Youth
International ORT summit an educational experience
Ariellah Rosenberg, the Chief Executive of Jewish educational NGO ORT South Africa, recently welcomed home 13 exhilarated teenagers from a week-long trip to the World Youth Encounter in Argentina, organised by World ORT and Scholas, an international welfare group promoted by Pope Francis.
OWN CORRESPONDENT
The summit was attended by 500 youth from all over the world. It is set up to expose youngsters to different cultures, languages, and customs, and to strengthen the global ORT network by facilitating interactions amongst this generation of learners and their peers in the ORT network.
As an organisation that promotes 21st century skills, ORT said the encounter imparted skills of networking, collaborating, and connecting with diverse people from different cultures and languages.
Seven ORT countries were represented: Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Israel, and South Africa.
ORT SA was represented by 10 Grade 10 pupils from King David Linksfield and Victory Park , as well as three pupils from Ivory Park and Alexandra high schools in Johannesburg, accompanied by three teachers.
Pope Francis celebrated the encounter in a video message to the students thanking those who made the event possible. “I would like to celebrate together with you this meeting of people, different religions, countries, languages, and realities. A meeting of different identities,” he said.
For Kgopolang Masoga, a student from Alexandra, it was a motivating experience. “One thing that ORT taught me,” he said, “is that being the best is not that important, but doing your best is all that matters. When you are working hard you will succeed in life.”
Those sentiments were echoed by teachers from the ORT-affiliated King David Schools in Johannesburg. Mandy Gruzd said she had watched children “open up and take everything in. They have learned so much and grown so much in the few short days we have been here,” she said.
“I have made friends from all over the globe using Google Translate,” said Dylan Martheze from King David Victory Park. “I loved each and every second of being in Buenos Aires. I loved the culture and drinking chimarrao tea, and have made friends forever. Thank you all so much for this experience and I will never forget it.”
Shirili Rosenberg of King David Linksfield said, “The encounter was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience. You get the opportunity to make friends. Even though there is a language barrier, you still become so close. We had the creative outlet to do what we are passionate about.”
“I do believe that education is more than schooling, it is about assuring we provide the resources and the possibilities for our learners to accomplish their dreams and their potential,” ORT said.