Baking a Difference

PIC: Agent of Change

Back in my first two blog posts, I discussed the research I had uncovered on the Syrian refugee crisis. In my first blogpost, I talked about how over 11 million Syrians are displaced outside of their homes, with almost 4 million being outside of the country altogether. I talked about how there are people in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq. I discussed how people are forced out of there country for upwards of 17 years. In my second blogpost I did  my original research, where I interviewed Melissa Fleming of the UNHCR, and found even more information on the crisis. I found that the numbers of refugees is still increasing, showing no signs of slowing down. I found that refugees are having an even harder time getting out of their country, as many of the surrounding countries don’t want to allow too many people over their borders. Many groups, such as the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and the IRC (International Rescue Committee) are raising money towards helping refugees, and groups such as the IRC have been using social media to raise awareness of the issue. This being said, I still found that too many people know too little on the subject.

With the idea in mind of raising money, I saw that many of the organizations allowed people to donate money to them so they can get blankets, food, clean water, etc. to the refugees. I decided for my agent of change that I should help with this cause and donate money, as well as attempt to raise awareness of the issue. I decided to do a bake sale in my school, Science Leadership Academy, (SLA) to raise money and awareness. Although I only raised a small sum of fifty dollars for the refugees, I also was able to inform more people about the issue, and hopefully make more people realize that this issue is still going on, and that it is a serious problem, with people dying, and losing their families everyday. Although my Agent of Change was small, I hope that it had some impact on the issue.

The donation screen on the UNHCR website.