UNICEF would like your input by 12 December!

They would like to hear from you what you think is most important when it comes to working together with, for and on behalf of children and young people.

Please make use of this opportunity to have your say in what you think about UNICEF’s partnerships, relationships, collaborations and alliances by answering the questionnaire.

Submit your responses to Voices of Youth today!

This was the challenge we accepted at the end of those two life-altering weeks at the IGE in Mauritius.

I’ve always believed in passing forward good deeds. When people feel that someone was kind to them, they will often go around for the rest of the day remembering this, consciously or subconsciously. This will in effect prompt them to also do a good deed. That good deed will spread forth from person to person, like ripples in a pond, or falling dominoes. So all it takes is something to start this phenomenon. So how do you cheer many people up in a simple but effective way? I thought — you smile. So I got some people together — some Award Holders, some not. And on the 7th of November we went down to the beach of the city of Haifa, Israel where I live and handed out smiles. A lot of them. Almost five-hundred to be more exact.

The process was simple. I went earlier and prepared little notes that had on them a smiley-face and a few words: “Simply Smile”, “Smile — It’s Simple”, “Smile — Pass It Forward” (these are the translations from Hebrew, of course). We made about 500 copies of these on colored paper, split them up between us, and walked up to the beach-goers with a smile asking them “May I give you a smile?” handed them a note, smiled again and left. We started out with almost 500 smiley notes. We finished them in about 40 minutes.

The responses to this were amazing. Most people first had a look on their face that said “What is this?”. Then they looked on the back of the note as if to see if there is an advertisement there, or some catch. Seeing none they asked “What organization/political party/group are you from?” We always responded the same — “No group, only a few youths who decided to do something nice.” Some asked us why we were doing this, to which we answered “We thought it would be a good idea.” The idea was to make this initiative so simple, so innocent, so natural that people would pass the word around, and also start doing random acts of kindness everywhere. The Domino effect in action. Also, it was important for us that people see that no one sent us, that this was something that anyone can do, and that not all of Israel’s youth are sitting at home watching TV rather than doing something.

A few reactions left their mark on me and my friends. Two twenty-something year old girls said to one another after I had given them the smiley notes — “how come we didn’t think of this?”. I’m sure that they’ll be doing something like this next. One older lady, when asked by one of our girls if she can “give her a smile” replied “Of course. May I give you a hug?”, promptly got up, and embraced her. My younger brother, who was also participating, tells me that he got to a mother playing with her toddler son on the beach, who was constantly crying, but stopped upon getting a smile. Some people told us “Good on you” or “it’s good to see that the youth are still active in this country”. Many people laughed at how great it is. Almost everyone smiled. I saw a few small girls trading the different colored notes with their parents — they wanted the pink ones.

I feel that this activity was a great success. We set out to Make A Difference — by cheering people up so that they will pass this happiness forward, by showing people that youth are active and by showing people how easy it is to just do something good.

I say that this activity was “inspired by the Award”, rather than being organized by it. We were not an organization. We were just a few people with an idea and the will to carry it out.

To Make A Difference.

The video of the activity:

Thanks IGE.

Shalom.

From the 12^th – 25^th October I embarked on a journey to Mauritius for the International Gold Event (an event which happens every three years at various locations). I departed from London Heathrow Airport with 9 other Duke of Edinburgh’s Award national ambassadors – all of whom I had recently been acquainted with, and represented a spread from all over the British Isles. Together we were the team of UK delegates…

…Off the plane after a 13 hour flight (getting cramp in your sleep is highly not recommended), my adventure began. Ooooookay! Not knowing what to expect, I’m jet lagged and adjusting to a new climate. I’m in Mauritius on official business, representing my country, UK – that’s what’s up! V.I.P. coming through. Got to let them know Jonesy’s on the loose! I turned on my phone and received a text: “Welcome to the paradise island of Mauritius“. Ok… well my camera and I will have to see about that.

We arrive at where we were to stay. Pointe aux Stables. First impressions – I’m feeling it, it is going to be a good two weeks. However, first things first – I needed to lie down and needed to eat to regain my energy. After my power nap, it starts to get busy, there’s a lot of heads, arrival after arrival. Smile at the ladies, respect to the fellas. Easy! I’m nervous but I’m up for it. Hello, hello, how are you?… I’m Nathan… hey, hi. I’m Nathan… pleased to meet you… (So many names to remember – I’m in trouble). At first I’m missing home, my family and friends, wanting to get back to work pressures and uni stress. Then again, I’m here with everybody and here for two weeks – I thought to myself – “I’m going to make the most of it“.

