“Slavery should be abolished” will be one of the arguments that Yorkshire pupils will hear at the Great Slavery debate to be held in Hull’s Guildhall on 17th October.

The play is set in the House of Commons, and will take place in the Guildhall Council Chamber where actors will play the part of William Wilberforce, MP for Hull and Yorkshire, who is opposed by Sir Banastre Tarleton, MP for Liverpool.

Pupils from Winifred Holtby School and Easingwold School will play the roles of the remaining M.P.’s in the debate.

The event will end with pupils taking part in an 19th century style vote, followed by a discussion on the result of the original 1807 result which lead to the abolition of the slave trade.

Pupils from the Royal Docks Community School based in Newham, London who are also involved in the project will watch the debate on the web. Actor, Chris Cade has researched the arguments around the slave trade using documents from the British Library and Wilberforce House.

The debate will be filmed by local film maker Jon Robson of Café Society and will form part of an on-line learning resource (www.mylearning.org) to be made available for the re-opening of Wilberforce house.

The event is part of the “Making an Impact” project run by the DCMS (Department for Culture Media and Sport) and run through the British Library and MLA (Museums Libraries and Archives) Yorkshire with schools working closely with Hull Museum Education Service, Harewood House and the British Library.

Pupils from the three schools are using historic documents and sources to learn about issues and techniques used in the anti-slavery campaigns leading to the abolition of the slave trade.

From January pupils will use their new found skills to focus on and develop campaigns around modern day issues. They will also be working with Creative Practitioners to create innovative work based on film, art and graphic novels based on their campaigns. Work will be showcased from all three schools at an event in March to be held in Hull.

View the full debate below :-

[googlevideo]8785386892562509334&hl=en-GB[/googlevideo]

We are currently talking with The Refugee All Stars about the possability of a concert in the city of Hull, UK; the twin town of the All Stars. We are hoping the band will play in Hull early December. The visit will also include workshops with local school children.

Here is a short trailer for the documentary film SIERRA LEONE’S REFUGEE ALL STARS.

The film tells the remarkable story of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, a group of musicians who form a band while living in a West African refugee camp.

They were forced from their homes by a brutal civil war that took the lives of many of their loved ones and left them with physical and emotional scars that may never heal. But it could never take away their music.

Through music they find a place of refuge, a sense of purpose and a source of power. This film follows the band over the course of three years as they make the difficult decision to return to their war-torn country and realize their dream of recording an album of their original music.

The story of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars celebrates the best of the human spirit - the incredible ability of individuals to sustain hope and find forgiveness even in a climate of rage and loss.

On the beach at Lumley

Originally uploaded by Jon - Cafesociety.org.

Age:19

School: Methodist Boys High School Freetown

Home address: No, 98 Bai Bureh Road, Kissy, Freetown.

I was born in Yoni Chiefdom, in a village called Mathoir, in the North of Sierra Leone.

One day I was going to school, when I heard the rumor that the rebels where planning an attack. On the 3rd of March 1995 the rebels attacked the rural areas of Kono district, they started to cut people’s hands and feet off, they burnt houses and killed the innocent people, destroying properties as a result.
I was forced to move from one place to another to save my life.

With regards the work or Cafesociety.org (Jon, Matt and Murray), they came and gave us knowledge about the media, they taught us about video camera work, they also came and helped us develop our talent in music, video (filming) and also creative writing.

These skills can help to develop our local creative talents into a higher level.
Media training can help us to develop our local talent in music, writing poems or stories, and making videos ,it is very important for the young people to have an international voice..

It is important for the young people to reach an international audience because it will give us the opportunity to develop our country, Sierra Leone.

My main ambition is to become an international musician at the top of the world map, I also want to become a lawyer.

Young people at iEARN

Originally uploaded by Jon - Cafesociety.org.

