Writer’s Fortnight Speaker 2: Melanie Ron

The second and final speaker for the day, was Melanie Ron, a survivor of a variation of multiple sclerosis. Ms.Ron worked in a major Australian bank as a professional lawyer. I learned a lot about loss and fear upon hearing her story. It started when her family and herself travelled to the gold coast for a vacation/holiday trip. During her talk, she was recalling the events that had occurred to her, and the first thing that she remembered was her hand. A series of events resulted in her losing control of her entire right side of her body. We learned that anything could happen to us anytime, and being prepared for the cold winter is the best thing we can do.

Overall, I learned that when confronted by a shocking discovery, especially life-deciding, we have to remain calm and hope for the best. She had family support, financial support and medical support, what more could she have needed? Even with this though, there was a possibility that she might have not survived the disease. It was a neural disorder, and she was majorly affected. She moved to Singapore 5 months after this, and she was fascinated about the brain’s potential. During her phase of being affected by TDMS, she simply couldn’t control/move the right side of her body. She was not only scared but frustrated. She is very lucky, and we should all be grateful for what she had and we have.

Writer’s Fortnight Speaker 1: Martin Suarez

My first writer’s fortnight speaker was Martin Suarez. He is an IB physics teacher, however a former worker in maximum-security prisons in Argentina, his home country. His story was how he had a very memorable time with two of the prisoners. Gaby and German, two middle-aged men who were criminalized for their actions. Gaby was a married man with a daughter, and he was caught driving a stolen car. German was a happy, middle-class man living with his family, however, one day he was caught dealing drugs. They both spent around 11 years of their lives in the Argentinian prison, where Mr.Suarez worked. Now, Mr.Suarez wanted to teach and learn with the inmates, and give them a better life. The jail cells were unbearable, “worse than the movies”, a horrible stench accompanied by a 2 by 1 meter-sized cell with a bunk bed.

Mr.Suarez spent years helping them outgrow their bad deeds in the past, and taught them multiple things. German was into law, and he was pretty well educated. He managed to work really hard in prison, and passed as a lawyer after his time in jail! Once Gaby was discharged from prison, he still was into theft and working for bad people. He was caught working for a drug lord and is now currently running away from the police.

In summary, Mr.Suarez felt a deep connection and pity for both the prisoners and therefore decided to educate both of them with his classes. He wanted justice more than equality. He personally taught law and science to multiple convicts, however, specially recognized Gaby and German. The moral of this story and the lesson that he has learnt is that education is more important than anything if you want to survive in the real world (especially today.)