Female, 23 from Nigeria
Joined TIG: April 27, 2006
My name is Esther. I was born and raised in Calabar, in Nigeria. I grew up in a community where a lack of education, unemployment, and teenage pregnancy were rampant. I wanted to make a change on these issues, so I decided to take action in high school, where I was elected as a peer health educator on adolescent sexuality. Since then, I have continued to work with issues related to health, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS. I am also passionate about the environment, because in my country, we can see and feel the impacts of global warming, deforestation, and environmental degradation. I also strongly believe that youth have great potential to contribute to the development of their countries, and that ICTs are a great tool to spread awareness among youth about local and global issues like HIV/AIDS and climate change.
I learned about TakingITGlobal in 2006, through GYCA, and have been an active member ever since. The part that I like most about TIG is the Understanding Issues section. I have gained a lot of ideas and learned so much about issues like health, the environment, the arts and media, etc., that are affecting young people around the world. TIG has also helped me to spread information and to promote events and projects to encourage other youth to become more engaged. For example, I uploaded an events page for the Third Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, and I also talked about the event in my TIGblog. During the conference, a young man came up to me and told me that he had found my profile on TIG, was inspired by what I had done, read my TIGblog, found out about the event, and decided to apply to go to the conference! I was very happy and also inspired by him. After the event, I also blogged and uploaded documents related to the content of conference in order to share what had been discussed with those who were interested in the issues but couldn’t attend the conference.
The greatest thing that happened to me through TIG was finding out about Creating Local Connections West Africa (CLCWA) and getting involved. I first joined the CLCWA group on TIG in March 2007, and I was so interested in the program that I decided to become the Volunteer Youth Engagement and Programmes Officer with CLCWA-Nigeria Project in September 2007. My role is to encourage more Nigerian youth to become involved within their communities. I coordinate most of the ICTs and leadership training workshops for youth, which aim to build the capacity of young people. The last workshops we conducted were with local youths in Calabar. These young people had never used a computer before, and we were able to teach them how to use a computer and how to use ICTs to increase their awareness of global issues and to further their goals and passions. Working with CLCWA has been so rewarding. It’s absolutely inspiring to see young people smile when they use a computer!
During these training workshops, I always introduce the youth to the TakingITGlobal website and give them the tour because I know what TIG holds and what it has to offer for youth. TIG has such a wealth of tools and resources that not only inform youth about important issues, but also provide them with opportunities to get involved in their communities through the projects, events, and organization pages. TIG is also a great place for youth to find inspiration, so they can go to their communities to create their own initiatives based on the projects and organizations that they have seen on the TakingITGlobal website.
I’m so motivated and inspired by the youth that I have met through TIG and CLCWA, and I’m very happy that I can motivate and inspire others too! There are so many youth in Nigeria who want to affect change in their country no matter how hard it is. They are very committed young people, and with sites like TakingITGlobal and programs like CLCWA, they can start to see things from different perspectives, speak up and take control of their situations to become engaged development actors in their communities and in their country.
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