Come on guys, let’s do this!
Through TIG, I’ve also learned a lot of things that have shaped my being and my attitude. If you tell other people that they have to act positively, you have to act positively yourself, and TIG has helped me to realize the importance and the meaning of being a young leader.

Joel Kalpram
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Joined TIG: August 5, 2004

My name is Joel. I grew up in Erakor, a village on the Efate island, the main island in Vanuatu. Since Vanuatu is a very tropical Pacific country, small-scale agriculture is quite important, and with my grandparents and my school, we would plant food and harvest crops growing up to pay for school fees. In 2002, I started getting involved with Youth Challenge Vanuatu, which aims to strengthen youth leadership through community development projects. I started to gain a better understanding of the issues that are affecting my society, and I was propelled to get more...

Come on guys, let’s do this!
Through TIG, I’ve also learned a lot of things that have shaped my being and my attitude. If you tell other people that they have to act positively, you have to act positively yourself, and TIG has helped me to realize the importance and the meaning of being a young leader.

Joel Kalpram
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Joined TIG: August 5, 2004

My name is Joel. I grew up in Erakor, a village on the Efate island, the main island in Vanuatu. Since Vanuatu is a very tropical Pacific country, small-scale agriculture is quite important, and with my grandparents and my school, we would plant food and harvest crops growing up to pay for school fees. In 2002, I started getting involved with Youth Challenge Vanuatu, which aims to strengthen youth leadership through community development projects. I started to gain a better understanding of the issues that are affecting my society, and I was propelled to get more involved in youth activism. I’m most passionate about HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health, and land-related issues. In 2004, I started working for YCV as the project manager, and HIV/AIDS is one of the focus areas of the organization; we organize awareness raising campaigns and workshops in local communities, and I’m also trying to raise awareness within my own network back home. With regards to land issues, two years ago, my community sold a massive piece of land to investors. Now, the money is running out and people are struggling. The tourism in Vanuatu is attracting more investors and more proposals to buy land, so I’m trying to spread awareness about the negative impacts of selling land.

One of the ways I’ve been learning more about these two issues is through TakingITGlobal. During the Oxfam International Youth Parliament (IYP) in Sydney, Australia, I attended a presentation on TakingITGlobal. Some of the people from the IYP signed us up to TIG and taught us how to use it, and when I returned to Vanuatu, I browsed through the site and thought, “Whoa, this has a lot of information and resources!” I love the discussion boards and the Global Gallery, and I really like the country pages. When I first clicked on the Vanuatu country page, I thought, “Wow, this is great!” It has everything people would be interested in, like basic information about Vanuatu, the latest blogs and news, financial and professional opportunities.

One resource that I find particularly useful is the Understand Issues section. I like to click on a random issue to read every time I log in to TIG. For example, I was reading about HIV/AIDS and experiences from other countries where this issue is much more prevalent than in Vanuatu, and it was a really good way to share information. Some of the issues that I’ve read about are not even considered “issues” in my country, and I find that the more I read, the more interested I am, the more I learn, and the more I read. Through TIG, I’ve also learned a lot of things that have shaped my being and my attitude. If you tell other people that they have to act positively, you have to act positively yourself, and TIG has helped me to realize the importance and the meaning of being a young leader.

TakingITGlobal was the first youth site that I’ve ever been inspired by. What inspires me the most about the site is the way in which young people are involved in taking action. In Vanuatu, even though a lot of young people are affected by issues, not a lot of young people are taking action. Many of the youth are still looking at elders and leaders to take action and make decisions. However, on TakingITGlobal, I’ve been reading about so many young people who are taking action and affecting change. Young people are running projects, organizing and attending events, and that really inspires me. I’m motivated to act, to initiate my own projects, and to contribute positively to help my people, especially young people.

