A youth meeting took place on November 15, 2012 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City from 3:30 to 5pm. I had attended the meeting via Skype and introduced myself as a youth representative of the WLCU. Daniel Coviello was the chair of the meeting who had shared at the last youth meeting the sustainable development initiatives of his NGO Tarumitra, entitled “The Power of Student-Led Movement in Sustainable Development Initiatives.” Two youth representatives shared a presentation of their NGO and the tasks they had carried out, which are both important projects that aid people around the world.
The first presentation was by Anjanae Wilson from Close the Gap entitled “Close the Gap: Bridging the Digital Divide.” She discussed the use of computer systems used for educational, social and medical projects. This was followed by a presentation by Katrina Martinez from the Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention/ Meaningful World about her NGO. She discussed how the organization travels to various places around the world to help those who have been traumatized by a natural disaster, war, abuse, etc. and how they turn traumatic experiences into healing using a 7 step integrative healing model. I was especially inspired by their visit to Lebanon in 2007 where they helped those who suffered from trauma due to the bombings in and around Lebanon’s beautiful capital, Beirut. I was especially intrigued by her presentation because I heard of ways how the youth can have such a great impact on the emotional needs of others. I had emailed her to find out more about her and her organizations trip to Lebanon in the hopes to become a participant in one of their endeveurs, but she has yet to respond back to me. Towards the end of the meeting, we discussed ways in which presenting our work through an Internet blog where youth network and interact with each other to learn about different projects, ideas, and movements that are taking place. Additionally,we discussed Lehigh University’s three pillars of sustainability: social inclusion, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. I enjoyed the meeting very much and feel using a means of communication through social media such as Skype gave me a different perspective on the networking tools us youth use as a way to participate with other NGO’s in the country and around the world.
Thank you,
Micheline Helou
Youth Representative for WLCU
