Global Changemakers

As one of the Brazilian Peer Facilitators, I find myself many times trying to unveil the true face of my own country and even more the real Latin American and Caribbean identity. In the end, however, I just cannot come up with a definitive answer. We do have common concerns, a feeling that our generation has to create a fresh development model, more sustainable in terms of the social, cultural and economical scope.
 
We had the chance to hear Eugenio Scannavino, a Brazilian Social Entrepreneur, talking about his own experience. He describes himself has a “problematic” person! But wait, if problematic means not being able to accept an unfair society, social inequality or related issues, I am quite sure that we (Global Changemakers) are bunch of “problematic” people somehow. As Samar wrote yesterday, we dare to dream! Scannavino is just one example that no matter how big your dream is, you have to fight for it. Not fighting for what you believe is the biggest defeat anyone will ever face, still from the social entrepreneur´s words.

We already discussed the region general picture, engaged in issue-based discussions and now it is time to equip the new Changemakers with appropriate skills to run their CAPs and RAPs. Personally, I have high expectations regarding the projects that will come out of this Summit. We just cannot wait less than that great from people with passion for issues urgently needing action, motivation and the necessary skills. The great sketches we had so far are a living proof of that. Moreover, the grass-roots organizations we visited were just an amazing inspiration, showing us the exact value of people of strong will working for their communities and the impacts they can drive.
 
Just one last reflection, Latin American and the Caribbean region has been through many hardships, eventually leading to our current reality – social inequality, lack of basic services and youth apathy. I cannot resist mentioning one phrase I saw in the Capoeira group promotional material: “Weak people do not forgive. Forgiveness is a virtue of strong people.” We do need to identity our issues and debate the reasons behind them, and as young people we can (and should) detach ourselves from history and start debates from scratch, overcoming any hard feeling. The world´s policy makers sometimes push us toward a negative agenda, getting most debates stuck. We are the Global Changemakers, we put ideas into practice, rather than just pointing fingers. After all, we are a bit “problematic”! 

—Luis Kitamura, Global Changemaker