photo by Kjeld Duits
This week the Osaka YMCA Global Youth Conference for 2017 was held at Mt Rokko Global Learning Centre. The third annual event brought young people from around the world together to breakdown cultural and language barriers all the while debating global issues that matter most to them.
Participants from 18 different countries experienced an eventful week with new friendships forged, cultures exchanged and global issues debated with passion.
On day one, no time was wasted for participants to feel culturally immersed in a Japanese situation as last minute changes were made to scheduling due to the impossible to foresee arrival of Typhoon 5.
The experience of working together to rearrange plans to ensure all participants arrived safely at Mt Rokko before the typhoon hit brought out the leader in each young person involved, setting the tone for the rest of the week.
This year’s conference workshop topics were gender equality, racism and cultural stereotypes, fake news and climate change. The GYC facilitators, who are young people themselves, organised and facilitated workshops on these topics and successfully brought out active participation in individuals who may have previously thought they wouldn’t have the confidence to stand up for what they believed.
Culminating with the General Assembly on Thursday 10 August, gender equality was voted on as the chosen debate topic. Three debate questions were then settled:
Is complete gender equality achievable within 100 years?
Should men pay for the first date?
‘
Women only train carriages should be used globally.’ Do you agree?
What followed was a constructive debate about how we can all move forward as a society to achieve gender equality in our communities and world.
Aside from debating important world issues, participants took part in outdoor activities, a campfire and fireworks, and Culture Night – where participants from each country presented a part of their culture to the rest of the group. Singing, dancing, tea-drinking and breaking down how to speak Singlish, were all part of Culture Night, a very enriching experience for all involved. There was also a Japanese culture presentation, which included a traditional biwa performance, a kendo demonstration, plus DJ Hi-C, who played a set for everybody to let their hair down to on the third night.
Congratulations to the GYC facilitators for their excellent work running informative and engaging workshops, to participants for having the courage to share their opinion on often divisive issues, and to all involved for becoming global citizens in this rapidly globalised world.