Age:16

School: Prince of Wales Secondary School

Home address: No 15 Bunduka Street, Grassfield off BaiBureh Road Kissi Mess, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Email Address: sylvangooding@yahoo.com

As a student, I like and want to be part of a lot of things that entail education such as computer literacy, languages, educative television programs, positive music, religious morals etc, and I also like playing games that will develop my sporting prowess; my favourite sports are soccer and basketball. My hobbies are reading books of great importance to my schooling, novels of legendaries and mythical fictions, watching programs on television, movies and listening to the radio.

The ten years of civil war in our country (Sierra Leone) affected my life and many others in my community adversely and as a result, changed the whole story about the country from a fine and peaceful country to violent and undeveloped one. Because of the bad governance which is the order of the day, corruption is the chief security officer were as lacking and slackness has become the name of a greater amount of the country’s population. the war also brought a stand still to education, our economy and population growth.

Thanks to God for the work of Jon, Matt and Murray in IEARN SL ,trying to get us young ones engaged in the field of media; it is a tremendous job and we appreciate it very much. They have been doing a job that will benefit us in the mere future, these skills that we are acquiring from these three wonderful guys can improve our lives by earning us a career in radio stations, television stations and even in the filming industries.

Let me therefore note the importance of the skills; improving our lives is one and also one major aspect of young people in Freetown receive media training is because media training is very important in the lives of the young people of Sierra Leone and it is paid great attention to . Young people all over the world must have a voice that can reach international audiences for by so doing, they will be able to express themselves, things bothering their lives and communities and they will be able to have a say in issues of global importance, therefore, the world will know how to solve problems relating to young ones of Sierra Leone.

Lastly, my hopes and ambition for the future are many, but this are few that i will list down; I hope to see the world at peace and all attention focused to things of God and may His grace abound. I intend to be one of the world’s most learned gentleman and want to live a life of Godliness.

Barmmy Boy :: Freetown

Originally uploaded by Jon - Cafesociety.org.

I was born and grew up in Freetown, I am from an extended family.
I start life on my own at the age of eleven, I worked for different people
just for me to acquire money to pay for my education.
I also do jobs like fishing, petty trading etc, whilst living on my own and with friends.

The brutal civil in Sierra Leone set things behind for me, I was out of school for years, most of the houses in my community were burnt by the rebels and some of my friends were killed (Abdulia, Mohamed, Fisher etc).
I lost my elder sister (Sarah Mansaray) and also my younger brother, my father
has lost his sight, my mother is a petty trader and nursing my younger
siblings.

In May 2006 I meet with Jon, Matt and Murray (Cafesociety.org) through IEARN Sierra Leone, in Freetown.

The work of Cafesociety.org is to adhere towards developing the talent of young people and also help to promote their voice internationally, they also create the platform for youths to tell their stories, views, ideas and also show case their talents through video and music and also help to provide, media training for the young people in Sierra Leone.
To say the least, video and music have played a vital role in my life, to help me deal with the trauma and healing process after the civil war.

The young people in Sierra Leone spent ten years of their time worthlessly, due to the ten year civil war and what we need now is empowerment, skills that will help us make ends meet in the future.

The youth makes up a large proportion of the population, but there is high rate of illiteracy and lack of skills, which is a big problem, as a result, there is a lot of idleness. Our talents are wasting.

This is leading to an increase in crime rate and also drug abuse. I strongly believe that media training will help us to be self sustainable, reduce the indignity of begging and it will also help us to make ends meet

For us and our families in the future it will help us make a better Sierra Leone as
many of us are now engaging ourselves in the growing filming and the music industry after the war.

We the young people have been longing for our voice to reach an international audience, we have the talent to make it if we are given the opportunity, we will make a difference in the world and Sierra Leone in particular, this will also help to change the negative idea that people out side have about Sierra Leone.
They know us only for the brutal civil war.

It is the time for the young people of Sierra Leone to think locally and act globally.

In my country there is know school for music or video production,
but it is dream of mine to become a music producer in the future.