Reading about all the projects, events, and member profiles on TakingITGlobal actually propelled me to think, “Well, what can I do?” I got to thinking about how, in my community, even though there are many young people, not much is being done to address youth issues or to enable young people to actively participate and be engaged in their community. There is especially a lack of space for youth. So I’ve been working on establishing a local youth drop-in centre, where young people can come together to learn about and discuss the issues that are important to them. Together, we can motivate and support each other. I have found about 10 other youth who are really keen and interested in launching this project with me, but it’s hard to get everyone together. However, I always say, “Come on guys, let’s do this!” and I’m starting to feel that this is my main call in life. I’ve been reading the personal stories and experiences of TIG members and how they’re taking action, and this has been a good way to learn about best practices and help me develop an action plan. In this sense, TakingITGlobal motivates and inspires me to continue and to get this youth centre established.

Compared to countries like Australia and New Zealand, Vanuatu is quite remote and lacks a lot of the resources that address the needs of young people. There are not very many opportunities, but being a part of TIG has opened up many doors for me. For example, I found out about the event “Democracy in the Pacific: Regional Study Session” on TakingITGlobal in 2006. I applied to go to this study session; Manu, a fellow TIG member, helped me with the application, and I ended up attending the event. It was a great experience that wouldn’t have been possible without TIG. I personally think that all I need to take action is on TakingITGlobal and I appreciate everything that is available on the site.

Learn about other places right from your armchair.
TIG helped me to broaden my mental horizons to a great extent: living in Siberia does not mean living in isolation, and learning does not mean cramming for exams. We can become a part of the world by getting involved and using our knowledge and abilities to contribute to solving global problems. Information means empowerment!

Olga Pavolva
Kemerovo, Russia
Joined TIG: May 29, 2005

My name is Olga. I grew up in Kemerovo, Russia, and I have never been anywhere abroad. It is a little strange for a person who has been learning and studying languages for about 11 years, but it is true. Moreover, I have never been anywhere in Russia, except in one neighbouring city. However, I think it’s possible to stay at home and, at the same time, to communicate with people from other countries and even continents or to learn about other places right from your armchair.

When I was a...

Learn about other places right from your armchair.
TIG helped me to broaden my mental horizons to a great extent: living in Siberia does not mean living in isolation, and learning does not mean cramming for exams. We can become a part of the world by getting involved and using our knowledge and abilities to contribute to solving global problems. Information means empowerment!

Olga Pavolva
Kemerovo, Russia
Joined TIG: May 29, 2005

My name is Olga. I grew up in Kemerovo, Russia, and I have never been anywhere abroad. It is a little strange for a person who has been learning and studying languages for about 11 years, but it is true. Moreover, I have never been anywhere in Russia, except in one neighbouring city. However, I think it’s possible to stay at home and, at the same time, to communicate with people from other countries and even continents or to learn about other places right from your armchair.

When I was a child, I heard a story by Jules Verne. As far as I know, he never travelled anywhere, yet he wrote long novels about the most amazing and incredible trips, using only his inquisitiveness and his imagination. This changed my perspective of a person living and acting on the global level. When I entered university, I got Internet access from home and I was given a lot of opportunities to prove that this “Verne’s pattern” can be successfully followed today. There are a lot of virtual communities, such as TakingITGlobal, which bring people together just as well as any real workshop or organisation!

I learned about TakingITGlobal by accident in 2005. A lecturer at my university mentioned different online communities for youth and in particular, the TIG Global Gallery, during a class. I liked the idea and decided to register. At first, I was not very involved in the community. About a year after my registration, though, I became more active through the discussion boards and the Global Gallery. There are great opportunities to communicate with other people who have similar passions on TIG, and I remember in particular connecting with Hayk, a fellow TIG member and a discussion board moderator. In 2006, I posted a thread on the discussion boards about the European Day of Languages and how it could potentially be celebrated on TakingITGlobal. As a result of the discussion, I got acquainted with Hayk, with whom I also developed a concept plan. Last year, TIG was seeking a new staff member and Hayk referred my name, and in October 2007, I became the Russian Language Coordinator on TIG!

