A Changemakers Opera

There are so many qualities that make the Global Changemakers who they are – unique, ambitious individuals who have the drive to make a difference in their communities and throughout the world, but through spending one night in one room at the youth hostel with 4 other changemakers , I have discovered that there’s so much more to be impressed about, like for the fact that Elsabe, Alanda and Helen come from different parts around the world that are nowhere near the UK and have spent hours and hours travelling and taking flight-connections yet they were able to wake up the next day at ten-to-six in the morning all psyched up and ready to go. I, on the other hand, have travelled from Glasgow to London which is relatively very close, yet was the last one to get up. We all went down for breakfast and were shortly to leave afterwards to meet John. We were all looking forward to the voice training provided by Ajwa, who is an Opera singer. Much to my surprise, we didn’t get to do any singing till later on, as the focus was mainly about breathing techniques and getting our voice audible and clear to the audience; we have also been taught some fun but effective ways to annunciate and that’s where we have done a simple song repeating consonants.

Later on, we were asked to enlist some of our favourite facilitating games, and after coming up with three lists combining them all, three of us were to lead one of these games each in a session after lunch every day. Elsabe, Ibrahim and I decided to be the sheep for slaughter and be the first to do so. After finishing our session and energizing the group after lunch, we all received feedback from everyone about things such as time management, practicality and presentation.

We ended the day after discussing starting the discussion on planning the programme for next week, which we are all very excited about. I am so much looking forward to see the excitement on the new Global Changemakers faces, and most importantly, listen and learn to what they have to offer to this planet that is in a desperate need of help!

Zuhal Sultan