Spreading the net to make a difference

Since last October, students at North Nova Education Centre in New Glasgow have been helping Spread the Net.
The Spread the Net campaign is part of a national effort to raise funds to purchase bed nets for children in Rwanda and Liberia. The bed nets, at a cost of $10 per net, can be used to protect children from the mosquitoes that spread malaria, a deadly disease that kills 3,000 people every day. So far, students at North Nova have raised approximately $4,000 for the campaign. They will continue to raise funds until the end of March.
On Thursday Nigel Fisher, president and CEO of UNICEF, visited the school to speak to students about how they can make a difference, no matter where they live or how old they are. UNICEF has partnered with the Spread the Net campaign, and Fisher complimented the students on their efforts to raise funds to help children in Africa. (Last year, UNICEF sent more than 40,00 bed nets to Africa.) But he told the students there are many other ways they can make a difference. "Every one of us sitting right here can make a difference around the world," said Fisher, who served as assistant secretary general for the United Nations.
Fisher used examples of other young people he has met who managed to make a difference, despite difficult circumstances, to illustrate his point.
He spoke of a girl he met from Kenya. She was left an orphan when both of her parents died of AIDS. She also suffers with the disease. Nonetheless, she travels to schools and to communities speaking out on the risks of HIV/AIDS and the importance of safe sex.
"Here's a girl of tremendous courage who, despite her illness, said 'I can make a difference."
He also spoke about two girls he met while travelling through Mozambique. The girls started their own radio show in order to discuss issues like AIDS and abuse with other young people who called into the program. "One of those girls came to Canada last year to visit college campuses to discuss her experiences," Fisher said. "Again, you have a girl with such courage; and this is something you can do."
"Can you start a radio program and talk about issues here in your community and around the world, about exploitation and abuse against children, to raise awareness?"
He spoke of another girl he met while in Rwanda. This girl had been abducted by a rebel group. She was raped and had a child at age 12. She escaped the group at age 13, and since then has helped convict dozens of men in her country on rape charges. He said she is another young person who has made a difference in her community despite terrible odds.
"To me, it goes back to these basic questions: What do we expect the world to be, and what do we want the future to be?" Fisher said.
"The difference between those two questions is about power; it's about the feeling of whether we can make a difference or not."
He told the students they are "making a difference" by raising funds for Spread the Net. "And I hope you will continue to make a difference in other ways as well," he said.
Ben MacKenzie, a student at North Nova and the co-ordinator of the school's Spread the Net campaign, said he was inspired by Fisher's words, and he hoped other students were too.
"It is possible for one person to make a difference," MacKenzie said. "I think Mr. Fisher is here to remind us of that."