 SPEAKERS: As actress Glenn Close listens, in photo at left, Mary Bloomer, 13, of Quincy addresses the UN's Year of Volunteers gala last night in the Lincoln Center. At right, her sister, Laura, 11, speaks as Secretary General Kofi A. Annan listens. |
Riding up 8th Avenue yesterday on their way to meet United Nations Secretary General Kofi A. Annan, two young Quincy girls and their teacher were struck by how far their spirit of volunteerism had taken them. "It took the breath out of me," said Broad Meadows Middle School teacher Ron Adams. "Maybe you can't change the whole world all alone, but these students, working collectively, can change it a little bit." Adams was in New York City with Mary Bloomer, 13, and her sister, Laura, 11, who were scheduled last night to address the United Nations, which is marking International Year of Volunteers, on their efforts to raise money to build a school in Pakistan and expand an orphanage in El-Salvador. "I'm a little nervous, "Mary said during a telephone interview from her New York hotel room as she explained how she and Laura planned to tell the audience how their older sister, Elizabeth, inspired them. "She would tell us how children (in some developing countries) have to work in horrible conditions, all day, without food," Mary said. The Broad Meadows Middle School has been especially active on behalf of children's causes since 12-year-old Iqbal Masih of Pakistan visited the school in the mid-1990s and shocked students with his story of how his parents sold him into child labor at a tanning factory to pay off a $12 dept, Austin said. The boy was murdered in 1995 after he returned to Pakistan. Fueled by Masih's story, the children at Broad Meadows launched a fund-raising effort, raising $12 at a time in recognition of the boy's family debt. Eventually, they raised enough money to build a new school in Pakistan. |
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