Students for Change Research Project

Urban Communities Cohort

Disaster Relief Fundraiser organized by Grade 9 Math Class

Ridgemont High School
September 2023 – January 2024

Rationale

Mother nature does not discriminate, and a disaster is not one unless humans are impacted. Unfortunately, communities and countries that are already experiencing civil conflicts, economic shocks and poverty often bear the greatest costs of disasters. Furthermore, often those who are the most vulnerable (women, children, and the elderly) suffer the most. Students in the grade 9 math class in Ridgemont High School learned of the high casualties caused by recent disasters, leading them to help these groups that are in desperate need. They initiated a fundraiser to help those affected by natural disasters in Morocco, Libya and Afghanistan.

For my Student for Change research, my goal is to identify the various social issues connected to natural disasters and how we as educators can help students be more aware of these issues. I believe this student initiative allows me to see the potential of bringing social issues that are happening around the world into the classroom, especially into a math classroom in which the subjects seem very unrelated to each other. By observing this initiative, I hope that it can help me see myself as a potential transformative leader by helping students to become more aware, develop compassion, and realize their potential to help those who are vulnerable, either in a country far away or in a community very close to home.

Problem Tree

Disaster Relief Fundraiser for Countries Greatly Impacted

Research Questions

What social issues are connected to natural disasters?
How do we, as educators, raise awareness in students of the current social issues around the world?
How can teachers implement social issues into curriculum teaching?

Photovoice

Image 1 - A Melting Earth

Climate change is one obvious main cause of increasingly severe weather events. Severe weather events can often cause catastrophic losses. This print image was made at a printmaking activity at the Night Market event in Ridgemont. There were several images that participants can choose to create their prints, and all the images were associated with climate change. It was a fun little activity to use art to raise awareness of climate change. Raising awareness about global issues can be done at anytime, such during classroom instruction, at student clubs, and in school-wide events.

On a global level, students understand that climate change has impact on the planet Earth. This image shows the Earth melting like ice cube due to global warming. We would think the Earth would be “melting” evenly; hence, climate change would affect everyone on Earth equally. However, we often hear news regarding natural disasters causing catastrophic damage in poorer countries. These countries are more likely to suffer from natural disasters due to resources not distributed equally in the world.

On a personal level, severe weather events can cause inconveniences in our everyday lives. For example, many students could recall and describe the derecho event in May 2022. Multiple tornadoes have touched down in Ottawa in 2023, which have damaged several homes. Freezing rain events would often cause power outages in homes. These events cause financial loss, and usually low-income families are the ones who suffer most. For instance, families who have the money could invest in power generators in case the power goes out, while families who can’t afford one would need to ride out the cold. Science tells us that climate change will continue to intensify extreme weather events. The number of these events will likely increase in the future, and the poor will continue to suffer.

Image 2 - Aftermath of Flooding in Libya (2023)

Extreme weather events are considered “natural disasters” when humans are affected. Natural disasters wreck communities and countries, destroy infrastructure, causes high casualties and huge economic losses. Images like this one break our hearts, because often the poor and the vulnerable suffer the most and are disproportionally affected by the destructive effects of natural disasters. “Poverty is both a driver and consequence of disasters, and the processes that further disaster risk related poverty are permeated with inequality” (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [UNDRR], 2021). “Impoverished people are more likely to live in hazard-exposed areas and are less able to invest in risk-reducing measures” (UNDRR, 2021). When disasters strike, they likely don’t have the funds or resources to recover; hence further induces poverty. “The geography of inequality expresses itself at all scales: between regions and countries, within countries and inside cities and localities” (UNDRR, 2021). This image is one of the aftermath images of the devastating flooding in Libya in 2023. We don’t often see similar images of communities completely wiped out coming out of North American and European countries.

On a global level, economic resources are unevenly distributed around the world. Poorer countries do not have the resources to build strong infrastructure, implement adequate warning systems, and update forecasting equipment. Furthermore, political instability and conflicts in certain countries cause oppression on normal citizens and drive even more poverty. North American and European countries are also exposed to natural disasters, but their wealth and resources allows them to implement proper disaster risk management systems to mitigate significant losses and recover quicker in the aftermath. Of note is that these countries are also amongst the most powerful in the world.

