Ebola Virus

Karte Mponda

Grade 8

Capital City Public Charter School

What if one of your family members came down with a disease, and a cure was not within reach? Karte Mponda, a 2015 One World Student Ambassador and eighth grade Capital City Public Charter School student, took the opportunity to research and write about Ebola during her class’ term with the One World Writing Program. “I wanted to write about something that everyone was talking about. I wanted to inform people so they wouldn’t just listen to the rumors about the Ebola virus,” said Karte.

“I had to find a lot of evidence and do research. It was surprising to learn that the disease already existed. The virus stopped for a while and no one knows why. It also came back and no one knows where it came from.”

Karte wanted to inform others because she would hear people making jokes about Ebola, “But it wasn’t funny for me. It’s heartbreaking to imagine someone in your family having it and losing them because we don’t have a enough medicine to cure all the patients.”

“The (writing) process was cool, but the hardest part was finding evidence for the counter claim and stating how you agree with it.”

“I’d imagine the people who get Ebola feel rejected, but it’s not their fault that they got it.  It feels like rejection to say you can’t come here (to the United States) instead of helping them find a cure. I thought it was cool that public figures and actors from The Hunger Games movie were donating for the cure.”

Karte succeeded in dispelling Ebola myths and informing herself and her peers about a deadly virus. They also got to thinking about the various aspects and points of view of a much-debated topic.

Karte is a One World Education Student Ambassador. Of the 2,500+ students who participated in this year’s Writing Program, only 22 were chosen to become Ambassadors. All the students gain critical research and expository and argumentative writing skills while learning how to craft their essays. Selected Ambassadors are then chosen to be published, and lesson plans are built around their writing, capitalizing on the power of peer‐to-­peer learning.

The 2015 Ambassadors' writing will be published this fall, giving more students the chance to learn these important skills−as well as letting them see the value of expressing their own opinions about current events and issues.