St John the Apostle NS, Knocknacarra, and Carrabane National School, Athenry, have received Highly Commended Activity Awards in the 2021 Our World Irish Aid Awards.
The winning entries comprised a wordsearch representing some of the work that Irish Aid and many others do together, in partnership, to make the world a better place, created by Anthony Apostol, a sixth class pupil from Knocknacarra NS; and a storyboard poster about refugees, inspired by the story of Mamcy, one of 1.2 million refugees living in Uganda who, with her family, fled war and violence in South Sudan, created by pupils at Carrabane National School.
The Minister for Overseas Development and the Diaspora, Colm Brophy, who announced the awards this week, said: “I would like to offer my warmest congratulations the teachers and pupils at both St John the Apostle and Carrabane National School. As I looked at their projects, I was reminded how important it is that Irish Aid continues to help deliver on the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals – and how essential it is that everyone makes their own contribution to this ambition.”
Minister Brophy made the announcement at a virtual award ceremony. Hundreds of pupils and teachers from primary schools across Ireland joined him online for the ceremony. Other speakers at the ceremony included Daire Courtney, who works for the Irish Embassy in Sierra Leone, who spoke from Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, supported by Irish Aid, and Joanne Nanyonjo from the Irish Embassy in Uganda, who joined the ceremony from Kampala to talk about how Irish Aid helps to support refugees.
The Our World Irish Aid Awards is the flagship Global Citizenship Education initiative of Irish Aid, the Government’s official international development programme run by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Cancelled in 2020, the awards this year moved online for the first time in their 16-year history, facilitating home learning.
The submissions from St John the Apostle, Knocknacarra, and Carrabane National School, Athenry, feature in a special printed annual magazine, which will be distributed to all primary schools in Ireland and made available to the public in print version and online via the website www.ourworldirishaidawards.ie
