1 commentCAPs Friday (17/2/2012)
Be a candle, so you can light other’s paths. If you can’t be a candle, be a mirror instead, so you can still reflect the light.
This was (and still is) the main premise behind the WhenIWas20 initiative. The ideas that eventually became the building blocks of the campaign all came organically from six like-minded individuals who all envisioned a world where young people are taking charge in making the world a better place.
The WhenIWas20 campaign primarily aims to inspire and challenge young people around the world to become changemakers in their own communities. Through this campaign, we want to highlight the value of being involved with socially-relevant activities and issues in our own communities.
To achieve this, the team came up with two approaches – the WhenIWas20 Profiles and the WhenIWas20 seminar series.
Taking advantage of the strengths of social media and the youth’s online presence, the campaign created an online repository of profiles, blogs, and list of opportunities via the campaign’s official website (WhenIWas20.com) and other social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter).
The team also launched the WhenIWas20 Profiles featuring inspirational leaders and heroes from around the world talking about their experiences when they were 20 years old. The project intends to emphasize that these inspirational leaders and heroes did not become who they are in just one day and that their achievements are the result of the small things that they have started doing since they were young. Ultimately, the campaign aims its followers to reflect over this question: “If these people can do it, why can’t I?”
For the past months, the team have interviewed several inspiring people and featured their stories on WhenIWas20. Other profiles featured in the campaign (i.e., those who were not personally interviewed) were also developed after extensive biographical research. These WhenIWas20 heroes include international policy makers (UNDP head Helen Clark and ASEAN chair Surin Pitsuwan), celebrities (Channel V’s VJ Utt and Broadway star Lea Salonga), successful entrepreneurs (Apple’s Steve Jobs and YouTube co-founder Jaweed Kareem), and other young leaders (Divya Dhar, Sam Bowstead, and Gilmore Moyo).
(Click to enlarge)
To maximise the impact of the initiative and to engage young people who are not connected to the Internet, the WhenIWas20 teams from different Asia Pacific countries also conducted various on-the-ground activities. Furthermore, members of the WhenIWas20 team have been invited to various international seminars and forums to share their advocacies and the WhenIWas20 campaign.
WhenIWas20 member Omar Khowaja spearheads a women empowerment and livelihood program in the city of Herat in northwest Afghanistan. This program trains unemployed women from Zindajan District in dressmaking and embroidery. Aside from this, Omar also led a rice and oil distribution to 60 needy families in Herat.
WhenIWas20 member Yuza Setiawan was invited to give a talk to the students of Sekolah Bintang in Tangerang, Indonesia. He also continues his work as a member of the Indonesian youth parliament and with Idenesia, a social enterprise that aims to inspire Indonesians through short films and documentaries.
WhenIWas20 member Dwight Ronan has facilitated several workshops to students and young professionals in his hometown of Los Baños in the Philippines. Dwight was also invited to present in several international gatherings such as the 10th Asia-Pacific NGOs Environmental Conference (APNEC10) in Taiwan, UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassador (YPA) forum in Malaysia, and the UNESCO Youth Forum: Looking Beyond Disasters in New Zealand. At present, Dwight joins his fellow Filipino Global Changemakers in a five-city seminar series on how the youth can use social media to bring about social change.
WhenIWas20 member Ze Tong Leow of Malaysia has participated in various seminars in Kuala Lumpur such as the Silicon Valley Comes To Malaysia, H-Artistry Malaysia, TEDxMerdekaSquare, and Global Movement of Moderates conference. Together with Dwight, he also presented at the UNESCO YPA forum in Penang. He is now in Latin America to participate at the World Youth Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
WhenIWas20 member Andrew Lesa has been actively helping the Manurewa Youth Council, a group that engages youth in Auckland, New Zealand to contribute in community-driven activities. He was also invited to give a talk at the APNEC10 forum in Taiwan last November.
WhenIWas20 member Disha Sethi continues her work with the YP Foundation, a youth-led organization in New Delhi, India that enables young people to be involved in programmes related to gender, sexuality, health, education, arts, and governance.
(Click to enlarge)
When we first thought of the campaign in India last July 2011, we had no idea that the campaign would have reached as many people as it had for the past few months. Aside from the initial six Asia Pacific countries, the campaign has already reached youth organizations and communities in other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Until now, more and more youth from different parts of the world have expressed their interest in replicating the idea behind WhenIWas20 in their own communities.
Aside from these, it also has been a humbling experience to listen and get to know people who continue to strive hard in selflessly serving their own communities.
On our interviews for the WhenIWas20 profiles, we noticed that people usually take some time in recalling what they did when they were 20 years old. Some of the people we interviewed even shared how moving it was to think about how much they have changed over the years. As Ze Tong puts it, “This goes to show how the campaign has made an impact, not only on our target audience, but also with the people who have shared their own stories.”
Looking back on his experiences with WhenIWas20, Yuza shares, “As young people, we can choose to be leaders of tomorrow and be a leader in our communities later in our life. Alternatively, we can choose to be leaders or today and be known as a great leader later in our life. Becoming a great leader requires a lengthy process. We can’t be like Oprah, Obama, and Jobs in an instant. Great leaders like them start when they were young, that is, when they were 20. This includes great leaders of Indonesia, from revolutionaries like Sukarno and Hatta, to entrepreneurs like Sampoerna and Bakrie. Alhamdulilah, I think this message resonates well with everyone whom we have shared the message of WhenIWas20 with.”
In some little ways we hope that we have touched lives and have inspired others to become changemakers in their own communities. And we can’t wait to hear the success stories from people who have been inspired to act and to live out their dreams because of the WhenIWas20 initiative.
— WhenIWas 20 team (Andrew, Disha, Dwight, Omar, Yuza, and Ze Tong)
***
Do you have someone who inspires you so much? Do you wish to know what they were doing when they turned 20 years old? If your answer is yes, then you should nominate that person to be featured on the WhenIWas20 initiative!
Learn more about this initiative at www.WhenIWas20.com or at our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/WhenIWas20). E-mail us at editor@wheniwas20.com.
One Response to CAPs Friday (17/2/2012)
amazing work guys! Congrats!!!!!!