The Bridge of Don Academy Global Goals Group have successfully completed the 90kg Rice Challenge!!
The 90kg Rice Challenge is a challenge for organisations and schools to sell 90kg of rice to represent how much rice a Malawian farmer should sell to be able to go to secondary school for a single child. Overall the challenge is to help promote the lives of people in other countries who do not share the same luxuries we do, while educating other people both in and out of the school.
On the 4th of March, the Global Goals Group celebrated the launch of the 90kg Rice Challenge 2022. At this event they invited pupils from Scotstown Primary and Braehead Primary and other guests including those from the University, Developing the Young Workforce, Aberdeen for a Fairer World and Richard Thomson MP. The launch event was to educate and present the main purpose of the challenge. The Global Goals Group and their guests each gave a talk and it ended with samples of rice being given to everyone along with some vegetarian chilli to make sure it suited all dietary needs.
The Global Goals Group visited Scotstown Primary to help co-create a ‘Rice-ipe’ book. Each pupil researched rice recipes, found pictures and tried different fonts and slogans to make it eye-catching. They worked together to work out printing costs and how much they needed to sell the rice and book for. Some pupils also worked on a colourful and artistic cover for the book. The finished Rice-ipe book was then sold alongside the rice as part of a special deal.
In the summer holidays, the group worked alongside Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeen for a Fairer World to hold a stall at the Mela festival. The pupils sold rice and the Rice-ipe book and raised awareness of Fairtrade and human rights. The pupils got fully involved and even wore the Fairtrade banana costume!
Back at school, the Global Goals Group sold rice to staff before deciding to donate some rice to the local food bank, CFINE. This was inspired by a comment made by Kat Ramsay, Aberdeen City Council and Chair of the Aberdeen Fair and Sustainable Trade Steering Group. Kat’s comment was regarding how foodbank users do not have access to Fairtrade products and the inequality of this. After hearing this the Global Goals Group decided to donate a few bags of fairly traded rice to CFINE to emphasise the importance of making Fairtrade products accessible to those who rely on foodbanks.
The group have developed a wide range of skills throughout the challenge. They have shown integrity and independence by taking responsibility to lead the project themselves, and demonstrated their dedication to the cause by working towards it both during school hours and outside of school, even attending to the challenge in the summer holidays. The group also developed their collaborative skills and have proven their adaptability and resilience by working together to overcome obstacles with a positive mindset. This has been incredibly valuable to the group as these skills are transferable and will support them in the workplace as well as in higher education if that is the route they choose to take when they leave school.
They have adapted to the various challenges the project presented by having a positive attitude and showing perseverance. The group showed initiative by taking charge, being resourceful and self-motivated, taking responsibility, and using independent thinking and decision making. The pupils worked with others showing good communication skills, collaborating and feeling skills. These feeling skills include having a social conscience, awareness, empathy, respect and a sense of responsibility on a local and a global scale. The pupils led this project and staff were only needed in a supporting role. The group should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved.
Here is what some of the pupils had to say about the challenge.
“The 90kg Rice Challenge was an incredibly valuable experience for us as a group, and was a great opportunity for us to support positive change whilst developing a variety of transferable skills that we can use beyond school. Working collaboratively towards achieving our goal and leading the project ourselves was particularly beneficial for us as our teamwork has improved through this, allowing us to work more effectively on our other projects. We are all very proud of what we have achieved and it feels fantastic to have conquered the challenge, as it has allowed us to raise awareness about issues that we are very passionate about. Presenting at the launch event is something we are all especially proud of, because public speaking is something that all of us find quite difficult at times and it took a lot of resilience and perseverance to overcome this and present in front of everyone who attended. Overall, completing the challenge has been a fantastic experience for us as a group and has allowed us to develop lots of skills that will be valuable beyond school.”
“I have really enjoyed doing this challenge. It has taught me a lot about how fair trade products are not accessible to everyone. The overall challenge has made the group more independent which will help us with other projects we decide to take on in the future. We met lots of new people during our launch event”.
The school would like to thank Aberdeen for a Fairer World and the Co-op for their assistance in initially purchasing the rice. This was made possible as part of a joint Co-op Local Community Funding application made by Bridge of Don Academy and Aberdeen for a Fairer World.