Presentation College, Chaguanas, in January launched the “Make The Difference Anti-Bullying Campaign.” This campaign was the brainchild of one of its students, Tarick Boodoo. The goal of this campaign was to inspire young people to create a support system in their communities by challenging meanness and cruelty and replacing them with love and acceptance. Boodoo said he felt extremely disturbed on seeing children being bullied in his school as well as other educational institutions.
He despised the way people were treating each other. He wanted to see change. He wanted to make a difference. With this in mind his project took root, with the aim of making society more aware of the effects of bullying. After all, it appears bullying is getting more and more serious as the days go by. Even in Trinidad, children are taking their lives, as well as others’ lives because of the wounds they have received from being bullied.
The campaign was launched in Presentation College, Chaguanas, seeking to make those at the school aware of this issue. At the launch a short play by the drama club showed the various forms of bullying, which included: bullying because of their beliefs, or because of how they may look, how smart they can be, their sexual orientation, whether they were fat or not, etc. The purpose of this was to show that no matter how different a person may be, they do not deserve to be treated as an outcast or bullied in any way.
Lisa Boodoo
via e-mail