A Speech by Kriezel Anne Siva 1st Year AB-English

(Learning Activity: Page 73)

Suicide is when someone dies on purpose. A young person dying because of overwhelming
hopelessness or frustration is devastating to family, friends, and community. Parents, siblings,
classmates, coaches, and neighbors might be left wondering if they could have done something
to prevent that young person from turning to suicide.

Learning more about what might lead a teen to suicide may help prevent further tragedies. The
reasons behind a teen's suicide or attempted suicide can be complex. Although suicide is
relatively rare among children, the rate of suicides and suicide attempts increases greatly
during adolescence. Suicide rates differ between boys and girls. Girls think about and attempt
suicide about twice as often as boys, and tend to attempt suicide by overdosing on drugs or
cutting themselves. Yet boys die by suicide about four times as often girls, and experts think this
is because they tend to use more lethal methods.

It can be hard to remember how it felt to be a teen, caught in that gray area between childhood
and adulthood. Sure, it's a time of tremendous possibility, but it also can be a period of stress
and worry. There's pressure to fit in socially, to perform academically, and to act responsibly.
Teens going through major life changes (parents' divorce, moving, a parent leaving home due to
military service or parental separation, financial changes) and those who are bullied are at
greater risk of suicidal thoughts.

Suicide among teens often happens after a stressful life event, such as problems at school, a
breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a major family
conflict. Many teens who die by or attempt suicide have given some type of warning to loved
ones ahead of time. So it's important for parents to know the warning signs so teens who might
be suicidal can get the help they need. Even though it's not always preventable, it's always a
good idea to be informed and take action to help a troubled teenager. Some adults feel that
kids who say they are going to hurt or kill themselves are "just doing it for attention." It's
important to realize that if teens are ignored when seeking attention, it may increase the
chance of them harming themselves.

Keep a close eye on a teen who is depressed and withdrawn. Understanding depression in
teens is very important because it can look different from commonly held beliefs about
depression. For example, it may take the form of problems with friends, grades, sleep, or being
cranky and irritable rather than chronic sadness or crying. Try to keep the lines of
communication open and express your concern, support, and love. If your teen confides in you,
show that you take those concerns seriously. A fight with a friend might not seem like a big deal
to you, but for a teen it can feel immense and consuming. Don't minimize or ignore what your
teen is going through, as this can increase their sense of hopelessness.

A Speech by Kriezel Anne Siva 1st Year AB-English

(Learning Activity: Page 92)

Mother Earth has been nourishing nature and mankind. During the long history of human
civilization, human beings have developed different cultures and languages. Culture is the sum
of life experiences. Cultural diversity has made the canvas of the world vibrant and wonderful.
However, due to mankind’s greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and skepticism, people’s hearts
have become unsettled, the world has turned chaotic, and cultural differences have further
widened the distances between people. We need to respect and accept one another so that we
can make all kinds of cultures thrive and create a more colorful and harmonious world.

The values of cultural diversity involve respect for and acceptance of different cultures. By
incorporating different cultures, we can ignite brighter sparks that inspire innovations and
excellence in our lives, workplaces, communities, and the world. It is conscience that allows us
to see the beauty of cultural diversity. Conscience enables us to see that love and peace can
replace indifference and conflicts. People need to respect, accept and learn from other cultures
so that the vision of one world can be achieved.

Conscience is a precious heritage shared by all humanity, and a culture of conscience is

humanity’s collective culture. There are stories of conscience passed down from generation to
generation in our hometowns as conscience is the origin of human civilization and holds the key
to global sustainability.

