Elite Youth Coalition for Development
(Original)

Mukiibi Lawrence
(Age 21, Uganda)
Makerere University Kampala

Growing up in an impoverished community, a slum of a city suburb, was a story I had planned to share with others in the whole world once given an opportunity. This miserable childhood experience ignited a desire in my heart to improve the community and extend my efforts to the other communities of the world in similar predicaments.

A community ravaged by abject poverty, hunger, disease and the like… Imagine a society where people look at owning a toilet as a luxury, dumping of the human excreta into streams, feces scattered all over, domestic violence at its peak, children malnourished, young girls compelled to become prostitutes because of socio-economic pressure, boys forced to end up on streets as drug addicts and without access to education.

All these problems have been exacerbated by ignorance, environmentally irresponsible practices, and social injustices like corruption, poor education background and low quality of healthcare delivery. Every moment I sat down to watch news on the international scene, I came to realize that the same problems were being faced by majority of people in the whole country and beyond. I kept contemplating on how a mere small boy like me can address these predicaments when those in authority have not been moved by the sorry state of my community.

Like Mahatma Gandhi “be the change you want to see in the world.” So I decided to take a step. After finishing high school, I and my colleagues initiated a youth coalition that brings together the youth from all walks of life and professions to complement each others efforts in development. Our vision is to create a society driven by self sustained youth: one world one civilization. I came to realize that bringing about change takes compassion, determination and commitment by looking far beyond individual interests, putting away profit oriented motives.

Since the vision was too big, yet resources were meager, we started with formal education for which the children on the streets and slums were the priority. We collaborated with a bible college director who provided the buildings to use as their home and also to use as classes.

We volunteer as teachers using skills we had acquired from school. We designed a simple curriculum, devised a program we called a ‘‘catch up’’ school. We rehabilitate them through teaching them life and communication skills, and nurture them spiritually. People with heart come to donate books and other scholastic materials; this makes them smile and it has made a huge difference in their lives. At the end, that is after transformation, we get them to sponsors and enroll them into private and public schools. We have extended our efforts to include the disadvantaged students that are performing poorly in class because of lack of attention from the teachers.

Guess what, in time to come, these people will be able to support themselves, and work as responsible citizens who can bring about changes in society. Indeed education is a life investment, so allow me to say that this is fostering sustainable development. We live in a paper and knowledge driven society.

In future we shall intensify our campaign in areas of the environmental conservation, health, and culture by building multicultural communities, learning how to respect one another’s culture and ethnicity, and child welfare development among others.

The whole notion is about bringing together young people with different professions, say lawyers, engineers, social workers, doctors, a few just to mention, to put their knowledge to use so as to address the problems of the community through different approaches.

In future we intend to establish it as a huge youth organization that will extend beyond the borders of my community to the whole world to those experiencing similar problems. We shall make outreaches in schools, colleges and universities, because we young people are the now and the future. What we should know is that no one is born compassionate, caring, loving or cruel, but it is historical and environmental circumstances that shape our personality.

The picture may appear complex, but to make it simple, let me use the metaphor of a body built from microscopic cells. A group of similar cells form an organ for a special function, and finally a system each with a specialty. All these systems are under coordination of one system—the nervous system—all working in harmony for a common goal and no organ or cell can work independently, as we participate in the process of life. Let me end by quoting Valerie Casey, “the shared mind is more powerful than the individual alone.”