Celebrities call on teachers to take part in Amnesty's Friendship Week

 

Actress Brenda Fricker and author Cathy Kelly spoke movingly about the impact of friendship in their lives, ahead of Friendship Week which begins on 6 February. 

 

Colm O'Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said "Friendship Week is both a celebration of human rights education and a way to practically challenge racism and homophobia in the classroom." 

 

Amnesty International provide free educational resource packs full of information for teachers and students about human rights and how it relates to the lives of children of all ages, in all countries. Some schools take part with one lesson; some devote a day or the whole week. This initiative seeks to empower children and to equip them with the skills to identify what they can do for human rights, both locally and globally.

 

Brenda Fricker, Academy Award winner for her performance in My Left Foot, said "I always valued friendship because my father told me it was a rare and precious thing which had to be worked at, hard, every day. So I listened to him and went into a life that was lucky enough to put me into the path of some wonderful people.  I treated them the way my father had told me to and to my surprise, they treated me the same. They kept me alive. Literally.  

 

The joy, fun, pain, travel, smells, languages, worry, uplift and support I got from them, carried me along like Cleopatra on her throne. If you are lucky enough to have a real friend, guard, love, forgive and protect them like a lion with her cubs because they are the best thing in your life."

 

Cathy Kelly, international best-selling author, said "For me, friendship is someone who accepts me for what and who I am, and for me to do the same for them. And friendship shouldn’t end at the edge of our own lives – friendship should mean extending a hand to other people in the world around us and further afield, to people who’ve had little experience of either kindness or friendship.

 

A hand of human friendship, no matter how different their lives may be. Friendship is that most human of all emotions. We should value its power."

 

To order your free educational resource pack and friendship bracelets call 01 8638300 or email friendshipweek@amnesty.ie, or find out more online at www.amnesty.ie