Currently, humanity is facing unprecedented challenges and threats as the virus has spread
across the globe, undermining people’s physical health and spiritual serenity, taking away
countless lives, and causing social and economic crisis. Not a single nation can stay unaffected
as the virus respects no national borders. Only with collaborations based upon love and
conscience will humans be able to turn the current tumultuous situations around. Lately, we
have seen the start of many movements of kindness in different parts of the world, and people
are encouraging and cheering up one another through various means. Like a light in the
darkness, conscience is the only antidote to the problems we face. It’s critically important to
awaken everyone’s conscience now. Consolidating our collective conscience will generate
powerful energy to help humanity overcome the crisis, bring happiness and peace to the world,
and restore Earth’s equilibrium.

My dear friends, let’s start with ourselves, awaken our own conscience, and help awaken
others. With everyone’s conscience connected, we will form a powerful protective shield for
the world. Everyone is a leader of conscience. Let’s abide by our conscience to protect
ourselves and safeguard the world. Let’s listen to the calling of our conscience and calm our
hearts, which may become unsettled due to the changes in the external environment. Let’s
sincerely pray for global security and peace and pray for world citizens’ safety and health. Let’s
apply our conscience and love to promote a culture of peace, enhance the values of cultural
diversity, foster global prosperity, and build a new world of peace and happiness.
A Speech by Kriezel Anne Siva 1st Year AB-English
(Learning Activity: Page 61)
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an
unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work. The economic
and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating: tens of millions of people are at
risk of falling into extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people, currently
estimated at nearly 690 million, could increase by up to 132 million by the end of the year.
Millions of enterprises face an existential threat. Nearly half of the world’s 3.3 billion global
workforce are at risk of losing their livelihoods. Informal economy workers are particularly
vulnerable because the majority lack social protection and access to quality health care and
have lost access to productive assets. Without the means to earn an income during lockdowns,
many are unable to feed themselves and their families. For most, no income means no food, or,
at best, less food and less nutritious food.

The pandemic has been affecting the entire food system and has laid bare its fragility. Border
closures, trade restrictions and confinement measures have been preventing farmers from
accessing markets, including for buying inputs and selling their produce, and agricultural
workers from harvesting crops, thus disrupting domestic and international food supply chains
and reducing access to healthy, safe and diverse diets. The pandemic has decimated jobs and
placed millions of livelihoods at risk. As breadwinners lose jobs, fall ill and die, the food security
and nutrition of millions of women and men are under threat, with those in low-income
countries, particularly the most marginalized populations, which include small-scale farmers
and indigenous peoples, being hardest hit. Millions of agricultural workers – waged and self-
employed – while feeding the world, regularly face high levels of working poverty, malnutrition
and poor health, and suffer from a lack of safety and labour protection as well as other types of
abuse. Further, when experiencing income losses, they may resort to negative coping
strategies, such as distress sale of assets, predatory loans or child labour. Migrant agricultural
workers are particularly vulnerable, because they face risks in their transport, working and
living conditions and struggle to access support measures put in place by governments.
Guaranteeing the safety and health of all agri-food workers – from primary producers to those
involved in food processing, transport and retail, including street food vendors – as well as
better incomes and protection, will be critical to saving lives and protecting public health,
people’s livelihoods and food security.

Now is the time for global solidarity and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our
societies, particularly in the emerging and developing world. Only together can we overcome
the intertwined health and social and economic impacts of the pandemic and prevent its
escalation into a protracted humanitarian and food security catastrophe, with the potential loss
of already achieved development gains. We must recognize this opportunity to build back
better, as noted in the Policy Brief issued by the United Nations Secretary-General. We are
committed to pooling our expertise and experience to support countries in their crisis response
measures and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We need to develop long-
term sustainable strategies to address the challenges facing the health and agri-food sectors.
Priority should be given to addressing underlying food security and malnutrition challenges,
tackling rural poverty, in particular through more and better jobs in the rural economy,
extending social protection to all, facilitating safe migration pathways and promoting the
formalization of the informal economy.We must rethink the future of our environment and
tackle the effects of COVID-19 in our community with ambition and urgency. Only then can we
protect the health, livelihoods, food security and nutrition of all people, and ensure that our
‘new normal’ is a better one.