I, Millennium Youth, at the European Development Days 2015

Friday, July 10, 2015

By Olga, Millenium Youth from Latvia

One day I was going out of school.. and suddenly I went to the information desk which stands in a dark corner where no one ever looks. There I saw an advertisement about a contest “Millennium Youth”. The idea to win a great opportunity to go to Brussels and speak with high-level politicians seemed completely unbelievable! But I decided to participate anyway! There was a contest - to do something in a week that will make this world a little bit better. I decided to involve my classmates in it, I organized a hike to a nearest forest where we picked up trash to make the forest cleaner and to ensure environmental sustainability…

And to my surprise, I won!!!  Me, Edgars Kozulins and Ralfs Grinvalds with our great chaperones Janny Ramakers and Aivis Shibajevs went to Brussels to let our voices be heard during the European Development Days 2015 (EDD15)!

Already on a first day I met optimistic and motivated people from around the globe with who we will work on the project - “Millennium Youth”. I met fantastic millennium youths who care about our World - from Lebanon, Zambia, Ireland and Albania! Our team consisted of very smart, intelligent, active, interesting, positive people!

Two days before having a public speech we worked mostly with Patricio Cuevas-Parra (Advocacy Director at World Vision Lebanon) who not only explained sustainable development goals to us, but who is a person who really inspired me and made me believe in myself and to be confident about giving my speech at EDD15. He inspired me to be more socially active because: "If we'll not be there, who will represent us - young people?!" 

Also with Mario (chaperone from Lebanon) we improved our public speaking skills and with Alexandra Matei (World Vision Brussels) we found out how to use social media in the right way! All those trainings will be very useful in any situations of my life. Also Marius Wanders (EU Representative & Executive Director at World Vision Brussels & EU) was always with us and gave us support and self-confidence.

The most memorable moment in Brussels was giving a public speech on one stage with Laimdota Straujuma (the Prime Minister of Latvia), Ahmad Alhendawi (the United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth), Linda McAvan (Chair of the Committee on Development) in front of 200 people! After all that I definitely want to be more socially active, more interested in politics and now I even became a volunteer in a youth organization to create a better world!

To conclude, I would like to quote a saying of the President of the European Commission-Jean-Claude Juncker at the Opening Ceremony of the European Year for Development 2015 in Riga, Latvia: “Each individual has a role to play for a more sustainable and peaceful world. We want to tell stories from around the world to show that wherever we are from and wherever we want to go, our aspirations are the same: a stable and peaceful world, education for our children, jobs for young people, a decent life on a planet of which we need to take better care.”