Competitions

UNITEES 2021

A NOTE FROM ME

“Unitees was created to invite young people to add their powerful and unique voices to this urgent call for unity, acceptance, and understanding and I am confident we have found our leaders of tomorrow.”

AND THE WINNER IS...

Ella Oram

School: North Herts College
Tee name: Word Play
Quote: Crosswords, not Cross Words

CONGRATULATIONS TO
THE FOUR RUNNERS-UP…

1

Mustafa Hussain

School: Westborough High
Quote: “There is no planet B”

2

Adam Felice

School: Goldington Academy
Tee name: The Missing Piece
Quote: “Unity completes the puzzle”

3

Ellie Hepple

School: Bromley High School
Quote: “The separate strands of thread,
wouldn’t have the same strength”

4

Olivia Whyte

School: Stratford Girls Grammar School
Tee name: Unitee
Quote: “We hold the power to be united”

A FEW OF OUR FAVOURITES

“I have been blown away by the thought creativity and innovation that our young people have shown throughout this competition. It was hard to choose a winner, because of how inspired I have been and am delighted that so many have entered this year.”

– Mike Haines

WORDS OF UNITY 2020

A NOTE FROM ME

"At Global Acts of Unity we use the power of words every day to help spread a message of unity, tolerance and understanding. Our national poetry competition asked young people to share their own words about what 'unity' means to them. With more than 2,400 poems submitted, the Global Acts of Unity team are astounded by the quality from across the country. Thank you to everyone for entering."

And the winner is...

Liv Goldreich

The winning poem was chosen by a panel of Mike Haines OBE, Founder of Global Acts of Unity; Imogen Russell Williams, Children’s book critic and poet; and British-Cypriot poet Anthony Anaxagorou.

Motley Crew

Our backs stick to the bus seats
as we’re suspended midway.
Exasperation festers in the heat,
many-hued voices intermingling in the humidity.
“Yes, I’ll be late,”.
a woman grates as our gazes meet,
the briefest exchange of mouth twitches
acknowledging mutual discontent.

A man in his seventies, garbed in tweed,
simmering red,
rises, cane denting the gum-strewn floor.
“My granddaughter’s just been born!”
Flurries of applause,
contortions of lips in half-smiles
and back to screens.
A baby is wailing and
all look wearily out of the window as
a boy swings pendulum-like from
yellow handles.

At last, the engine revs,
wheels slapping
braising asphalt.
Two men joke in Polish,
thump each other on the back.
A woman mutters relief in Kurdish,
whilst a bunch of Spanish

tourists cheer from the deck above.
We arrive, descending onto the pavement,
and I watch as we disband,
London faces, never again to meet.

AND THE OTHER BRILLIANT
POEMS THAT ENTERED

What If We All Stood Together?

What if we all stood together?
Wouldn’t our problems be easier to solve? Wouldn’t our barriers be easier to break? We need to unite, love and care
Not separate, hate and fight.
What if we all stood together
Instead of in groups,
Separating and isolating each other. Tomorrow’s world will learn from today’s world, So let’s teach them unity and peace.
What if we all stood together? Are we not all people –
We could learn from each other, Care for each other
But instead we discriminate over our differences.
Why don’t we all come onto the same side, So we can focus on our bigger problems, So we can tackle them,
Not on our own,
As a team.

Miesa Kamara

United Together

When I sit in tranquillity and meditate on the world around me in reality.
All are human beings came in this world to serve humanity.
There is no discrimination in the terms of personality.
All of us are made up of same flesh and blood.
It realises me, nothing lies in individuality.
We are same in reality and need to bring others out of their calamities.
We can make this world a heaven if we unite together in reality.

Kashmala Tamim

A Poem About Unity

I am Unity,
I hold people together
And bring people together,
I fight against conflict and hatred For I am unity, and I am powerful.
I am tolerance,
I don’t argue back, I listen and understand, I am not discriminative, I am not stereotypical I am caring and kind
I am tolerance and I am powerful.
I am terror,
I create fear in the hearts of men, I have hatred flowing through me I turn people against each other
I create evil wherever I go
I am terror, and I am powerful.
But I am stopped by unity and tolerance, I never reign if they exist,
They are stronger weapons,
For words hit harder than actions
I am terror, but I am weak.

Abdulia Saeed

Unity 1

Unity is when you are tolerated, Unity is when you are together, Unity is when you are respected.
When you are able to be together and stand together, that is what we call unity,
When you are able to help each other out, that is what we call unity,
When you or we are all tolerated and understood by others, that is what we call unity.
All of this put together, makes a strong relationship in me, you and everyone in the entire world, Being able to be united, helps us to trust each other and make new friends, and that is why unity is an important thing in life for me and you.

Omid Hasimi

Stand United !

Unity, what a wonderful thing
Unity, the happiness it can bring,
But we ruin that with disunity
Pulling petals apart at every opportunity.
Does it matter, what race we are?
Does it matter, if where we come from is far? Does it matter, if we are rich or poor?
Does it matter, if we are as plain as the floor?
None of these things should matter
Just as long as we can laugh and chatter Be brothers and sisters loving forever And people can stand united together!
A beach is not made of a single grain of sand It takes lots to create that beautiful land
A solitary lion will find that life is hard
But a pride can come from life unscarred.
There are always people who pile on the hate Making it an almighty weight
We shall give in to them, never!
For we are much stronger united together!

Amber Buchanan

The Books In Our Library

We are all books in the same library We all tell our own story:
Stories of struggle, sadness, despair; Stories of hope, perseverance, prayer Some have covers, tattered and torn, Some are old with pages worn
Some are tall, robust and strong,
Others unsure where they belong
Often we let our differences divide us,
By religion, colour, gender, race
When we are all the same underneath;
We are all books together in the same space Our differences are what enrich our lives, Reading would be dull if all books were alike Whether man, woman, sister or brother,
You should never judge a book by its cover.

Anna Lawrence

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