Paterson Joseph, acclaimed actor of screen and stage, playwright, and writer, supports our appeal. His experiences of discrimination at school as the child of Carribbean immigrants in London and an education system that failed him moved Joseph to support our appeal on education for minority children.
Hear from Paterson on why he supports us:
Nyiraminani is from Gicumbi in Rwanda. She’s Batwa.
Like many Batwa, her family was forcefully evicted from their ancestral land in Rwanda‘s forest. This left them in a cycle of poverty that affected her ability to access education.
With our local partner, we advocated for government support to allow Nyiraminani and other young Batwa to access higher education. Now, she’s at university, studying computing on a scholarship.
Sanabil is a Christian in Pakistan. As a religious minority at university, she has faced hate-speech and insulting stereotypes regularly. One of her teachers even asked her to convert to Islam for higher grades. She refused, but felt like she had to keep silent.
This year, Sanabil joined a hate speech discussion group organised by our local partners and decided to speak up. With support, she got an article about her experiences published online. It was publicised widely and she eventually appeared on TV.
She is now an anti-discrimination speaker and panelist.
Vadzide is a ten-year-old Romani girl living in Berovo, North Macedonia. She faces racist comments and abuse almost daily, and is often bullied and harassed by a group of her schoolmates who sometimes even corner and hit her.
Teachers usually believe it’s Vadzide who starts the fights and she is the one who’s often forced to apologise. She’s so afraid and demoralised, she avoids going to school.
MRG & their local partner got Vadzide’s parents free legal advice to help them prevent these incidents happening to Vadzide and other Romani children at her school.
We empower minorities and indigenous peoples in their demands for equality.
We support their activism and amplify their voices for the world to hear. We constantly lobby governments and the United Nations to recognise their struggles, pressuring those in power to bring real change that ensures their rights in all areas of life, including education, are respected.
