From youth, for youth
The idea of giving Vietnamese youths a venue to think big, speak freely and learn skills was sparked in the mind of Phan Dieu Linh, a 19-year old Vietnamese studying abroad at Trent University, Canada. Linh, who has participated in the Asian Youth Forum (Thailand, 2007) and many other leadership workshops at Trent, was looking for a way to give back to Vietnam by inspiring the country’s youth to become more aware of local and global issues. Linh shared the idea with friends and found that she was not the only one asking such questions. A team of 7 Vietnamese students between the ages of 18 and 19 was formed, determined to share something big by starting something small.
One question, many ideas
The team gave themselves a mission: empowering a small number of Vietnamese students by providing skills and raising serious global and local concerns - while having fun! Ideas poured out, and the skeleton for the Vietnam Youth Forum was constructed: a 5-day youth forum would be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from June 26th to 29th. The main theme of the forum was to be “Vietnamese youth in globalization - How can Vietnam achieve growth while preserving our culture and the environment?”
Organizers without borders
There was one tiny problem: the 7 organizers were spread out among Canada, the USA and Vietnam and would not return to Hanoi until early May. The solution: Skype! The team held weekly Skype conferences to discuss and plan the next steps. From January until May, all the preparations for the forum, including agenda building, proposal writing, and fundraising were completely done on-line! The 14-hour spread in time zones meant at least one member each week would suffer from a night’s lack of sleep, or a Sunday afternoon stuck at home.
Great support received
A fantastic idea grew into a solid proposal, which was sent out in all directions to ask for financial support. The Vietnam Youth Forum was lucky enough to receive the partnership and support of the Asian Youth Forum and the Bank of America! However, in Vietnam, having money is not enough. You need legal entitlement to operate anything, and the legal entitlement to organize conferences is something that 18-year old students will never have!
The idea came to a halt until 7 “smart heads” thought of a way through the obstacle. Their meaningful proposal received the attention of Mayfriend Institution, an educational institution legally entitled to host youth events. With Mayfriend’s partnership and great support, it started to look as if the forum would be up and running after all.
Five fantastic days!
How do you lock 30 teenagers (aged 15–19) in one big air-conditioned room for 5 days, from 8.00 am till 4.00 pm, and keep them interested in serious issues such as global warming and inflation? The VYF managed to do what many traditional academic institutions have failed to do: to always keep the participants’ spirits and inspiration high!
During the 5 days of the VYF, the participants and organizers explored one after another the intricately connected issues faced by Vietnam and the world during this era: Vietnamese culture and preservation (day 1), the environment (global warming and urban waste disposal – day 2) and issues surrounding the Vietnamese economy and development (day 3). Day 4, dedicated to understanding social services and organizations, consisted of a trip to Friendship Village, a special school and treatment center for Agent Orange victims in the outskirts of Hanoi. “Action Day” (day 5) gave members a chance to combine the knowledge recently learnt with leadership and organizational skills to formulate their very own practical action plan!
The VYF explored these interesting yet extremely challenging topics through a host of fun, interactive activities: watching movies, team discussions, debates, internet research, presentations and others. Discussion was the forum’s core activity and took place regularly. In a circle, on the floor, members felt they could speak their minds freely!
Members were encouraged not only to take in information, but also to think critically and to always ask questions. Team discussion and presentation were other key methods used, providing room for participants to develop their critical thinking and public speaking skills. These happened to be skills that were typically unemphasized in traditional Vietnamese schooling.
“I’ve only seen him on TV!”
Besides the activities and discussions hosted by the VYF’s teen organizers, successful figures in each field explored were invited as guest speakers to talk with VYF’s youth! Prof. Huu Ngoc, a leading researcher in Vietnam’s culture and author of the best-seller “Wandering through Vietnam’s culture” often makes presentations to foreign scholars and students, and this was one of his first times talking to an audience of Vietnamese youth! The experience was equally valuable and inspirational to both parties.
Huu Ninh, Vietnam’s representative on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shook the youth with facts and figures on Vietnam’s climate change, awed the audience with the IPCC’s Nobel Prize, and inspired everyone to take action with his own burning passion! The most popular guest speaker to the VYF participants, however, must have been Tran Hai Linh, the country general manager of Lenovo Vietnam- Vietnam’s youngest manager at the age of 25! Young, brilliant, funny and down to earth, Linh’s talk made Vietnam’s economic picture seem as simple and interesting as cake while his personal experience was yet another brilliant example of hard work and passion leading to success.
A plan in my hand
No talk should come without action. The last day of the forum was dedicated solely to the sharing of organizational experiences, and the formation of individual (or group) action plans! Practical, small-scale yet meaningful ideas were put together with constructive critique and comments from VYF members and facilitators. Ngoc (17- Hanoi) recruited 2 new friends to join “Paris Delight”– a student-led fundraising campaign to raise money for HIV/ AIDS victims through a French bakery class! Thanh Trang and Thuy Trang, two girls currently studying in the US, already have a timeline set to start their awareness campaign on the issue of Agent Orange in the United States!
Hear what the members have to say
Ngoc Anh, 17-years old, says, “The skills and knowledge I’ve learnt only in 5 days are incredible. I’ve learnt to care. Something that can never be read in books or learnt through lectures!”
17-year old Thuy Linh’s favorite VYF memory was preparing for her first ever formal debate on “Growth or Development” during Economics Day (Day 3). Thuy Linh is a strong believer in Sustainable Development, but was put on the “Growth” side, and struggled for days to come up with solid evidence and persuasive arguments to back up their side. She found that the hard work gave her more than just a successful debate, in the end: “I did something I never thought I could do before. Winning over yourself is the best feeling of all.”
Hai, 16, says he was most impressed by the energy and preparation put into the forum by the organizers, who were only 2 years older than him: “I like the way they care for every single participant. Or how they always know where to put a game, when to take a break, and when to let the conversation flow!”
Diep, 17, has taken up the VYF’s slogan as her own: “I want to be a change, however small.”
To Zee, one of the organizers, the VYF has been the most rewarding thing she has done in her life. “When you’re a facilitator, you notice things. You see how every individual develops and grows so rapidly in only 5 days: how some kids who didn’t dare to talk in the first day became extremely critical and persuasive debaters in the last. You see the spark in their faces when the conversation is inspirational. And when the last day is over, and there are 30 people hugging you, saying they miss you, and love you, and don’t want to go– you know you have succeeded!”
Pay it forward
The VYF’s largest success of all is definitely the inspiration and motivation it created in the hearts of 30 young people, who will each go out into the world and inspire many more. 7 of these young people have been so inspired by this novel experience, that they are determined to turn the VYF from a first hand idea into an annual event! The new organizers are determined to pass on the passion that they have received, and bring in new ideas and improvements (such as a more diverse participant body), to create Vietnam Youth Forum 2009!
Do you want to see how and where they are, or to wish them good luck and give them support? Log on to www.vnyouthforum.org, and make this change!
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