ACWAY: Zahra’s reflections

ACWAY – A Common Word Amongst Youth – is the youth organization that organized the Youth Forum of the G20IF, partnering with URI and the Charter for Compassion. This blog is Zahra Jobe’s reflection of the week of the G20IF. Here are some photos of at the Youth Forum. 

ACWAY is every organisation in one. It’s Interfaith, Intercultural, world peace, human rights, woman’s rights, children’s rights, ending world hunger. That is what they stand for and what they are thriving to achieve.

First day, Sunday 10th August, was an overload of information but in the best way possible. It felt amazing knowing that there were thousands of people who knew this world needs change and who knew they wanted to be part of something this amazing and they stepped up. They took that as a responsibility and united regardless of faith, regardless of colour and regardless of religious beliefs or personal opinions. It truly felt like I found my like minded people which was welcoming. I found it mesmerising that everyone had the same idea of we need to step up and yet they had so many different ideas of action to solve these difficulties. I think in that moment of realisation I finally understood that empathy was an action which was one of the many lessons of that day but it was one that really stood out from the rest. 

Then. When Raquel spoke about sexism, that was something I was drawn to because as a female studying for become a motor mechanic and that is the first and only female in my workshop. I face sexism every single day and for her to say that I should stand my ground regardless of their opinions and things, that too spoke to me and was a huge motivation to continue with my passion. 

On Day 2, Monday, I only stayed up until 12pm due to other responsibilities. The host stood out because in a way he called out corruption in South Africa. He urged the need for basic supplies for the poor and the communities in danger. That’s what stood out for me in the short period then later in the day Golden and I facilitated, I found Ubuntu within the children we facilitated. We went to a mosque and with the genocide there was tension you could feel with the Jewish kids being in the mosque. Yet the imam made them comfortable and they asked the most questions too and in the end they found that there are so many similarities between Islam and Judaism and in the end you could feel the tension being released and you could see the togetherness and it was truly a beautiful sight to witness.

Day 3 Tuesday was by far the best. Maria spoke about how we should not teach children from right or wrong from a book but learn with them because children copy adults and if we as adults acted in specific ways to shape our youth then they’d learn more and capture more and have more respect. Then as she was explaining, one of the hosts interrupted her and went against what she said but in this moment she stood her ground and stood on what she believed. This moment is powerful because not only did she stand up for the children who cannot voice their opinions but for many females who break down and are silenced because someone disagreed with them or tried to argue whether they were right or wrong. 

Then also Mr Jansen is the definition of what we as South Africa needs in our educational systems and even government. I feel as though we as the youth are extremely misunderstood and he represented what we think perfectly. He understands us and he’s the voice for us and we really appreciate what he said today. 

Then in our separate sessions. I chose C3. Mental health for the youth. I loved that the panel was mixed from ages all the way to religions and race. I the eldest gentleman, Mr Doug Fountain especially because he stated that we cannot see mental health as one and we cannot treat it the same be it from war crimes to rape cases. and that spoke to many people because it was so true and he highlighted it perfectly. 

On Wednesday (Day 4) I felt unwell so I didn’t join the entire day but I joint the last session where we spoke about our project and how we could all contribute to Ubuntu. My project was that I’d like to create a soup kitchen where I’d give out food in poor areas, specially one I grew up in. Azizah gave me an amazing idea to ask neighbours to join so that it’d be intercultural and interfaith and in that way it’d be the true meaning of togetherness and coming together for

Day 5, Thursday was a very emotional day. I think I speak for everyone when I say nobody wanted that goodbye or for it to end. There was a conference between the youth and the older generation. Two stood out to me. Grace had an elder who said that South Africa should not give free grants. As a South African, I agree whole heartedly. Young people get many children because they’ll receive a grant and the children will never get any of that money. They buy R3 nappies at the nearest corner shop that causes rashes and leave the children in the streets while they do whatever else. I’ve seen this happen to friends of mine and many people in the neighbourhood I grew up in. So I agree with that specifically for Cape Town because maybe they will have less children, maybe they’ll start to appreciate the money and not waste it.

Then I agreed with Salim. He said that the older generation should step down and give space for the youth and his partner, the elder. She agreed and said they should nurture us for the future and make space and teach us what to do, when to do it and why we should do certain things. I think this is a problem for the entire world but the world has changed. We need people with fresh mindsets to change government’s, to save many countries and to build a safe environment for everyone.