Leon has volunteered with PeerLink for the past few years, helping to organise events, running workshops, presenting the PeerLink awards and much more. He also gives his time and expertise to other great projects such as Plan UK, who sent him as a young reporter to the Copenhagen climate change conference in December.
Childrens charity Plan UK in partnership with the UK Youth Parliament ran a creative competition to find two ‘young journalists’ to attend the international climate change summit in Copenhagen. I was the third member of our team, I hadn’t won a competition but I had raised money through the ‘Fair share’ funding with the support of my local counsellors, and had secured a spot because I was part of Plan’s Youth Advisory Board and a keen campaigner on Climate change. Copenhagen has changed my life forever.
PeerLink was a necessary stepping stone to helping me achieve in Copenhagen. It game me some of the skills necessary to make a noise! Before my official Journalism training I had received some media training from PeerLink in the past and that certainly helped to boost my skills. Whilst being a facilitator and host for PeerLink I’ve developed a bank of knowledge and confidence to help my presentational skills which was crucial when giving interviews to the worlds press.
Throughout the week it felt so surreal to be in the centre of the most important international meeting to date, which would set the path for the future negotiations and the future of the earth. There were other young journalists from Plan Kenya, Sweden, Indonesia, Holland and the UK, we met as strangers but as the week unfolded we became friends and left as family. They were all inspirational and changed my outlook on life. Together, we managed to achieve so much.
Plan has organised 2 side events one of which was a debate on ‘child and youth participation in negotiations and the lessons learnt’ which was arranged as a ‘school day’ and the Principle was Margareta Wahlström, Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, I was asked to present at this event alongside Beatrice, 13 from Kenya and Reina, 13 from Indonesia. We set the adult audience homework which was to increase child and youth participation in the debates and negotiations. After this we were invited to sit on a panel debate answering various questions to why children and young people have a right to be involved. It proved extremely interesting and demonstrated that the issue we were fighting for still needed raising with those that had the invested power to make a difference.
One of the highlights was meeting Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, who told the audience that “you elders have made a mess of things and should get away” he went on to praise the youth presence within Copenhagen “it’s great to see so many young people at the summit.” As a globally recognised campaigner Desmond Tutu is certainly someone we should be listening to, especially when he highlighted the importance of children and young people in the negotiation process. The excitement of the Bella Centre was unreal.
I learnt alot whilst in Copenhagen, not only about Climate Change but about myself. The most emotionally difficult bit was leaving Beatrice and Kenya at the airport, partly because we had come so close but also I knew what they had to return to, I knew that Copenhagen had in their eyes failed. Joseph and Beatrice has given me the inspiration and boosted my dedication to return back to Grimsby and continue my work on Climate Change and youth representation. They had added to my determination and knowledge by giving me a stark reality check. The whole event was exciting and life changing.
Copenhagen is not the end, it’s the beginning.
Leon
