This week’s SoroptiVoice blog comes from Sarvina Kang, from SI Cambodia. Here she shares her recent experiences in Switzerland, where she attened the One Young World Conference. It was the friendship of her Soroptimist sisters that enabled her to go – a true example of the Soroptimist spirit!
Traveling miles across the ocean for first time to represent Cambodia, as an ambassador at the One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland, I was so honored and privileged to have this amazing opportunity. I was only able to make it there with the help of Soroptimists Gwendolen Webster and Catherine Scheurer – Tribolete. The purpose of the One Young World Summit is to “connect and bring together the youngest, brightest and best and to ensure that their concerns, opinions and solutions are heard.”
I would like to give my thanks to the President of SI Swiss Union, Ursula Jutzi, who decided to sponsor me to attend One Young Word 2nd Summit in Zurich and all of the Soroptimist sisters of Switzerland who hosted me. This trip has had such an impact on my life, my club, my family and my whole community.
Attending One Young World for the first time is really humbling – to see the amazing work that young people of my age are doing after overcoming several challenges. The summit is all about the actions carried out by young people around the world, where the summit is used as a platform to gather and exchange ideas. After the lunch programme, all the delegates were taken on a trip along Lake Zurich for the country flag presentation and the official opening ceremony of One Young Summit.
All the counselors such as Desmond Tutu, Bob Geldof, Jamie Oliver, Muhammad Yunus, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Paul Polman, Guler Sabanci, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Wael Ghonim, Oscar Morales, Joss Stone, Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish and Nick Hayson were very inspiring and really cared about the issues that we are facing.
Desmond Tutu, Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and one of the oldest and the most inspiring counselors called One Young World delegates a “fantastic, amazing group”. He said: "I was inspired by the energy, ideas and dynamism of the wonderful young people I met at One Young World in London last year and I am delighted to be attending the second gathering of these exceptional individuals in Zurich this year. Young people are changing the world in which we live at an incredible pace and it is important that we listen to the young leaders of tomorrow and encourage them to address the problems in the world today.” (quote from http://www.oneyoungworld.com/about/default.asp)
“I love to be here because I am dying to see what you are doing” said Sir Bob Geldof, Musician and activist. He further talked about the age to inspire the delegates, “It’s incredible to be here”. Similarly, The Women’s Up and Leadership Plenary inspired me so much. Fatima Bhutto, Writer, Journalist and Activist, described how women create and raise up communities – it is so important to educate them: “It is not just herself but for the larger network”. She requested everyone, especially women, to fight ethically whether they are “inside” or “outside” the power.
The issue of gender inequality was also highlighted by guest speakers. Mercedes Erra highlighted some of the current gender issues by showing some facts. Erra focused on the facts of illiterate women where “2/3 of the 774 million illiterates in the world are women.” On the other hand, “Of the 500 largest corporation in the world only 13 have a female CEO.”
Finally at the end of the summit, Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate addressed the delegates, asking whether we are aware of power we have? He further made us realise our power and again asked: “what are you going to do with the power you have? How can the power be used?”. Yunus further challenged the delegates to takes the impossibilities: “Very soon what you think is impossible today will be common tomorrow so don’t ignore anything impossible”.
In the evening of the following day I was picked up by Irris Wanner. She took me to Jeannette’s house where I was hosted. We talked about many things. I told Jeannette about my club’s projects – Breast Cancer Awareness and Girls Education and also the upcoming project “Micro-Finance for Education”. We talked until midnight!
Ursula and Catherine picked me up from Jeannette’s house the following morning. We went to Bern until the evening and they took me to Marianne’s house where I had been hosted for two nights. In Bern, we also met a president of the SI Club, Arcadia B. Musfeld. Bern is the most beautiful, oldest City of Switzerland. I was falling in love with Bern City but I had to say goodbye to Bern that evening. I was surprised because they prepared a very beautiful dinner for me and we had dinner together – together my Soroptimist sisters made that day the most amazing memory for me.
The next day, Marianne and Catherine took me to Basel where I could see the beautiful Town Hall and the River Rhine. I was very inspired by one female ‘sitting’ statue. She sits with her suitcase behind, only one case, but she travelled around the world.
Finally the day came when we had to go our different ways. I had to leave for the airport at 8.00pm on 07 September 2011. With a heavy heart, I said good bye to Marianne as she was the last sister who was with me at the airport. I must thank everyone there for making it happen and for helping me to create a wonderful network across the globe. Once again I realized the importance of networking and of SI Friendship. It is the most fantastic tool and makes my life brighter.
Special thanks to Ursula Jutzi, Catherine Scheurer-Tribole, Marianne Schweizer Strübin, Jeannette Simeon-Dubach and Iris Wanner.