Empowering the youth

THE power to lead and to change. The shout for joy. The infinite enthusiasm.

These uplifting energy and inspiring characters are the things that will consume your senses when you find yourself in the middle of the youth crowd.

The whole event was filled with high-spirited young people who embraced the challenge of leadership and who pledged to be catalysts of peace of our nation. Many are called but only few are chosen out of millions of young people nationwide.

It seems to me a flashback. I rekindled the past where I was once a student leader. The sets of activities which the 729 participants of National Youth Leadership Summit (NYLS) 2012 have gone through were quite similar from my experiences in my high school life long ago. The thing is, the event was spearheaded by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and mine were organized by the non-government organizations.

But all boils down to enhance capabilities of the youth sector. Davao City was chosen as the perfect hub for this leadership summit.

This time I am a youth facilitator of the NYLS 2012. I gave emphasis in bringing out the best of the youth through the teambuilding we prepared.

The goal is to awaken or develop the sense of leadership and followership in every game. We tested them to undergo obstacles to brainstorm, to communicate and to integrate their fellow delegates from different parts of the country.

This big event was the first ever national convention of Youth Leadership Summit deliberated by the AFP. And I realized that when I heard different dialects spoken by other delegates coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Imagine if they talk altogether at once (that is a battalion of honey bees buzzing around!). The good thing was, we used one medium -- a Filipino language. Though I felt uncomfortable speaking Tagalog but I had to.

Throughout the event slated on October 26-30, 2012, the youth delegates were educated on interpersonal communication, leadership, teambuilding, cultural/religious understanding and cooperation, anti criminality/illegal drugs, national security concerns, nature stewardship and patriotism/civic actions.

The big number of NYLS delegates is expected to come up proposals to practice their gained knowledge from the youth summit and also to round up the youth participation in the quest of peace in their respective areas of responsibility.

We couldn't deny that today the world is polluted with hideous dilemma in various facets. But for us Filipino youth let us ignite our forces in unison to rescue our Motherland from desertion.

We, the youth, are the fountain of hope and idealism.