BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: The youth need to be listened to and given platform to get empowered as young responsible adults who can contribute positively to their communities; acclaimed author, activist and philanthropist and President Barack Obama’s sister, Dr Auma Obama has said.
“We as adults must create spaces and platforms for young people to develop if we want them to contribute positively toward the community. They are our future, whether we like it or not. They are the ones who are going to take over eventually so it is in our own interest to work with young people and empower them and make them leaders that we want them to be,” she said yesterday.
Dr Obama was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Reach Out To Asia’s (ROTA)Empower 2014 youth conference, in which she was the keynote speaker. She founded the Sauti Kuu Foundation which means “Powerful Voices” in Kiswahili.
“For me it is very important for young people to realise they have a voice, they use that voice and that voice gets heard,” she stressed.
The Foundation seeks to give perspective to disadvantaged children and youth by helping them unlock their potential through Life Skills training and educational opportunities that lead to economic sustainability. The foundation is based on the principle of ‘Self-Help’ and aims to support and motivate the younger generations to take their fate into their own hands and be the makers of their own destiny.
She said crucial to the work of the foundation is changing the mindset of youth “from being victims who believe that they are poor that they can do nothing with their lives to becoming responsible young people who own their destinies and who realise that they are the ones who can determine their own future.”
She said empowering young people has been an important part of her life.
“I grew up in a family of boys. In our culture where girls basically take second place it’s always about trying to find your place, being heard, being taken seriously and I know that’s what young people find frustrating, when they are not taken seriously.”
On the best advice she can give to the youth to be successful in life, she said: “The world owes you nothing. You are your future. You must determine your destiny. And there are many things you need for it; you need support, you also need different people in your life to make it happen. Somebody will open the door for you and you must go through that door by yourself.”
Asked whether she is interested to collaborate with Rota, she said: “I would love to. I’m finding more and more about them every day and a lot of what they are doing I’m finding very impressive. Also because we focus on education, on empowering young people, I’m sure we’ll find synergies and I’m hoping that it can lead to us working together in some way in the future.”The Peninsula
