Hallo from the Netherlands everyone! I had been meaning to write daily about my experiences at One Young World in The Hague, but my days started at 6am and often ended past 11:30pm, leaving me hardly any time to catch my breath. It was a fully-packed four days but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Never before have I attended a conference as large as this one that consisted of nearly 1,900 young people under the age of 30 originating from over 190 countries. Through my academic career, I’ve gone to academic conferences to hear lectures related to the hard sciences and public health, and viewed poster presentations that covered a variety of topics. But this one was different.
This Summit was a space dedicated to young people who are looking to change the world and have already taken steps to do so. I almost wish we didn’t have to leave The Hague because I did not have time to sit down with each and every delegate to hear about their work, whether it’s tackling plastic pollution, empowering women in their community, reforming prisoners and turning them into “prisonpreneurs”, making it easier for children in rural communities to access education, and targeting at-risk youth for health services and economic opportunities.
We arrived in The Hague as OYW Delegates and left as Ambassadors ready to transform the world. I’m so excited to share a series of posts spotlighting some of the work of the delegates I’ve been privileged to meet. Stay tuned…
A Healthy Blueprint 