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Fiona McKenzie (fi)
Female, 23 from London, UK
Joined TIG: September 29, 2003
My name is Fiona. I was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and I traveled quite a lot with my family throughout my childhood. When I was 10, I witnessed in person the first democratic elections in South Africa: I had never seen so many people so passionate about the right to vote, and this experience developed into a passion for politics and the role that people can play in changing their country. When I returned to New Zealand, I started working with the city council on youth issues, then as a youth advisor for the Ministry of Youth Affairs. By this time, I really had a passion for getting young people involved in politics, so I joined political parties and became the National Youth Coordinator for a party. In 2005, I became one of New Zealand’s youngest electorate and party list candidates to stand for parliament at the general election.
I found out about TakingITGlobal in 2003 when I googled “youth development”, and now, I can’t really imagine life now without TIG. TIG has opened my eyes to a world of people who are passionate about the same things that I’m passionate about and more. I have learned from them, and we have had long chats and extensive debates. TIG provides such an amazing platform to share ideas and information, as everyone on TIG is really passionate about the world and making a difference, and this just blows my mind.
TIG is a fantastic place to get ideas and knowledge: not only is there Understanding Issues, which is really great for learning about issues that I’m not very knowledgeable about, there are also TIG members who are just absolute fountains of knowledge. Recently, I’ve been looking at the role that young people play in conflict and conflict mediation, especially in Africa. So I went on TIG and spoke with as many members as possible, doing interviews, collecting personal experiences, having discussions, and getting feedback, and I’ve been amazed by some of the really inspiring (and sometimes truly tragic) stories that I’ve heard. It’s so easy to just be blasé and believe that the life that you’re living is fulfilling, especially for someone coming from New Zealand, which is a small, rather isolated country, but through TIG, you realize that there’s a massive world out there. It just stuns me that there are so many people everywhere who care so much about the world.
One of the best ways I’ve gotten involved on TakingITGlobal is through events and conferences. I’ve participated in several e-consultations and e-conferences, mostly focused on the role of young people in developing countries. I got really involved with the first World Bank (WB) e-conference on TakingITGlobal in 2004. It was my first interaction with the WB, and it was fantastic. We spent 12 days just emailing discussions and debates about the way international organizations are willing to listen to youth on quite an amazing scale. The WB produced a detailed summary report of the discussions, and about three months later, I got an email from the e-conference coordinator asking us whether we would be interested in applying to attend the actual WB conference! This experience really changed my view about international organizations and the role they can play in the lives of young people and vice versa.
Another really memorable experience for me was the International Model United Nations in Vienna in 2004. A TIG member from Austria invited me to attend, and since I had never participated in a MUN before, I thought it would be a really good chance to learn something new and connect with other TIG members. So I went, and it was the best week of my life: I absolutely loved it. At the MUN, I met some youth who said, “You know what, why don’t expand your world and do your masters with the United Kingdom?” And because it was such an inspiring place, I decided that I would do it. I found out about the London School of Economics (LSE) through a member at TIG who got me addicted to LSE, so I ended up moving to the UK in 2006 to complete my masters in development management.
I have a pretty big, ambitious life goal: I, like so many other people, want to see poverty alleviated in my lifetime and will do everything in my power to make this happen. I really feel like I’m being called into governance and working with developing countries and enhancing civic participation amongst young people, women, minorities, and everyone to see politics work for the people. TIG is a fantastic platform to accomplish this because it provides connections, it provides resources and it provides knowledge and wisdom. I feel like God has got such big plans for my life, and it’s really challenging and scary. There are two things that keep me on track: God and TIG. I know that if I run out of energy, there are at least 100 people around me on TIG who can say, “This is my story” or “This is what’s happening to me; please keep doing what you’re doing.” Hearing people’s stories and hearing their passion just motivates and refuels me with passion all over again.
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Fi McKenzie
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