Feature

Fourth Annual Global Youth Summit

Shariqa Habib

ON 19 August this year, a Moroccan friend of mine gave me the link to a website and told me that, there is a summit taking place in London and the deadline of submitting the application form was 21 August. I checked the website and found out that, it was Global Youth Summit which will be taking place in London from 15-21 November of this year. And they will be selecting 60 young activists from all over the world.

I filled up the application form and submitted everything that was required. And then, it was time to wait for the results. I was getting very anxious day by day. I kept following the Global Changemakers website. And at the beginning of September, few people started commenting on the blog that they got selected! So I thought, OMG! Am I not selected then? But I still kept waiting, because, even if I was not selected, they were supposed to let me know by email. I became so anxious that I started checking my email every 5 minutes. And on 13 September, after waiting the entire morning I finally received an email from the British Council later in the day. As I read through the email, I could not believe what I was reading! The email congratulated me on getting selected as one of the lucky 60 members, who will be attending the Global Youth Summit in London, from 1100 applicants from all over the world!! I was so overwhelmed with joy that I screamed really loud, and my mother got really scared and ran to my room. And asked me what happened, I told her that I got selected for the Global Youth Summit. That was a true moment of joy.

As this Global Youth Summit is British Council funded programme, I got in touch with the local British Council, and they were quite helpful about everything. They helped me with my visa and ticket.

I arrived in London on 13 November and was dropped off at Hotel Uplands on the 15 November. When I checked in, I saw a lot of other participants who were already there. After a while, we were called for dinner, and there, we were officially welcomed to the summit.

Next day the summit officially started. In this summit, 60 young activists from 41 different countries participated, and the countries are Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Mexico, Nepal, Palestine, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, UK, USA, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

The week of the summit had a tight schedule. We were working in different groups based on region, based on area of activism, and many other groups. At least 70% of the time during the summit, we were brain storming, pointing out the global issues, which mostly our country, our region or the world is facing. Then we also discussed the possible solutions for these problems as well. There were skill development sessions as well, where we got to talk to specialists from different fields of expertise. We also got the chance to visit different NGOs as our areas of interest in activism. I chose to visit Oxfam. It was great visiting Oxfam. After my visit to Oxfam, we were taken to the London Eye and on a cruise to Thames. It was really cold, but the scenery was breath taking. It was a great honor for all of us participants to have a reception from the British Council itself, which took place at the National Gallery of Arts. In this reception, a lot of British Council officials were present and a British Minister was also present.

At the end of the week, it was the requirement of the summit that we had to come up with an idea of a Community Action Project (CAP). And it was amazing how all the participants came up with different project ideas, which were new and creative. Some of the participants even came up with CAP ideas that will include multi nations. I was working in a group of 4 global change makers, from 4 different countries. My other teammates were from Australia, Philippines and Indonesia. Our CAP was, we are planning to create a website, where we will be promoting young activists. Basically, we are trying to deal with the apathetic view that our generation has towards the global issues and also increase youth involvement.

At the end of the week, we had to vote for our Global Youth Summit Ambassadors, and I feel really proud to say it that I was one of the voted GYS Ambassadors. I would also like to add that I was not only the first Bangladeshi girl to be selected for the Global Youth Summit and become a part of the Global Changemakers family but also the first ever Bangladeshi to make it to the Global Youth Summit. It was a great honor to represent my country and culture. The Global Youth Summit was a great experience, where we not only got the chance to learn so much, but also got the opportunity to meet young activists from all over the world who are trying their best every day to make a positive difference in this world. We all came from different parts of the world, from different backgrounds; looked different, spoke different languages. But there was one thing in common in all of us- the love for the humanity and the passion of making the world a better place. Because, this is the only one we have.

At last, I would like to thank the whole team of Global Changemakers and British Council for giving me this wonderful opportunity and to make this event happen.

Weird News from around the Globe

Don't Steal Candy from Cops
Police in Kentucky say they caught 32-year-old Derek Kidd with his hands in the cookie jar... pretty much literally.

Just an hour after being released from jail, Kidd found himself right back in -- because police say on his way out he tried to steal two candy bars and a police hat from the detective's section, according to the Middletown Journal. Police say he also stole two used syringes.

Clever octopus builds a mobile home
An octopus that uses coconut shells as portable armor is the latest addition to a growing list of animals that use tools.

The veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) apparently can stack discarded coconut shell halves just as one might pile bowls, sits atop them, makes its eight arms rigid like stilts, and then moves the entire heap across the seafloor. These soft-bodied creatures perform this ungainly "stilt walking" to use the hard shells for shelter later when needed.

The discovery was a lucky accident.

Baby alligator, snakes found in university dorm
A baby alligator, a diamondback rattlesnake, six pythons and three chameleons have been found in a University of Arkansas dorm room.

Campus police Lt. Gary Crain said Monday the reptiles and four white mice that were apparently intended as lunch were found in Maple Hill West.

UA student Jacob Miller of Marion told police that he and roommate Michael Robbins of West Memphis were getting the reptiles free online and selling them for a profit.

Homeless brothers in line to inherit billions
Two brothers who are so poor they live in a cave on the outskirts of Budapest and get by selling scavenged junk are in line to receive a $6.6 billion inheritance from a long-lost grandmother, the U.K. Daily Telegraph reports.

Zsolt and Geza Peladi have been informed that they are entitled to the fortune, along with a sister who lives in the United States, the newspaper reported.

Charity workers in Hungary passed on the good news to the brothers after being contacted by lawyers handling the estate of their maternal grandmother, who died recently in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

Source: Internet