Brookfield Library To Host Talk On International Humanitarian Law

Press release from the Brookfield Library:

Jan. 30, 2021

On Saturday, February 20, the Brookfield Library will host the Red Cross Club from Brookfield High School as they lead a conversation about International Humanitarian Law. The program will be held on Zoom. The library’s Community Conversations program was made possible by a grant from the Brookfield Education Foundation. This is the second event in this series of student-led programs.

In preparation for the event students in the Red Cross Club will attend a training session with educator and professional facilitator Dr. Wendy Youngblood to hone their public speaking skills and to get tips for facilitating conversation. This year’s training will also focus on strategies for holding the program in a virtual format.

Students in the Red Cross Club are excited for the opportunity to share their organization’s mission with the community. Club member and project coordinator Rachel Tang said, "Red Cross Club is a great way to volunteer and spread the word about important topics to the community. International Humanitarian Law is such an important topic for people to understand, and we are grateful to be sharing that importance by partnering with the library." BHS Student and club president Ezaan Khan said, “We, in the Red Cross Club, seek to aid and support both our local communities and our greater society. We hope that through Community Conversations we can achieve both of these objectives by publically advocating for International Humanitarian Laws and by teaching Brookfield about the importance of these laws.”

According to Teen Librarian Abbey Lynch, “We started planning with the Red Cross Club this time last year and of course the planning was derailed by the pandemic.” Although the program was originally designed to be held in the recently upgraded teen section of the library building, the program has been adapted to Zoom for the safety of the students and the attendees. Lynch added, “I’m impressed with how eager and willing the students have been to move things online. It’s important for them to know that even when the library building is closed we’re still here to help them share their voices in any way we can.”

The library plans to hold more Community Conversations on a variety of topics with other groups of Brookfield teens in the future.

The Brookfield Library is the municipal public library in the town of Brookfield, CT. The Brookfield Library is located at 182 Whisconier Road, Brookfield, CT.

To register for the program on February 20 please visit: https://www.brookfieldlibrary.org/events/community-conversations-international-humanitarian-law/

For more information about the Brookfield Education Foundation please visit: https://www.brookfieldeducationfoundation.org/

This press release was produced by the Brookfield Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.