—by Mr. Christian Garretson & Ms. Debbie Klongtruadroke—
Ruamrudee International School celebrated Peace Week from Monday, September 19 to Friday, September 23. The week culminated with an All-School Peace Assembly, followed by a special meeting with visiting students from the Pattaya Redemptorist Technological College for People with Disabilities.
What started as a Town-Hall-style meeting quickly became a sharing of the arts with drama games, songs, and many honest conversations about the difficulties and challenges of living with disabilities, family life, favorite bands and movies, dream jobs. The list goes on.
Soon it became apparent that the differences were few and there were far more similarities between the students in our two schools. Students from the ages of 5 to 21 sat on the floor in a concert atmosphere and played music, sang, joked, laughed together, asked questions, and formed friendships.
Below are a variety of comments, experiences, and reactions from RIS students and faculty members who attended the meeting:
“It was inspiring to see our guests live their lives happily and worry-free, even though they have disabilities. I look forward to doing something like this again!” —Claire de Lune, Grade 5
“They were so good at doing things, even with disabilities. If I can, I would like very much to help them!” —Linin, Grade 5
“The event was awesome and I hope we do this again. I saw everybody laughing with joy and happiness! I loved how we included everyone in the activities and games so that all the attendees would have fun.” —Sam, Grade 7
“During the activity I came to this realization—there are underprivileged people in this world, whether disabled or not. I feel privileged to have what I have, and also ashamed of the fact that these people, who were given less than me, sometimes work harder than me.” —Aaron, Grade 9
“I thoroughly enjoyed the colloquial time spent with them after all the ‘formalities.’ I heard the stories of the visitors, and upon hearing about the way society treats them as different, I felt somewhat angry.” —Samarth, Grade 11
“It was an amazing experience to have our guests and our students learn about how we can live our lives EQUALLY, even though we have different conditions. I hope that we can continue doing this kind of activity.” —Ms. Zoila Alvarez, ES Values Teacher
Mr. Jafferali Mussa, the K-12 Head of Department for Religion and Values and ideator of this visit, eloquently stated that RIS students embodied the spirit of the school’s ethos, Union of Hearts, through compassion and empathy as they built powerful and long lasting relationships with our friends from Pattaya. The love shared between the two groups of students, manifesting the Heart component of our Principles of Phoenix, was truly impressive.
He added, in conclusion, a statement which showed the sentiment that resonated through all the activities and events that took place at RIS during Peace Week: ‘Building relationships with diverse groups of humanity is truly a recipe for peace for our planet.’