This position is an absolutely new experience for me. As a philologist, I am passionate about the “linguistic” issues of the world. Most of all, I am concerned about mutual understanding and problems of translation and interpretation, as well as the issue of cultural and linguistic diversity. There are a lot of languages and cultures that are on the verge of becoming extinct today. However, through supporting language and translation, people can promote their unique culture and share experiences with other nations! My dream is to contribute to this process, and TIG, which is now available in 12 languages, has been a great platform to support this goal. For me, it is wonderful that I can contribute to the content on TakingITGlobal in Russian and translate the information and resources on the site in order to make them accessible to Russian-speaking members, who can then use them to get informed and involved.

Personally, I have learned many things through TakingITGlobal. I am an assistant lecturer and what I read at TIG is a source of new ideas for teaching. Now I am trying to inform my students about global issues, ask them to share their views, and make them think about problems and challenges that concern the world’s youth. TIG helped me to broaden my mental horizons to a great extent: living in Siberia does not mean living in isolation, and learning does not mean cramming for exams. My students can become a part of the world by getting involved and using their knowledge and abilities to contribute to solving global problems. Information means empowerment!

TIG has also changed my perspective of how people react to diverse cultures and countries. For example, I participated in the Global Gallery contest dedicated to the world’s indigenous peoples. I wished to show everybody the uniqueness of Kuzbas’ indigenous culture and the measures that are being taken to preserve it. However, I did not really expect anyone to pay much attention since this particular subject is not exactly “popular” or well known abroad. Frankly speaking, I was surprised that I was the first runner-up! It showed me that people are not as indifferent towards the “new and unknown” as I had expected them to be. In addition, I was also glad to learn that visual art can influence people. It is so great that we can send messages through artwork, without using any words. They are so expressive that might say much more than even a splendid poetic metaphor!

I am inspired by the general atmosphere of the TakingITGlobal community. The individuals on TIG are friendly and supportive, and they believe firmly in the ability of youth to affect change. Although I personally have not orchestrated any “huge” change in terms of organizing an event or initiating a project, I try as much as I can to promote cultural and linguistic diversity. I translate everything I can, especially when it is a literary work, and try to spread information about Russia and its culture through communicating with people from other countries, both through TakingITGlobal and through other means. I hope it can make a difference, at least a little bit!

If one just keeps trying things will work out.
There are Iraqi youth who are really passionate about certain issues, but they haven’t been taking action because they don’t know how. What Iraqi youth need is to be exposed to youth-led projects and examples of stories where youth made a change and took action, and this is where TakingITGlobal can have the most impact in our country.

Mohammed Jaafar Saeed
Baghdad, Iraq
Joined TIG: April 17, 2004

My name is Mohammed. I was born in Baghdad, Iraq and have lived in Iraq all my life. I was seven when the Gulf War began in 1991, and I remember on the first night of the war, I was awakened from my sleep by loud bangs, the sounds of airplanes and missiles. Things also became hard economically due to the embargo: the Iraqi currency deteriorated from 3 to 2000 Iraqi dinars for 1 US dollar, while salaries remained the same. After the oil-for-food and drugs agreement, things got...

If one just keeps trying things will work out.
There are Iraqi youth who are really passionate about certain issues, but they haven’t been taking action because they don’t know how. What Iraqi youth need is to be exposed to youth-led projects and examples of stories where youth made a change and took action, and this is where TakingITGlobal can have the most impact in our country.

Mohammed Jaafar Saeed
Baghdad, Iraq
Joined TIG: April 17, 2004

My name is Mohammed. I was born in Baghdad, Iraq and have lived in Iraq all my life. I was seven when the Gulf War began in 1991, and I remember on the first night of the war, I was awakened from my sleep by loud bangs, the sounds of airplanes and missiles. Things also became hard economically due to the embargo: the Iraqi currency deteriorated from 3 to 2000 Iraqi dinars for 1 US dollar, while salaries remained the same. After the oil-for-food and drugs agreement, things got better, but you could still feel a constant pressure. My parents were always telling us not to talk about religion and politics in public because one could get jailed for saying the wrong things. Then, there was the war in 2003 and the violence that occurred after that: all these things made me think about injustice and violence, and how we can stop it.

