Focus
Welcome to the June issue of Voice Newsletter!
With just under 100 days to go until OIYP Kaleidoscope 2007, the Oxfam office has been a hive of activity. And it’s not just the office that has been busy! Action Partners, their families, youth development officers, partner organisation and a whole host of people have been active in helping the 2007 Action Partners along with their journeys to OIYP Kaleidoscope 2007! Currently there is a national preparation meeting happening with 12 Action Partners in Vanuatu, the OIYP skills centre forum is exploding with online discussions making a whole lot of noise with new Action Partners sharing their views on everything from peace and conflict to the role of young people in social change, and before the next edition is published there will be a preparation meeting for Indigenous Australian Action Partners in Melbourne.
This issue is focussed on new Action Partners, their activities and sharing their perspectives as they prepare for OIYPKaleidoscope 2007 in Sydney. As I put the stories together I am overwhelmed by the diversity of experiences of young people from around the world, as I am sure you will be as you read. Even within our network there are so many different ideas and perspectives and ways of working for positive social change. It is great to be reminded that there is no one right way of working for change but as many different approaches as there are people in the world. Similarly there is no one experience of OIYP. Each participant brings unique and interesting things to share, and I imagine this will extend to each Action Partner taking something individual away from their engagement with Kaleidoscope 2007.
In this issue we hear from Roman Leelo an Action Partner in the beautiful Pacific nation of Samoa, is working with an organisation that brings together the normally estranged concepts of fashion and community development- through spotlighting local fashion, they also firmly spotlight the issue of HIV/AIDS. Alaa Yaghi from Palestine shares with us the challenges of getting ready for a major event whilst living in a conflict zone and Dalia Shawkat shares with us a story of growing up in Baghdad, Iraq. I hope that you will find the stories helpful for your own preparations for the event.
A special note for 2007 Action Partners– keep an eye on your in-boxes in the month of July! Preparation Pack #2 is currently at the translators and will be ready for print, publication and posting really soon! Preparation Pack #2 contains extra information to help you to get ready for OIYP Kaleidoscope 2007 such as information about packing, travel arrangements, accommodation and venue information, and program information. This will be sent to you by email at the end of July!
Action Partner News
Read about the work of Action Partners around the world.
Sharing stories of work on the ground. Want to share your story? Email it to Mary at iypvoice@oxfam.org.au
Amérythmes CD launch
Amérythmes was born of the Montreal delegation for the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (Sydney, Australia), produced by Cirque du Soleil (Y : Voices & Visions of World Youth show). After their return from this journey, these five artists, who originate from North, Central and South America, continued collaborating and became a collective.
Check out their sound at http://www.myspace.com/amerythmesmtl
Patrick Asinero, Action Partner 2004, The Philippines
After my youth volunteer experience with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO-Bahaginan) in the mountainous region of Mindanao and the multicultural city of Bradford in the United Kingdom, I have decided to continue working as a social and developmental activist at the grassroots level. I have decided to continue working with kids and young people, in a role of advocacy.
Now, I am a Provincial Project Education Officer for ABK Initiative Pag-aaral ng Bata Para sa Kinabukasan (ABC Initiative Education for the Children’s Future) of the World Vision Development Foundation here in Bais City and the province of Negros Oriental. We are focused on providing formal education for child labourers engaged in the agriculture and sugarcane plantations in the province.
The ABK Initiative is a special project for combating child labour through education in the Philippines and it is funded by the United States Department of Labour. The project is implemented by four coalition agencies: Christian Children’s Fund, Educational Research and Development Assistance Foundation, Plan Philippines and World Vision Development Foundation. The goal of the project is to reduce the engagement of 30,000 children in six worst forms of child labour in the eight selected provinces in the Philippines through increased access, quality and relevance of education for working and at risk children. The ABK Initiative targets the six priority sectors of the Philippine Time-Bound Program for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2015. The priority sectors are children in sugarcane plantation, pyrotechnics production, mining and quarrying, deep-sea fishing, commercial sexual exploitation, and children in domestic work.
My work as a Provincial Education Officer is to monitor the implementation of the project in the province of Negros Oriental by increasing awareness on the negative effects of child labour and importance of education in the community level; ensure that the working and children at risk increase access to education; and conduct research on alternative livelihood programs and establish it for families and youth over 15 years old in the partner communities of the province of Negros Oriental.
story of the month
Fashion for community development - Sharing my community experience
Who thought that making a difference was just for the hippie types? Roman Leelo, Action Partner 2007 from Samoa talks about his work with the Samoa AIDS foundation Annual SamoaTel Fashion Awards and how everyone across the community can be involved in working to raise awareness about the issue of HIV/AIDS.
In January 2007, I was asked by the executive board of the Samoa AIDS Foundation to be the Chairperson of the 3rd Annual SamoaTel Fashion Awards. This is the only annual fundraiser for the foundation to raise funds for the organization. Proceeds from this event go toward capacity building and programme development for the foundation.
The Fashion Awards is a platform for designers to be professionally rewarded for their work of art. Overall it promotes the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Taking pride in what you wear is as important as being responsible with your sexual health. This concept corresponds with the theme of the event which I initiated. Fashion C.A.R.E.S, a compassionate community approach in raising the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS. This is carried out through reinforcing our existing means to empower our young population and fashion designers to support national attempts at addressing this deadly pandemic.
