Global Changemakers

Learning- I think if there’s anything else that should be constant aside from change, it should be learning. I flew to Dubai last week, knowing just around 3 Arabic phrases and a few crammed readings about the Middle East. I have been selected to be one of the global participants in the "Learning from the Future" forum organized by the British Council and the Young Arab Leaders to gather youth leaders from all over the Middle East and other countries to develop a platform of ideas prior to the World Economic Forum Middle East happening in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in May.

It would have been just another youth conference but it was significant first because it was happening in the Middle East, and there aren’t as many conferences for young leaders in this region to interact and discuss issues but also because it is about the future, our future.

For several days, we discussed how in 2025, we will all be living in a hyperlinked, sustainable and multi-polar world.

In a more hyperlinked scenario, everybody can be a virtual employee working in the comforts of home and there will be no need to go to the office. Almost everything can be bought online and almost anyone with a camera can be a reporter. However, this rate of technological growth is also proportional with how much information we ought to digest and how faster we have to learn in order to cope. This technological advancement may bring about "21st century outcasts", a term labelled to people who are marginalized because they can’t speak the language of technology, the people who will be waiters, servers, construction workers doing menial job. This is particularly interesting, because a lot of people doing this work are Filipinos and imagine if many of our students still haven’t seen or know how to use a computer, we will be the outcasts of the future.

We talked about sustainability and how the climate change can destroy us. We imagined that in the near future, fresh water will be more scarce. Drinking water is a birth right but it may not be when there isn’t enough to supply an overpopulated world.

We figured how the China will be the new US, and how the Middle East will be the new center of economic and political activity. We saw the rise of Asia and how much power play are to happen among nations. More importantly we saw the huge role of the youth in creating this world.

The best thing about international youth conferences is meeting people from different backgrounds. I remember how I kept on wondering why my Libyan friend kept on shaking hands with me, only to find out that it is their way of showing fondness among friends. My Brazilian friend, who greets everybody with a kiss, shocked some Arab girls who are fully covered in black dress and are not supposed to dance nor be very close with other men.

I didn’t exactly have a hard time going around for there are a lot of Filipinos working in the hotels, malls and even construction sites. I am happy that they maybe in a better financial position although I am aware that they have they have to leave their families because of this. There are 500-700 Filipinos leaving for Dubai everyday, there are 8 million of them working all over the world. There have been many cases of human rights violations and discrimination among these migrant workers yet in many countries there is not even a single law protecting migrants.

My new Arab friends tell me how they appreciate the hard working Filipinos who are excelling in different professions. Most of them seem to know only two things about the Philippines, our Filipino workers and that our president is Arroyo. Of course, I invited them to visit the country and enjoy our world-class beaches. I also gave them some dried mangoes.

The Philippines seem to be better known with our best export: Filipinos. I hope that in the near future, there would be no need to export labor and we’ll have more Filipino products known all over the world.

I hope that our leaders start thinking about creating a sustainable future and see our future place in the global scenario. I believe it is time that the youth be more pro-active as catalysts of change. I hope that we collectively act as Filipinos for the betterment of our country, because after all the best way to predict the future is to create it.

I left Dubai with several souvenirs, business cards, tons of pictures, and some desert sand in my shoes. I also left with a renewed passion for positive change which I believe can only happen with collective action and greater learning.

(Ed.: For the Gulfnews article on the Dubai forum, click here.) 

Jason is studying Economics in UPLB. He will represent the youth and the country in the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in May 2008.