The itinerary was jam packed, a hectic schedule, but it’s all good – new experiences is what I live for. After we were more or less settled in with some speedy networking, ice breakers and briefing after briefing, a drink and some Mauritian entertainment was provided to chill us out. Saga is the local music and the ladies move their hips well! I don’t know about others, but it was working for me. At the end we all joined in. Goodbye England! From the first night on, my feelings were the same – I’m having the time of my life! Every day, I was not only learning something new, but I was seeing and doing new things too on an hourly basis. I enjoyed every second and every moment of it (except for the upset stomach). Indeed IGE was an intense and surreal experience. It was essential to have a good fun/ sleep ratio for the next morning.

On our second day we went to the Mauritian State House for the official opening of the IGE from the President… not too shabby I must say. I’m all suited and booted, wining and dining with the President and his officials and ministers, all in a day’s work (and it was not even lunch!). Getting to know everyone over the two weeks was real cool. There were 92 delegates from 28 countries, so as you can imagine it was an encounter and a half. With over a hundred cameras, everyone was taking photos; at times I felt like a star. What I liked was that everyone was more or less on my wave length. All were gold holders or (a new term to me) awardees; most have crossed the transition to award leadership or are active in the award in another way. All delegates were motivated and ambitious it was great to get to know them, and learn about the award In their country and share experiences. The great thing was that it didn’t matter where we came from, or what stage we were in our lives, or what we do for a living… the baseline was that we all wanted to make a difference and put back into the award. And to be honest, it was this thought that played on my mind and constantly reminded me of the uniqueness of the opportunity and how special this trip was. Another was, the strong sense that I was among the leaders of tomorrow. The IGE was centred on 3 three themes – connecting, telling a story, and making a difference. Upon my return home, I could say that I had accomplished these themes and acquired the affiliated attributes as skills. These for me were learned in three elements of the IGE: activities, workshops and service projects. The best way to connect is by team building. Having five birthday celebrations helped also – Party!

So for three nights we went to Point Jérôme to undertake some activities, relax and take the challenge. We were split into four groups and spent half a day abseiling down a waterfall and doing the flying fox down the zip wire at Tamerine Falls – which was amazing. Later we hiked, ‘canyoning’ through the gorge of the falls – which was fun and adventurous, the climate was so tropical (it was also very hot and with lots of mosquitoes about). At times it felt like a jungle – up and down, climbing, scrambling and pushing through – we even had the Mauritian army with us. The next day my group climbed Mt Lion, which is around 450 metres, and we climbed it from sea level. It was great as it was my first overseas expedition so to speak. We were accompanied by the army again; they were there for support because some of the terrain was unfriendly indeed. For me this made the experience that much more fantastic. After lunch we went snorkelling, another new experience was that I hadn’t been in the Indian Ocean before – the fish and coral were stunning, but the water, as the sun was not out, was freezing. Nonetheless I loved it all up! At night we all slept on fold up beds in a gym hall. The bed was rather comfortable; however the orchestra of a 100 beds creaking, snores and farts were not. On the other hand it was not all play, we did work, although, not all the fun was during play. I really had a great time.

I believe out of the three themes, telling the story was most highlighted during the workshops, there were five in total. These were: photography, videoing, journalism, blogging and storytelling. I am happy to say that I learned something new in each. However with the baking sun, two and a half hours was a long time. Telling a story and making a difference were present in the service projects. We were split into three groups to work on a project each for two days. The service projects were, constructing a house, decorating a detox centre, and conserving a bird sanctuary. I helped out in building a house, which was done through the trust fund for Integration of Vulnerable Groups. We did this out of wood and corrugated iron. The amazing feeling was that we were building the house for a family who is actually going to live in it. We literally started from scratch – I wish I had more time there to build more houses, it was really enjoyable and making a noticeable, instant difference. I even got interviewed for a Mauritian paper.

There is so much more that I could say on each point, but this blog will turn into a book, testament of how full on the IGE was and how many new and different experiences there were. It has made an impact on me, and all the other delegates, I’m sure, for that matter. It was great! We really got to experience Mauritian life. We had a home stay, where we had dinner with a Mauritian family, we had chill out sessions on the beach, out on the town at Port Louis and the market in Mahebourg and Blue Bay. I didn’t even get time to be bored and read a book.