The event was held at the Hotel Kitano Samoa on May 26th, 2007. We have received overwhelming support from local business and government. The Samoa Tourism Authority has now included the Annual Fashion Awards in the country’s National Calendar of Events. The naming rights sponsor have agreed to sponsor the Event for two more years at about AUD$18,000.00 per year. Young people who are interested in fashion are inspired and influenced with the work that other youths are carrying out for social change.
Programmes funded from the proceeds of the fashion awards include a theatre group that goes out into schools, universities, villages and now to another Pacific Island. Their drama project targets youth with information about violence against women and awareness and prevention of HIV transmission. A proactive member of this group is a peer educator at SAF, a colleague and now an Action Partner for Oxfam 2007-2010, Mr. Iosia Tiatia.
Non-Government Organizations like the Samoa AIDS Foundation value the contribution and continues to advocate and empower young people like myself. In this short time of taking up such a vital role, I have learnt so much and networked with many supportive key figures. These, of whom important leaders like our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, special invited guests to the event, the UNAIDS Pacific Co-ordinator from Fiji and the Resident Coordinator of United Nations Development Programme in the Pacific Region.
As an Action Partner for Oxfam, I am looking forward to a new learning curve and finding approaches that should prove effective for my work at the Kaleidoscope 2007 and continuously. I look forward to improving my abilities to do greater work in 2 of Oxfam’s thematic areas, Gender Injustice and Access to Essential Services.
“If you want to innovate, to change an enterprise or a society, it takes people willing to do what is not expected – Jean Ribould.
June Feature
Preparations in Palestine: passports, postage and partnerships
Alaa YaghiAction Partner from Palestine reflects on the process of getting prepared for Kaleidoscope 2007. She shares the difficulty applying for passports and of even posting documents. They have been using innovative ways of supporting each other through remote connections in order to help each other to get to Sydney.
Joining the family of the OIYP action members made us thrilled. We are so excited, and so ready. However, things are not going well with us in the preparation for Kaleidoscope event.
We are 6 Action Partners who hold the same nationality "Palestinians". When we got the connection details of the rest members in Palestine, we were excited to start getting to know each others. But the recent situation and the occupation prevented our meeting.
Every one of us had a story of his own. However, we share the same wound, we are people of the same country, yet we cannot meet in our country. We have to wait until we go to Australia so that we can meet there. For example, if the Action Partners in Gaza had a crazy thought to visit the other action partners in the West bank, they have to travel to Egypt, then get in to a plane to Jordan to enter the West Bank. Some may say you can cross the Eriz checkpoint, which connects the two areas. But it is almost always closed. One has to be dying in order to only carry a permission to be in the territories of Eriz.
Even the Action Partners, who live in the same area, had trouble getting together because security chaos. In the case of us in Gaza Strip, People of the area where we live are not allowed to get out to the streets. In one hand, there was a conflict out in the streets for who shall rule. In the other hand, no one goes out with a guarantee that he will come back alive. In Bait Lahia, where the other Action Partner Arafat lives, their have been a number of attacks in recent times. As he puts it: "everybody was nervous, especially our children. We could not get out buying food not to mention sending a visa application. Until we've thought that every body is targeted…. I saw people shaken so strongly out of fear. As for me I was terrified. Every time there have been an air strike, I thought I would die. One ends up with no thoughts for the future. And the only thing one can think of is when he will pay goodbyes to his family."
As for me, Alaa, I could not leave the house because of the same reason. My passport was supposed to be ready in two days. It was delayed for two weeks because of the situation. I became very nervous. This affected my study. Nothing seemed to settle down while Things were getting out of hand. Thank God things settled now and I have sent my Visa application. And now I should wait….
The situation in the West Bank was not different, almost the same. It was difficult for anyone to reach the place of the meeting. We arranged the meeting 4 times at least. However, we will not give up. We will keep arranging meetings till we meet.
It is a big wound, a wound of a community who is eager to start working on healing it.
Palestinian Action Partners
Resources
ISRRC - Youth Organizations in the Arab Region in 2007 - The Population Policies and Migration Department / League of Arab States is preparing to publish a Guide for the Youth Organizations in the Arab Region in 2007, so if you are a youth organisation in the Arab region please fill the application available in this link : http://www.lasyouthforum.org/q.php
Latin America and the Caribbean Youth Portal - Check out the UNESCO and CELAJU Youth Portal for Latin America and the Caribbean http://www.youthlac.org/index.php (English version)designed to integrate the 22 countries and territories of the Caribbean region and globalize this tool for youth communication.
This Website is for the general public, but especially for youth networks, organizations and groups, and people working with youth in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Website is an Internet meeting-place, a network of networks of youth organizations and people working with youth, public and private, national and international, in all subject areas dealing with youth issues in Latin America and the Caribbean.
International Youth Day – 12 August 2007
International Youth Day 2007 (IYD) is only a few weeks away! The theme for IYD 2007 is “Be seen, be heard: youth participation for development”. Team up! Organize! Celebrate! Take action! The Day presents a great opportunity to create awareness of the importance of youth participation and inclusion in society. Contact your local UN office, municipality or National Youth Council to organize a more concerted effort. For more information, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/iyouthday.htm.
Endnote
A closing thought to inspire you this month.
“If you want to innovate, to change an enterprise or a society, it takes people willing to do what is not expected” – Jean Ribould quoted by Roman in this month’s edition of OIYP Voice.
