Did you watch We Day? 20,000 teens cheering and celebrating the way they choose to use their power to make changes for the good. One of the consistent messages of Craig Kielburger and Free the Children is that 1) young people have power, whether purchasing power, or persuasive power, or time and talent and 2) they can make a choice for how they use their power.
Craig challenges young people to look at their education not from the perspective of what it allows them to do for themselves, but what it empowers them to do for others. Craig’s example, though, is so extreme. He is willing to go to places I would never want my children to see.
Before coming to Toronto, clean shaven and cheerful, Craig was in Dadaab, Kenya, a refugee settlement that has been inundated with tens of thousands of starving each month. A brief video of his visit is worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gpe72xeA-8
Now here is the question about human motivation. Are we willing to look into the face of such suffering? 30,0000 children have died of starvation and malnutrition in the last three months. I can’t fathom being a mother of just one. I could never wish on my children the reality of looking into the faces of hundreds of starving children, with not enough power to save them all. In my aversion to having my child look upon such tragedy, do I sidestep the issue of looking at it myself?
Are we paralyzed by a myth of scarcity? Are we cynical because of past failure? Are we overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation?
At the Me to We Conference, Craig pointed to one Toronto school cheering that they raised funds to support a Kenyan school, then across the stadium to another Toronto school who raised funds to provide an alternative income program to the neighboring Kenyan village, and a third school in the upper seats of the stadium who raised funds to build a well for the same Kenyan community. That African town and those students attending the African school were surviving the drought and looking forward to sustainable growth when they no longer needed to rely on outside support. Collaboration, innovation, a commitment to a vision brought together children from Toronto and Africa to build a better future for both.
Yet in our own local communities we struggle to bring together educators, business leaders, and parents – each with individual agendas about funding and taxation and opportunity – yet unwilling to come to a table to work toward viable solutions. Is it fear or some assumed political acumen to wait in the belief you’ll be the last man standing? A local political leader shared the majority of empty business fronts in a local community are not available for rent. Owners are waiting for a big score, another big pharmacy to pay out the big bucks. In the meantime, small business start ups can’t find good, affordable real estate and homeowners watch as property values continue to recede.
How do we use the power?
Joshua Cooper Ramo, in The Age of the Unthinkable, warns that the models we were using to think about the world, models that worked in the past, are dangerously wrong in today’s complex and rapidly changing world. “History’s grandest war against terrorism creates more terrorists. Global capitalism, intended to improve lives, increases the gap between rich and poor. Decisions made to stem a financial crisis guarantee its worsening. Environmental strategies to protect species lead to their extinction.”
Ramo proposes that unpredictable times call on new patterns of using power. The complexity of 21st century life requires that our children are prepared to manage and control their own lives instead of relying on big corporations or the government. The 21st century skill of leadership calls on us to devote some of our life to helping others rather than relying on the government to help others for us to move from being architects of a system we can control to gardeners in a living ecosystem.
This weeks heroes: Young people stepping out to help those around the world displaced and homeless; particularly Trevor Ferrell (www.trevorscampaign.org), Matthew Conti (www.heartstosoles.com), and Zach Bonner (http://littleredwagonfoundation.com/).
This week’s question: Do you know where the horn of Africa is? that it is experiencing the most acute food security emergency on Earth? the worst drought in 60 years with more than 12 million people in need of outside assistance? that the U.S. is responsible for 47% of the food being provided?
Free Resource: The power of one click
With one click you can sign a petition to provide sustainable growth opportunities in the Horn of Africa: http://one.org/us/actnow/fword_splash.html?source=hungry_no_more_ussplash
and/or with one click you can donate free (advertisers pay) one cup of rice www.thehungersite.com
How do you use power?
Spread the news of the latest Grow a Generation resource: Shelter the Homeless: Student Project Guide for teens interested in completing a inquiry based leadership, graduation, eagle scout, gold award, or 20% time project helping the homeless. The resource includes several sample presentations, including one for raising funds for the Dadaab refugee camp.