We also heard a lot of presentations and speeches about various aspects of the Award, we met Award participants, GAHA (Gold Award Holder Association) members, and met many of the international directors, trustees, donors for the award, including HRH Prince Edward. We, as a delegation, also did a lot of teamwork and group work for the Youth Forum, which was attended by these prominent people. Here, we were split into five groups, and designed a workshop on the five most popular topics that our delegateion decided on. These were: online community, extending the reach, branding, exchange projects and the GAHA. We engaged and debated central issues within the workshops and had input on things. It really was thought provoking. This was a real experience and a unique insight into the International Award on its wider scale.

I travelled to Mauritius for two weeks, not only did I experience Mauritius but I feel as though I saw the world. The regional nights were really good: the Americas, Africa, Asia pacific and EMAS, we each gave presentations about our countries. We also had other themed dinner nights – such as Mauritian, Chinese and Indian for Divali celebrations. It was all delicious but, out of courtesy, second best to my mum’s cooking. All I can say is, thank goodness for the internet so I can easily keep in contact with all my new friends. Experiencing it all together, gave a real sense of family. I learnt a few things about myself and it has increased my hunger for the award. I have returned home wanting to learn French (I felt so English just speaking one language). I really have a lot of respect for the delegates with English as their second language, and to those people who came with small delegations. I am determined to travel the world, and I have a greater understanding of the International Award. I want to make a real difference.

Meanwhile i am living up the next chapter in my life. Watch this space!

Nathan Jones – UK delegate

Over on Facebook, a special event called 111108 MAD encourages delegates to make a difference on 11 November this year (and other days, of course, but specifically on that day) to put the issues discussed at the IGE into action.

Here’s a description, straight from the event page on Facebook:

The idea is to DO SOMETHING, as long as:

1. It is related to the award philosophy (open interpretation)

2. it Makes A Difference (MAD) – to you, those closely around you or the society at large – any difference. (e.g if you think running up and down the stairs of the highest building of the country will make a difference – then go for it).

3. Connects people – You idea should connect people (even 2 counts) in anyway you think appropriate.

4. Tell the story – Tell the story of what you did – make a small video, post photos, write a story and post it on this space or anywhere else – the bigger the story – the more people know about it – the more influence it has on people.

We’ll keep you posted as to what the delegates are up to and the stories they have to tell. If you want to participate in 111108 MAD, check out the Facebook event page for more information and discussion.

Flickr IGE 2008 Slideshow

If you’ve got some great photos to share, check out the IGE Flickr group!

Here’s how to do it.

The process to post something on the blog is simple. Go to http://wordpress.com and log in with the username and password that you created during the blogging workshop. Once you’ve logged in, click on the name of your blog on the left side of the page to take you to the dashboard.

On the dashboard, you’ll see a button that says “write a new post.” Clicking on that button will take you to a page where you can enter the title of your post and the content of your story.

Once you’ve entered a title and some content, click on the “publish” button on the right side of the page. Voila! Your post is published on the blog.

While the blog is unfiltered and uncensored, do remember that your name will be associated to whatever content you post and that the blog is open to the larger public.

People may leave comments on your blog posts, and you can leave comments on theirs. As we talked about in the workshop, the value of a blog is in the conversations that come up from it, so be sure to visit the blog regularly and get engaged in the ideas that are being discussed.

If you didn’t get set up with an account during the blogging workshop, leave a comment and I’ll get you all sorted.

If you have photos to share, you can use Flickr to share them with everyone. Check out the IGE Flickr group for instructions on how to do that.

Don’t worry, there’ll be more posts on this blog in the days to come, but do accept our apologies for the brief hiatus while we all relax and get settled back into our normal routine.

Ciao!

Here is a brief summary of our workshop:

Purpose (for Exchanges)

• Encourage people to stay active in the award and give back as volunteers.
• Share ideas.
• Promote greater cultural understanding.

We proposed two main types of events that we want to see happen…

1. Regional IGE style events – to occur between triennial IGE events.

Suggestions from our participants included:

• Looking at existing models such as the events run in the Caribbean.
• Working with regional council meetings.
• Ensuring you communicate with you National Office.

2. GAP Year Exchanges – Based on existing programs but focusing on getting young people to assist with the award.

Suggestions from our participants included:

• Looking at the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council.
• Consider a program that includes work in your own country before/after travelling to another country.

This is just a quick summary and we had loads more useful suggestions to help us. Now we are all heading home with a very busy few years ahead to implement our ACTION PLAN!

Rebekah

Want to learn more about STAND UP? Check out their website at StandAgainstPoverty.org.