Students at some high schools in Illinois recently had some famous visitors. Among them were Jimmy Carter, the former American president, and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union. Other speakers included former South African president F.W. de Klerk and Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian human rights activist. They were all in Chicago for an event in late April, the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. The students prepared for the visits by working on a human rights curriculum called "Speak Truth to Power."
The materials come from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Manal Saleh got to introduce Mikhail Gorbachev at her school, the Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center in Chicago. Manal is one of the top students graduating this year. She will be attending Northwestern University in Illinois on a scholarship for low-income students. Manal had not yet been born when Mr. Gorbachev became a Nobel laureate. He won the Peace Prize in nineteen ninety for helping to end the Cold War and working for nuclear disarmament. Manal also got to introduce Mr. Gorbachev at the World Summit, where he joined the other laureates. She says students often hear about the Peace Prize winners and see them in documentaries. But having them appear in person, she says, makes them and what they did seem so much more real.
Mr. Gorbachev said at the summit that he hopes more young people will work against global problems like poverty and unemployment. He said young people have to be given a chance to take a stand, to take a position in this world. At Von Steuben, the former Soviet leader talked about his nuclear arms negotiations with President Ronald Reagan in the late nineteen eighties. He also talked about growing up in a small Russian village and studying law at Moscow University. And he talked about the need for international cooperation, a theme of the World Summit.
Students at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago heard from Muhammad Yunus. He won the two thousand six Peace Prize for his work with microcredit for social and economic development. Mr. Yunus said he used his own money to make the first loan, about twenty-seven dollars to women selling baskets in a market in Bangladesh.
For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 03May2012)
