World Vision 40 Hour Vow of Silence Challenge!
21/6 Update: Thank you to my family and Maitri, Maira, Raima, Layla, Zee, Jess, and for the others who wised to be anonymous for supporting my 40 (+12) hours challenge, and the journey of the families of the people in the Solomon islands!
Hello, I'm Rayann! You might know me as Raya in school. For 40 hours from the 19th of June to the 21st, I will be taking a vow of silence to stand in solidarity and put myself in the shoes of families in the Solomon islands where issues such as unclean drinking water, destruction through climate change, uncommon access to education, and so, so much more affect their lives and it's kept hidden from the rest of the world. I did not even know about the issues people in the Solomon island faced until I learned more about the 40 hour challenge, and I just feel so terrible when I think about it - imagine if I was someone else who had to live a life no child or person should go through and worse, something about having to suffer in silence, not being able to express my sorrows because I can't 'speak' - in the way that I might not have access to social media or relationships to confide in from school because I couldn't afford to be educated - a literal human right. I hope through my literal sense of silence in just 40 hours, can help lift someone else's figurative silence, and give them a voice even to show I care, we care.
You have the option to give them a voice too by supporting my cause with whatever you have, because it'll give a family so much more than you would think.
I hope you'll come along on this journey with me!
Photo by Gama. Films on Unsplash
My Achievements
Signed up to the challenge
$50 Achiever
First donation
Shared the Challenge
$100 Achiever
$250 Achiever
$500 Achiever
Reached top 10 leaderboard
My Updates
WE RAISED $79!!!
Monday 22nd Jun
Acknowledgements and Reflections!
Sunday 21st JunWe usually feel a negative connotation with the world 'silence', but silence isn't always a bad thing. I'm actually quite a yapper who gets anxious when it gets silent, but at lunchtime on Friday (as I had accidentally started early...) a friend and I just sat together in silence while we both read our books and it was nice not feeling awkward or the pressure of filling up the silence. For the first time I felt like the silence with another person wasn't making me feel uncomfortable, or like I did something wrong, or I'm not putting enough effort in being social. I think when you can really feel comfortable like that with a friend, you'll feel a lot closer :)
I learnt a few simple phrases and how to spell my name in NZSL as a new form of communication because it was getting hard to write down on my whiteboard, but it didn't really make much of a difference because they didn't understand me anyway, so I had to switch back to fast whiteboard handwriting, and ouch I got a crazy hand crap by the end of the day. That got me thinking about how some deaf people have to get by understanding others through careful lip-reading, or people with mutism using their notebooks -- but there isn't as much of an effort for us to accommodate or learn for them.
On Saturday, my father and sister went to see a concert of a singer I liked and came home singing her songs, I felt soooo fomo because I couldn't single along... I chose this challenge because of my yapperness and I truly needed a lot of self restraint to not join in on conversations, singing along, and to try disappear into the backgrounds. It was quite lonely sometimes, I can't imagine how it would feel not being able to go to school and talk to all my lovely friends while we all skill up on our interests. I can't imagine how it feels to have the weight of my family's future on my back and having to work in poor conditions. I could never imagine the loneliness I felt at that moment, being another child's everyday. I could never want that on any child. That's why-- I just wanted to thank all my sponsors for your support. Through your kindness, there'll be less children in the world suffering in silence.
Because my sponsors donated through cash, I will acknowledge them here:
To my family: My parents, and my siblings Aayan and Tasfia.
And to everyone else: Maitri, Maira, Raima, Layla, Zee, Jess, and for the others who wised to be anonymous,
Thank you so much for supporting my 40 (+12) hours challenge, and the journey of the families of the people in the Solomon islands! Your donations will be sent in once I can put the cash in my bank account :)