On a national level, often the poor and working class live in hazard-exposed neighbourhoods. “Key factors in underprivileged areas include low-quality and insecure housing, limited access to basic services such as health care, public transport, communications, and infrastructure such as water, sanitation, drainage, and roads” (UNDRR, 2021). Intersectionality of classism and racism is also apparent as high percentage of people in the working class are of people of Colour. In other words, racialized groups are disproportionally affected by natural disasters.

Image 3 - Students Voting

Upon hearing of the news and seeing images such as the one above regarding recent natural disasters in countries such as Morocco, Afghanistan, and Libya, one student in the Grade 9 Math class came up with the initiative to organize a fundraiser for disaster relief. Building on this idea, my Associate Teacher used this opportunity to incorporate current issues into lesson teaching and have students work together for a common purpose. The entire fundraiser is student-run with my Associate Teacher and me guiding the way.

At the end of the semester, students voted on the organization the funds would be donated to. Students researched a few charity organizations that help with disaster relief and recovery. In this image, students are voting whether the funds will go towards Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, or both. They were concerned with how the funds will be used and whether all the funds will be

available to those in need. The information they gathered and learned were put into consideration when they voted. “In the aftermath of disaster, governments and donors assess damages and losses and draw up technical proposals for reconstruction. The outcomes of these plans, however, can often diverge from their intentions. In practice, a host of other factors come into play, including the availability of funds and skills, the quality of implementing institutions, vested interests, and power relations” (Deraniyagala, 2016). Even in desperate times, socio-economic inequality is apparent as resource distribution is again determined by a small group of people in power. Giving students an opportunity to be informative about how funds are used allows them to have a glimpse of the inequalities in this world.

Students for Change Action Plan

When the students in the Grade 9 math class expressed interest in working on this initiative, my Associate Teacher was very supportive of it. We worked together to come up with a framework of what needs to be planned and accomplished for a fundraiser, such as advertising, baking, set up, managing finances, etc., and gave this framework to the students. They were then split up into groups to discuss and work amongst themselves to get the fundraiser running. Of note is that one of the groups was assigned to research on the possible charities we can donate funds to and would present their findings to us. The purpose was to prevent the focus to shift away from the social aspect of this initiative and would like the students to discover themselves how funds are managed by charities.

Taking action on social issues can be accomplished as a whole class. As teachers, we used this opportunity to link curriculum expectations with awareness of issues in the world. Initiatives such as this provides hands-on engagement to the rigorous curriculum content that students are learning, allows them to see its relevance to their lives, and spark students’ interest in learning. It also fosters teamwork and leadership skills. Ridgemont is a school filled with people passionate about social issues and have various clubs devoted to different issues. The Student for Change Club, that inspired this research project for the Urban Communities Cohort, consists of students taking on projects to support various meaningful causes. Encouraging students in class to join such clubs and/or facilitate a collaboration with the club members could allow students to learn from each other and perhaps create a bigger impact.

Natural disasters disproportionally affecting the vulnerable is not the only social issue in the world. In addition to this initiative, throughout the semester my Associate Teacher would occasionally spend some time during class to talk about other social issues, such as the residential school system, violence against women, racism, etc. Ridgemont is a diverse school, where a large population of the student body are multilingual. They come from different parts of the world and have their own lived experiences. During one of our discussions in class, one student shared her experience of going to school everyday in her home country, listening to the sounds of bombs and accepting the risk that one of them may drop on her one day. These are incredible stories that people from dominant groups could never imagine happening in their lives; they allow students to gain perspectives from minority groups. As an educator, facilitating discussions and projects such as this initiative help everyone be more informed about the social groups that we don’t belong in. It encourages students to become more aware, build mutual understandings, foster cross-group relationships through collaboration, and develop compassion towards those who are vulnerable.

References

Deraniyagala, S. (2016). Economic Recovery after Natural Disasters. Humanitarian Action: A Shared Responsibility, Vol. LIII(1). https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/economic-recovery-after-natural-disasters

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). (2021, June 9). Poverty and inequality. PreventionWeb. https://www.preventionweb.net/understanding-disaster-risk/risk-drivers/poverty-inequality