Travelling Through One Young World

A little over half a year ago, an esteemed friend approached me and said, "Hey, Lionel, I want your help with this project."

He went on to elaborate lightly on what needed to be done, and then said, "Why don't we meet up and talk further about this?"

And that was how I was introduced to One Young World. I didn't know heads or tails of it, and if you don't either, here's the site.

My esteemed friend and mentor, Jon, wanted me to help - in my ability as a writer - with a report called One Young World Impact Report, which is a compiled report about the activities of the youth leaders in Malaysia.

I will be honest with you, when first I heard of this, I only saw how I could gain from this - it would look great in my CV, I would make so many contacts etc andsoonandsoforth. I was a new writer, trying to find my voice in a world saturated with sound, and this was one of the ways that I thought I could get my very own breakthrough.

Here comes the part where I tell you something sappy about how this project changed me, about how much I've grown. I did. I interviewed people - something I've never done before - and gained a new confidence. I was given the opportunity to work with an awesome team - Michael Teoh, Jonathan Chu, Bernie Quah and Mushamir Mustafa. This is the first big project that I've ever worked on, and it is unbelievably fulfilling to put time and effort into completing it.

I met some really great people. Youths - like you and I - who are passionate about making that bit of difference. Youths, who go out there and in their capacity, change their communities, nevermind that word of their work will never reach the public's ear. Youths, who believe that a single life changed is more important than all the publicity in the world.

And, along the way, these inspiring people changed me too. I've come to see that we are not compiling a report, soulless and cold, just so I get a nice line in my CV. We are telling the stories of these great people, these great youths. We are telling the stories of their hard work, their struggles, their failures, and ultimately, we are telling stories about their triumphs.

I started this project wanting to find my voice, but now, they - my team and the people I've been privileged enough to meet - have shown me that we all have a voice; the difference is only in what we say and what we do with that voice.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

I am, finally, beginning to understand what he really meant.

~

p.s. If you have an interesting project you want to share with the world, please, contact me

here

or you can share it 

here

p.p.s If you have the time, please 'like' my profile on One Young World.

It'll only take a few seconds. Much, much love and thanks in advance!