I am particularly interested in human rights, especially women’s and children’s rights. In Iraq, we have many problems in this regard: there is domestic abuse, gender discrimination and child abuse. Human rights are not respected, but nobody talks about these issues. For me, education is key to making improvement on these issues. Currently, the Iraqi educational system has many problems: students are rarely involved in class, the focus is on theory, not on practice, and most students just memorize material and write exams and learn nothing about peace and conflict issues. I want to help change the Iraqi educational system and to see more students who believe in themselves and who believe in change.

After the war in 2003, satellite receivers were allowed for the first time in Iraq, and I watched a program called “Chat the Planet” where groups of youth from two countries talk via satellites. I liked the idea so I looked for Chat the Planet online and learned about TakingITGlobal through their website. I have mostly been active in the discussion boards and I think I have become more open-minded as I was exposed to different ideas and thoughts through TIG. I decided to volunteer with TIG about a year ago because I wanted to contribute more to making TIG more universal. I help to translate the content on the website into Arabic, and I also recently became one of the Arabic community connectors to try to encourage more Arabic youth to be active on the TIG community.

For me, it’s really inspiring when I see what some of the TIG members have done, and it’s reassuring to see such a large number of young, global-minded people who care about the world. In addition, through TIG, I have learned about certain issues like the Millennium Development Goals and the current situation of the world with regards to these goals. I also like to look up the country pages of my friends and read about the country and its history, as a result, I have learned about different cultures. Before the war in 2003, I had little contact with the outside world: traveling was very hard, and the Internet was very limited. TakingITGlobal was the first site that I really connected with, and it allowed me to interact with people from around the world. For once, I felt I was connected to the world. On the discussion boards, we would often discuss controversial issues like politics and Iraq, and there were several members with whom I would disagree all the time. However, over time, we became friends and we still keep in touch regularly.

Shortly after joining TIG, another Iraqi girl named Nour joined also, and we talked on TIG and discussed some issues. Later, we discovered that we were actually in the same class at college! Nour is a really inspiring young person, she is a part of many projects and together, we worked on a project together at our college to provide handbooks for students. Sometime ago, we both applied for the World Youth Congress in Canada, and we both got accepted. I am very excited about this.

The general atmosphere of TIG is one of understanding, activism and change. That makes you want to take action, to be a part of this community and to step up and change things. My first attempts at taking action in my community didn’t work out well: I tried to initiate a few projects, but due to the security levels and bureaucracy, they didn’t work out. But I think ultimately, if one just keeps trying, then things will work out. That’s what happened with me: after joining an online project on TIG called Student Voices, I learned a lot about new educational methods and integrating ICTs in education. From that, I am now working on a project with a local school to provide them with ICTs.

The old-fashioned educational system, the terrible security levels, and the red lines in society concerning religion and politics all play factors in discouraging youth from getting involved and taking action. There are Iraqi youth who are really passionate about certain issues, but they haven’t been taking action because they don’t know how. What Iraqi youth need is to be exposed to youth-led projects and examples of stories where youth made a change and took action, and this is where TakingITGlobal can have the most impact in our country.

A huge sea of people to support and motivate you
'It gives me so much hope and inspiration just to know that a network like TakingITGlobal exists. When you’re striving so hard to make a difference within your community, sometimes you can get tired or discouraged. But in a place like TIG, where thousands and thousands of youth making change in all corners of the world can connect with each other, you see that you’re not alone."

Laura Müller
Chihuahua, Mexico
Joined TIG: November 24, 2005

My name is Laura. I was born in Chihuahua, which is in the northern part of Mexico. As a child, I found it hard to concentrate on anything, but when I joined the girl scouts, it really turned my life around. I learned how to be responsible, how to love nature, and after that experience, I started really getting involved in youth organizations at school and at church. When I finished high school, I participated in a Rotary youth...

A huge sea of people to support and motivate you
'It gives me so much hope and inspiration just to know that a network like TakingITGlobal exists. When you’re striving so hard to make a difference within your community, sometimes you can get tired or discouraged. But in a place like TIG, where thousands and thousands of youth making change in all corners of the world can connect with each other, you see that you’re not alone."

