Such was the case on 24 February, when Activista members from all over Bangladesh gathered at Gonoshastha Kendra, Savar, to attend the first Youth Convention hosted by ActionAid. Since it was my first time at such a conference without any friends, I expected nothing but chaos and feeling left out.
However, to my surprise, when I entered my room after registration, I found four other girls just like me from different localities and organisations touching almost every corner of the country. As we discussed, we also discovered that two of my roommates would also be in the same group as me throughout the two-day event.
The day started off with commemorating four luminaries who played a catalyst role to bring the sub-continental countries to the present stage – Mahatma Gandhi, Begum Rokeya, Mother Teresa and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Reciting some of their most famous quotes also invigorated the participants with enthusiasm and inspiration.
We then moved on to our respective groups for discussions with the support of facilitators on the development agenda and youth action. We discussed the role of the youth in the development and policy-making processes in our country. We contemplated how the youth can raise their voice, pave the path to change and eventually lead the way. Even though my team members and I had different linguistic familiarity, attire and behavior, we stood on the same ground.
In my group, we focused on global healthcare. My group consisted of a diverse and insightful group of youth which included a talkative Fatima from The Kadoorie Charitable Foundation (KCF) and a shy Shojib from Shapla Kuri. We raised issues and problems related to health that youth faces. Apart from the more widely focused topics of access to maternal and child healthcare, availability of health care facilities and rehabilitation centres, we also discussed about scourge of early marriage, drug abuse and puberty related issues. Brought up in a conservative society such as ours, puberty and post- puberty open discussions are taboo. A male group member said:
I am quite happy that I am able to discuss those issues with my peers in such of forum openly. Discussing these issues with my parents was a forlorn hope. If I do, they will say I’ve become too precocious.
To think of it, it was all very true. Parents are not comfortable discussing the change that their children would go through and obliviously children would seek help from their peers who also had no clue. “Doctors can be very judgemental, and the discussions with them are not kept confidential”, said a female participant. She also added that the schools teach about safe water and sanitation but they always avoid teaching sexual and reproductive health education, something which is vital and of utter importance for our health and well being.
Education is imperative in the sense that even if you cannot talk about it with anyone, at least you will have the proper knowledge of what measures to take. The solutions that we came up with were- awareness through use of technology, training teachers and adult-youth partnerships. Each of the seven teams put up a few minute skit that helped portray their individual issues and then presented their ideas. After the last team left the stage, it seemed to me that our goals were not beyond reach, especially if the youth got involved. The youth have the power to empower and drive a nation to prosperity. As reiterated by ActionAid and society in general, ‘Youth are not only the future but they are the present’, so I think it’s a good time to start NOW.
