At the moment co-ordinated terrorist attacks ripped through Paris, Kate Hamer, a Year 10 student at Kelso High School, was in Auvergne in south central France.
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She is currently on a five-month American Field Service (AFS) exchange there.
Kate said on Monday everyone in her school, indeed in all of France, wore black as a sign of mourning for the terrible events in Paris.
At 11:59am all across France there was a minute’s silence.
A week before the attack in Paris, Kate attended an AFS Forum where 200 exchange students from all around the world came together to discuss what they thought were the biggest challenges keeping people from living together peacefully.
Kate said the students agreed that the biggest issue is the lack of understanding for others.
“We came together to decide what we need to do about this and then presented it to the European Parliament,” she said.
“As teenagers, we all get asked the question ‘What job do you want to do after school (or when you ‘grow up?’).”
“The question we really should be asked is ‘What can you do to make the world a better place?’ because each and every one of us can make a difference in the world, no matter how small,” Kate said.
She said she had received many messages stating ‘lucky it wasn’t Australia’, however, she said that wasn’t true.
“It wasn’t an attack on Paris, on France – it was an attack on humanity and on the world, of which Australia is definitely included,” she said.
“It may not seem relevant to many people because it is on the other side of the world, but we are all human and we all live in the same world, so whether we like it or not, it affects us all.”
She added that it was heartwarming to see so many positive reactions, including the lighting up of buildings such as the Sydney Opera House in the French colours.
“We all need to use this positive energy to work together and make the world a better place,” she said. “We should be aware of, and celebrate, the differences between us, but at the same time also look past them to the things we all share.
“This can be done by increasing intercultural exchanges, by sharing spaces and a culture of open communication, and by building friendships with people of diverse backgrounds.”
