Dynamo and Laura Carmichael in new Safe Schools campaign film

Today, a new film is launched featuring actor Laura Carmichael and Magician Dynamo delivering a poem composed of the voices of young people around the world to send a powerful message that children trapped in conflicts and natural disasters need safe schools.

The film, ‘Safe Schools: Children Can No Longer Wait’, has been released as part of Theirworld’s Safe Schools campaign a week ahead of the first ever World Humanitarian Summit. Five hundred of the charities global youth ambassadors were asked to share words that personally reflected the importance they placed on school. These were then used by spoken word artist Yomi ‘GREEdS’ Sode as the basis of the poem which paints a powerful and emotive picture of the value children place on returning to a school in the aftermath of a humanitarian emergency for protection, education and social support.

The Safe Schools campaign calls on world leaders attending the summit to immediately launch a new fund that ensures children return to school quickly in the aftermath of an emergency. In 2015, humanitarian emergencies and crisis affected the education of more than 75 million children and young people. Children that are out of school are being trapped into child labour, early marriage and other forms of exploitation. Yet, last year, less than 2% of humanitarian aid went to get children back into school.

The film features Theirworld Ambassador and star of TV’s Downton Abbey Laura Carmichael, who travelled to Lebanon this time last year with the charity to meet Syrian refugee children who have been starved of an education. Magician Impossible Dynamo also took part because he was inspired by the idea of using young people’s voices to create a message through poetry. The poet Yomi primarily narrates the film which is cut with the charities footage from emergencies around the world.

Artist, and poet Yomi ‘GREEdS’ Sode said: “I was inspired by this unique project from the start. Using the words shared by young people who may have experienced or been close to a humanitarian disaster and using their voice to develop this poem gave it legitimacy and depth in a way that could have otherwise been hard to capture.

“I wanted to develop these words to ensure the reader got a unique sense of what a school can provide in the aftermath of a conflict or disaster – not just for learning but for protection. I hope that this can send a strong message that ensures that the most vulnerable children in the world are not left waiting for their dreams to be restored.”

Theirworld Ambassador, and Actor Laura Carmichael said: “This time last year I travelled to Lebanon with Theirworld to meet Syrian children who are crying out for the chance to return to school and rebuild their lives.

“This funding can restore some hope for the children I met, and millions more who in the future who may be affected by humanitarian disasters. These children cannot wait any longer, we need to ensure their futures are prioritsed, and their lives protected from a life of exploitation with the provision of a safe school.”

Act now to protect the most vulnerable children in the world by signing the Safe School petition at aworldatschool.org/safeschools