The town hall meeting today with Pres. Obama was a surreal experience. Four reasons why: 1. More than 500 ASEAN youth leaders gathered at the University of Yangon, Myanmar to discuss youth concerns with the president who, in December 2011, launched the Young Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) to support youth leaders and their projects. 2. One of the 500 is a Myanmar youth leader who strives for human rights and ethnic inclusion despite threats. She was a political prisoner for seven years when Myanmar was still under military rule. When she and other prisoners were released in 2010, she dedicated her life fighting for the rights of her prosecuted community, women empowerment and the advancement of human rights. I sat next to her and was just struck by her story of bravery. 3. In his 10-minute speech, THE President Barack Obama said my name and acknowledged what we do for post-disaster recovery and the social enterprise we are starting for disaster resiliency. It was such an honor that a distinguished leader like him would acknowledge the little things that we do for the community. In a way, it was also an acknowledgement to all the tireless efforts of young Filipinos who create change from the grassroots. 4. During the Q&A, President Obama could only take seven questions given limited time. Almost everyone in the room raised their hand; and from this sea of hands, he saw mine! I was the last one he picked out to ask him a question (the question and his answer will be in another post)! I never got to shake his hand or take a photo with him. But no worries - he actually answered my question and spoke to me! What could get anything better than that? Today was far beyond what I had imagined. Meeting and speaking with these extra-ordinary people inspired me even more to create meaningful and greater changes in the communities I serve. And with support from leaders like Pres. Obama and a strong YSEALI network of youth activists and changemakers across ASEAN, I can. We can. Photos by: conan Batix and Amal
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:52:30 +0000
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