Amnesty International.

So recently, I've been feeling a bit...insignificant. As if, no matter how hard I try it's not really going to make much of a difference, in the grand scale of things. But I've changed my mind. What if everybody felt that way? What if nobody tried? Sure, maybe your English teacher isn't going to give you credit when you work your socks off to get a high mark in your test; or your Mum doesn't thank you for taking the dog out and locking up the chickens.

I doesn't matter what people think of you,

It matters what you think of yourself.

Well, that's what I think, anyway. Yes, you're going to get knocked down and you're going to get let down, but should that mean you should give up? Somewhere out there, in the Big Wide World, someone needs your help. Are you going to not bother to try or are you going to give it your best damn shot?

Y'know what kickstarted this? 

Amnesty International.

My RE teacher invited me and a few other friends to her Amnesty International Club, if we where interested. I'd heard about Amnesty International before, but I wasn't entirely sure what they did. But me and my friend Freya, deciding to give it a shot, went along.

It's a worldwide community fighting for human rights. You learn all about these people who're being supressed for what they believe in. Who're being imprisoned without fair trials. Who are killed in the most horrific ways just because they are who they are. And Amnesty International makes a difference. All those tiny "insignificant people" come together to make this burning ball of fire, lighting the way for people who need our help. Did you know people are stoned to death? Literally. Women are buried into the ground if they cheat on their husband, and people lob stones at them until they die. No fair trial. Half of them can't even write their own name. They can't afford to employ their own lawyer to support them, even if they do get to appear in court. There's also a human rights worker, in China, who's been put under house arrest for months, along with his wife, despite the fact she has nothing to do with his work. He depends on his sixty-something-year-old mother to provide for the house, and is unable to take his young daughter out to play in the park, or walk her to school...And this happening, in our world, right now.

Amnesty provides a voice for those who've been silenced.

One card. We've all got them. A birthday card, a get well soon card, a Christmas card. One of Amnesty's biggest campaigns involves just that...One card. Send your card to one of those prisoners, with a nice message they might not even be able to read and sign it with a name they won't remember. One, insignificant card.

But it's not insignificant.

Because those thousands of people are sending a card, too.

And now think about the cards you've been given. Your birthday card, your get well soon card, your Christmas card... How did they make you feel? That one tiny card that told you someone, out there, in the Big Wide World, cared. And now imagine thousands of those tiny sparks of light, of  belief, arriving at your doorstep. Locked away in prison for a crime you didn't commit, forced into silence when all you want is for people to hear your pleas for help...

So I'm the writer for this magazine, and I'm going to following stories of these extraordinary people that so many people want to deter. And, hopefully, I plan on sharing these stories with you guys too. Take a look at the website (Here it is...) and see for yourself. And, please, if you can spare a moment to write a card, or even starting your own Amnesty International Club (If you're feeling that inspired!) then I promise you it's worth it.

Because we're not insignificant,

Unless we really want to be...

Write soon,

Love,

Sarah xxx