Laura Müller
Chihuahua, Mexico
Joined TIG: November 24, 2005

My name is Laura. I was born in Chihuahua, which is in the northern part of Mexico. As a child, I found it hard to concentrate on anything, but when I joined the girl scouts, it really turned my life around. I learned how to be responsible, how to love nature, and after that experience, I started really getting involved in youth organizations at school and at church. When I finished high school, I participated in a Rotary youth exchange program in Brazil, where I met 68 students from 18 different countries and learned about other cultures and ways life. This experience had a huge impact on me, and I decided from there on that I wanted to travel – to meet people from all over the world. It helped me to learn that we are all fundamentally the same despite our religion or race.

I heard about TakingITGlobal for the first time in 2005 at the World Youth Congress in Scotland. Jennifer and Mike gave a presentation on TIG, and I thought it was really interesting, so the first thing I did when I returned to Mexico was sign up on TIG. Through TIG, I have mostly been contributing to Panorama, as my biggest passion is writing. My grandmother, whom I always wanted to emulate, was a writer, and I have always been a huge fan of Jules Verne and his novels since childhood. Not to mention Lois Lane, of course, who was also big inspiration for me to get into writing. She was intelligent and pretty, and she had a man in red underwear that would take her to the moon! Who wouldn’t want to become a reporter like her?

One of the first articles that I wrote was published by TIG, and then published for a local magazine. Then I wrote again for Panorama, and it was subsequently published by another magazine. And now, I am writing for about six different newspapers! TakingITGlobal was the first organization that published my work, so I have a deep appreciation for TIG. When I become famous, I will remember that!

Through TIG, I also became more conscious and knowledgeable about global issues like the environment, poverty and the MDGs, different cultures and religions, and how I could personally make a difference. As I get older, I am less involved with youth organizations as I used to be, but TIG has helped me to realize that we can still make a difference no matter where we are in life. For example, I always incorporate and promote global issues into my articles, and I try to be a positive influence on people, to transform their mentality, and to let them know that they can make a change; I think that’s why my section of the newspaper has been really successful.

On top of my writing, I also work as a professional speaker, and almost all of my speeches are for youth. One of my speeches focuses on the Millennium Development Goals. Talking about issues like eradicating poverty and promoting universal education really inspires the high school and university students who listen to my speeches: they get really passionate and want to take action to change the world. So, at the end of my presentation, I always give them a few websites and Mexican associations with which they can get involved, and TIG is always on that list. I always tell them, "Okay guys, if you want to participate, if you want to get involved, go visit TakingITGlobal," because I know that on TIG, they can find other youth who are also working passionately on global issues; they can find projects; they can learn; they can find opportunities.

I know because I have personally accessed these opportunities. A year ago, I worked for a social association that focused on promoting good values. I set up a profile for this organization on TIG and I also contacted other organizations in the TIG database, and eventually I got in touch with a similar organization in New Zealand. I got in touch with them and we exchanged ideas and documents, and this connection wouldn’t have been possible without TakingITGlobal.

I was also able to connect with Victor del Rosal, a fellow Mexican TIG member, through TakingITGlobal. Victor is very involved with youth associations and also gives speeches. My university was looking for a professional speaker, so I told them about him, and he came to Chihuahua. We chatted, and we have been in touch regularly ever since, and are getting involved in each other’s projects. TIG is a great platform for members who have similar interests and careers to get together to share ideas.

It gives me so much hope and inspiration just to know that a network like TakingITGlobal exists. When you’re striving so hard to make a difference within your community, sometimes you can get tired or discouraged, and sometimes you think you’re all alone. But in a place like TIG, where thousands and thousands of youth making change in all corners of the world can connect with each other, you see that you’re not alone, and that there’s a huge sea of people and opportunities to support and motivate you in your projects. In my case, I live very far from the centre of Mexico, so it’s frustratingly difficult for me to attend the major events and gatherings that take place in Mexico, as they are usually around an 18-hour drive away. But this is TakingITGlobal’s strength: it connects me with other youth leaders who are working for amazing causes in my country and around the world, even though geographically, we are so far apart.