Honing advocacy skills with school projects

One of the ways I try to balance preparing for lobby meetings and advocacy-related presentations on top of my schoolwork is combining assignments whenever I can. Over the years, I've given speeches about calling Congress, debated foreign aid, and written Model UN resolutions about issues I advocate for in real life as school projects. It saves a lot of time, and I enjoy the work more when it's a topic I'm passionate about!

7th grade social studies included a Model United Nations project, and my friend and I wrote our resolution about climate change.

This year, my school's winter exams look very different because of the virtual format. For Latin, our "final" is in two parts: one is a translation test I'll take on Monday, and the other is a persuasive essay in English using a list of figures of speech we've observed Cicero's First Catilinarian Oration (which was in Latin).

Since our essay could be any topic, I turned mine into a chance to practice new talking points about AIDS, TB, and malaria! Plus, I used EPIC format to write it, which is the same approach I use for writing letters to Congress.

Fun with color-coding in the Latin text!

Here's my essay:

   These days, more people than ever are paying attention to global health. We’re all eager for an end to virtual or hybrid learning and the isolation that has become weirdly normal. A vaccine is as highly anticipated as the Avengers: Endgame movie was in 2019.

   Even with all this (rightly deserved) focus on a pandemic, many people don’t realize that the biggest infectious disease killer in the world isn’t COVID-19. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria are leading a pack of wolves, working together to weaken their prey. These wolves are deadly, and they’re getting stronger as their newest member, coronavirus, joins the pack.

   Even before the pandemic, the world was not on track to reach the United Nations’ sustainable development goal target of ending TB by 2030. 1.5 million died every year from it. Cases are untested, undiagnosed, and untreated all over the world, and most of these “missing millions” are people in poverty. Of course, this has only worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic bringing chaos to every aspect of TB care. For example, since the pandemic started, India’s diagnosed TB cases have dropped by nearly 75 percent (as of August 2020). In a country where almost a third of all TB cases are located, this is no small issue. It’s a disaster.

   As if lockdowns interrupting health system routines wasn’t excellent enough, it gets even better— nationalism tempts world leaders to pull resources away from international AIDS, TB, and malaria programs. Don’t even get me started on how this year’s disruption to the fight against malnutrition is going to leave a generation of children wasting or permanently stunted! The damage from this new pandemic extends far beyond its own death count. If we don’t get our act together now, the world will be crushed under the collapse of world economies and human morality.

   A global pandemic demands a global response. Morally, politically, economically, and medically, it is the proper course of action. It’s fortunate, then, that we already have organizations like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Gavi has helped immunize over 822 million children in low-income countries to date, and 38 million lives have been saved since 2002 because of the Global Fund, getting resources to where they are most needed. Those resources need to come from somewhere, however, and a high-income country like the United States ought to contribute.

   Wouldn’t it be great if both major political parties could agree on this? Wouldn’t it be fantastic if provided enough funding to save millions of lives? Wouldn’t it be powerful if this year became a turning point towards solidarity and respect between nations, a commitment to decolonization within the field of global health, a commitment from governments to prioritize the well-being of all people? All three are more than possible. In America, Republicans and Democrats actually have a history of working together to support Gavi and the Global Fund, and the government has more than enough money to meet the need with less than 1% of the federal budget. It’s just a matter of political will.

   As for a long-term transformation, that remains to be seen, but I have hope, thanks to inspiring advocates around the world. What I know today is this: Washington is obligated to act. We must increase our support of global health programs immediately to win a fight that isn’t just one virus.

Alliteration: missing millions

Anaphora: repeating “Wouldn’t it be…” at the start of three successive sentences

Asyndeton: “solidarity and respect between nations, a commitment to decolonization within the field of global health, [and] a commitment from governments to prioritize the well-being of all people”

Ellipsis: “1.5 million [people] died every year from it.”

Hyperbole: “... the world will be crushed under the collapse of world economies and human morality.”

Litotes: ... this is no small issue.

Metaphor: “HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria are leading a pack of wolves, working together to weaken their prey. These wolves are deadly, and they’re getting stronger as their newest member, coronavirus, joins the pack.”

I'll be honest, I really struggled to come up with a metaphor and I think this one is rather silly, but if I get points for it, I'll be happy!

Praeteritio: “Don’t even get me started on how this year’s disruption to the fight against malnutrition is going to leave a generation of children wasting or permanently stunted!”

Tricolon: “HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria” as well as “untested, undiagnosed, and untreated”

Chiasmus: “Gavi has helped immunize over 822 million children in low-income countries to date, and 38 million lives have been saved since 2002 because of the Global Fund...” The ABBA pattern is organization- statistic - statistic - organization.

Hendiadys: solidarity and respect (two nouns, instead of the noun-adjective pair "respectful solidarity")

Irony: “As if lockdowns interrupting health system routines wasn’t excellent enough, it gets even better— nationalism tempts world leaders to pull resources away from international AIDS, TB, and malaria programs.”

Metonymy: “Washington is obligated to act.” (referring to Congress/the U.S. government)

Oxymoron: weirdly normal

Personification: “HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria are leading a pack of wolves…” I think, as well as “A global pandemic demands a global response.”