Upon my return to Canada from visiting the children’s homes run by CHI in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal I had the pleasure of working with Gaye Taylor who runs Cool It For The Kids (CIFTK). CIFTK is an Ottawa-based organization that provides climate change awareness for children. Together we visited local Ottawa schools to provide presentations to children on the issues and impact of climate change and social responsibility.

In my presentation and discussion, I was emphasizing how climate change has affected children in the developing world, particularly in Bangladesh, and our social responsibility on a personal level. The presentations were well received with a lot of interest and enthusiasm from the children. The kids were particularly interested in the daily lives and challenges of the children in Bangladesh. It was wonderful to see their positive engagement, and their very challenging questions and great ideas about how they could drive change in the world.

These presentations reinforced for me the importance of engaging youth locally to increase their awareness of their connection to other children around the world who are in a more vulnerable environment.