world, to unite us. Mobilize others to join. And let us create strong structures for these Alliance of the Common People to carry out a long global march to win the public opinion for it and to March through all our public institutions worldwide, till they all decide in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human rights: Peace and worldwide cooperation for human dignity for all!
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