Dear Friends,
I'm writing you from sunny Bosnia. I'm here to work with two of our Youth Ambassadors. This weekend, they delivered a joint workshop to young people from different walks of life and sections of Bosnian society.
It just so happens that it fell within the window of something called Global Youth Service Day. GYSD is a Youth Service America event that attempts to synchronise acts of youth service around the world, for a real "feel good factor" as well as for the purpose of providing small grants to make those events happen.
Through one of YSA's partner orgs, URI Latin America and the Caribbean got a grant to run some service projects in four countries. So, as well as the workshop in Bosnia, there have also been acts of youth service coming from URI in Argentina and Venezuela; in Peru and the Dominican Republic, led by two former youth ambassadors; on top of that, a former youth ambassador in Morocco also got a grant and ran a youth camp this weekend.
But it doesn't stop there! In Uganda, Hannington organised a "trash mob" - a city cleanup by youth from different backgrounds. And across Europe, members of the fledgling young leaders team marked the day in some symbolic ways, through Facebook posts and blogs, and two of its members from Spain and Germany spoke about YLP at the anniversary celebration of a CC in the Netherlands.
With the Bay Area young adults group growing in capacity, a speakers panel program for high school students taking shape and our eye on bringing YLP activities to India by the end of the year, the momentum is most definitely building!
URI has created a great press release about the GYSD events and there will be much content to read and enjoy afterwards!
Best,
Matt
Matthew Youde
Global Young Leaders Program Coordinator
