YOUNG MISSION
Vol. XVII x No. 3
MARCH 2005
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Youth
for Life
by Wojciech Gryc (photo, left)
YOUNG PEOPLE ON A MISSION
Getting involved is easier said than done, but can often lead to incredible experiences for those who do so. The author is a student writer and contributor of World Mission magazine, here he tells of his young mission.
I’m currently an eighteen year-old university student in Toronto, Canada and am fortunate to have been involved in dozens of volunteer projects. I am currently the director of Five Minutes to Midnight, an online project that works to empower youth to promote human rights. How I got here, however, is an interesting story.
Getting there
Secondary school is an interesting time for everyone who takes part. Teachers try to motivate you, the administration tries to get you involved, and yes, even your parents may promote the idea of “doing something useful” during and outside of school. Such was my experience in the first year of secondary school, and soon after, I took their advice (or caved into their demands, depending how you look at it) and chose to get involved. Since joining my first social justice club back in 2001, I've been involved in human rights and the experiences have changed my life.
Acting locally
I originally chose to get involved when I was fifteen and chose a club called Students & Teachers Against Racism & Sexism (STARS), for the simple reason that meetings were held on a convenient day. STARS was created to promote understanding and equality in schools, and the group was charged with the task of making presentations and advocating this difficult topic within the city. The experience allowed me to visit schools and speak to youth who were at risk, and as I saw the positive responses to our presentations, I began to feel that working towards peace and security on a local level is incredibly important.
Indeed, I became convinced. From someone involved in one or two clubs in school, I became an advocate of human rights and ensuring people respect each other. I worked on my speaking skills, researched current events, and decided that I was going to make a difference.
Believing in life
After working on STARS for about a year, my belief in life and ensuring equality were further strengthened by the death of my sister, Magdalena. While this was a difficult time in mine and my family's lives, it underscored the importance of life to each and every one of us. To lose a loved one is to experience tragedy and sadly, millions of people experience these tragedies every year. What is worse is that many of these tragedies are easily preventable, from providing low-cost medicines to promoting peace and justice within a region affected by war.
With this in mind, I decided to join the United Nations Association in Canada – Toronto Region Branch (UNAC-To), where I later became Chairperson of Human Rights, a position that made me responsible for the organization's human rights programme within the Greater Toronto Area; a metropolis with a population of over four million people.
Going online
Dissatisfied with just one volunteer position, I also started an online publication called Five Minutes to Midnight, available at http://www.fiveminutestomidnight.org/ , to allow young people to get involved in human rights through the written word.
Five Minutes to Midnight began as website with articles from two people: myself and a friend named Joshua Concessao. Our mission was to write about issues we felt were underreported or lacked focus from different points of view; a goal we still keep in mind today. Originally, the project was local, focused on the Catholic schools within the Toronto region, as all of the volunteers were students within the system. Slowly, however, our influence began to spread.
After a few months, Five Minutes to Midnight’s popularity increased drastically. To promote our monthly online magazine and articles, we began to visit conferences and started an online advertising campaign. Coupled together, they allowed the project to reach beyond borders. Today, we have readers and volunteers all over the world and in countries like Australia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Brazil. We grew from an online project with about fifty subscribers, to one with hundreds around the world.
Leading youth
Today the project has diversified. While still publishing our monthly issues, we have recently put together and self-published a book, which we are using to raise money for a variety of youth-focused projects and charities. We conduct workshops and speak regularly on the media and human rights, teaching young people how to see past modern-day propaganda and techniques used to manipulate people’s opinions. Finally, we partner with organizations to promote human rights in a neutral way – Five Minutes to Midnight tries to get young people involved and eventually allow them to make their own decisions about these issues.
The number of volunteers in the project is constantly growing. We pride ourselves in the fact that we are youth-based and are “youth working for youth” – the oldest regular volunteer is just nineteen years old. The young people involved all come from different backgrounds, countries, and religions. While we originally started in a Catholic school system and still work closely with the people that supported us then, our influence has attracted diverse groups of young people.
Belief in solidarity
The volunteers, however, all have one thing in common: a strong belief in educating people about human rights and international issues. Many of them have experienced and seen disrespect for human rights first-hand, either through their travels or in their towns and cities. Others have decided to help simply because of their beliefs that equality and support for each and every person is of the utmost importance.
When starting with my volunteering three years ago, a close friend gave me a piece of universal advice. “When you try to do something, become it.” It was difficult to understand, and even now, repeating it without any sort of analysis feels absurd. Simply put, the sentence says that whatever you decide to do, immerse yourself in it; become an expert; find your niche in the field – become that which you are working for.
The volunteers working for Five Minutes to Midnight are a prime example of this message. Many of them are involved in multiple organizations, writing articles for different papers, supporting their schools, working with political organizations, or advocating different issues. Their motivation lies in the fact that they see a better world for everyone, and think it is possible to achieve improved conditions for people.
When I look back on our work now, I see that it was all thanks to taking that original risk and just getting involved in a small project. This is what I promote to young people now. If you've never been involved in a club or program and aren't sure if it's a good idea, just try it. Giving up two or three hours a week to attend a meeting or workshop is no big loss, and I am sure that doing so will convince you to do more. Blaise Pascal once said, “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” Imagine what kind actions can do...<WM
Get involved with Five Minutes to Midnight by visiting http://www.fiveminutestomidnight.org/
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