I frankly did not expect what Amnesty offered me. I expected some field work, and some actual work that could be done for people facing human rights violation. But, Amnesty offered me the chance to experience the other side of volunteering and marches. It helped me experience the behind-the-scenes and the work that goes in before going out into the field.
In this one term, I mostly prepared for the Christmas Market happening in West Island School, where we were supposed to raise money for our cause. I decided to make a quiz focusing on freedom of speech.
Not only did this activity help me learn about quizzes and organizing them, it also helped me learn about and understand the cause I was fighting for.
While making the quiz, I did realize its a difficult task. Its not as easy as finding questions and putting answers. Making questions straightforward enough, but tricky enough to confuse the contestant about the answer was a tough job. Even though I did it with someone else, it wasn't always easy to be on top of things. I think, just by making those questions I got to see a different side, a side I didn't care to think much about before this opportunity. I thought a Quiz Master's job was easy, but I was proven wrong. Being in charge of making the quiz and making a good presentation while also knowing all the answers and getting all this done on time was not at all how I imagined a Quiz Master's job to be.
I made a lot of mistakes on the way, and things didn't go as planned on the final day, so we had to improvise, and, I could see hundreds of mistakes in what we had managed to put up. There were mistakes like not knowing the answer while the contestant was having a go on the quiz, and we realized that our situation-based questions weren't working because the answers weren't definite, and that idea was a flop. This gave me an insight on what works and what doesn't, and how I could change the rules a little while still having a good and entertaining quiz going on. Thus, the next time I prepare a quiz, I know what works and what doesn't.
Even after all the goof ups, and the last minute changes, it gave me immense joy to enlighten people about different aspects of freedom of speech and what they mean. I'm sure a lot of people went home with some new knowledge about freedom of speech and how different it actually is than what we tend to think. Also, knowing about freedom of speech and what it means, and how its exploited in different countries is important to have a holistic idea of freedom of speech and its violation.
Learning about this while doing the research opened my eyes to more than what I knew about freedom of speech. We just seem to think freedom of speech is a very simple concept, that involving the right and freedom of the citizens to voice their opinions. But, freedom of speech is a more complicated idea than that. It includes writings and petitions, and, most importantly, it includes the citizens' right to criticize the government. But, there can also be the misuse of this right, that is, if you can call it misuse, as the people have the right to say and write and petition for whatever they want. Thus, freedom of speech is a very complicated idea.
I didn't realize the idea of freedom of speech could be that complicated and confusing, and this piece of information really opened my mind to how difficult it could be fighting for this right, considering the vagueness and the grey areas, and how authoritarian governments could misuse this weakness behind the idea.
Thus, Amnesty introduced me to another role, and taught me the reality behind a concept of freedom and rights, and how difficult it actually is to get things done and moving.
In this one term, I mostly prepared for the Christmas Market happening in West Island School, where we were supposed to raise money for our cause. I decided to make a quiz focusing on freedom of speech.
Not only did this activity help me learn about quizzes and organizing them, it also helped me learn about and understand the cause I was fighting for.
While making the quiz, I did realize its a difficult task. Its not as easy as finding questions and putting answers. Making questions straightforward enough, but tricky enough to confuse the contestant about the answer was a tough job. Even though I did it with someone else, it wasn't always easy to be on top of things. I think, just by making those questions I got to see a different side, a side I didn't care to think much about before this opportunity. I thought a Quiz Master's job was easy, but I was proven wrong. Being in charge of making the quiz and making a good presentation while also knowing all the answers and getting all this done on time was not at all how I imagined a Quiz Master's job to be.
I made a lot of mistakes on the way, and things didn't go as planned on the final day, so we had to improvise, and, I could see hundreds of mistakes in what we had managed to put up. There were mistakes like not knowing the answer while the contestant was having a go on the quiz, and we realized that our situation-based questions weren't working because the answers weren't definite, and that idea was a flop. This gave me an insight on what works and what doesn't, and how I could change the rules a little while still having a good and entertaining quiz going on. Thus, the next time I prepare a quiz, I know what works and what doesn't.
Even after all the goof ups, and the last minute changes, it gave me immense joy to enlighten people about different aspects of freedom of speech and what they mean. I'm sure a lot of people went home with some new knowledge about freedom of speech and how different it actually is than what we tend to think. Also, knowing about freedom of speech and what it means, and how its exploited in different countries is important to have a holistic idea of freedom of speech and its violation.
Learning about this while doing the research opened my eyes to more than what I knew about freedom of speech. We just seem to think freedom of speech is a very simple concept, that involving the right and freedom of the citizens to voice their opinions. But, freedom of speech is a more complicated idea than that. It includes writings and petitions, and, most importantly, it includes the citizens' right to criticize the government. But, there can also be the misuse of this right, that is, if you can call it misuse, as the people have the right to say and write and petition for whatever they want. Thus, freedom of speech is a very complicated idea.
I didn't realize the idea of freedom of speech could be that complicated and confusing, and this piece of information really opened my mind to how difficult it could be fighting for this right, considering the vagueness and the grey areas, and how authoritarian governments could misuse this weakness behind the idea.
Thus, Amnesty introduced me to another role, and taught me the reality behind a concept of freedom and rights, and how difficult it actually is to get things done and moving.
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