Members of the G8 Youth Summit organising team
THE main event may be just over a month away, but, for young people, that main event began yesterday (Wednesday) and continues today (Thursday) in the form of the G8 Youth Summit, being held in the Lough Erne.
Close to 120 young people, aged 16 to 25, are participating in the event, which culminates in their own ‘message’ that will be presented to the G8 leaders at the real summit in June.
“We had an application process, and invited people to apply and we got a terrific response. We’ve got people, not only from County Fermanagh, but from across the rest of Northern Ireland,” explained Fermanagh Trust director, Lauri McCusker. The event is being run in partnership with the trust, Co-operation Ireland, Future Search Network, and Libraries NI.
Lauri continued: “There’s a lot of negativity around the G8 and there’s sometimes a lot of negativity around young people.
“We’ve watched, in recent years due to our shared education work, the fantastic things young people can do. And we wanted to do something positive – and create that space for the young people.”
There were two speakers yesterday, Caroline Casey, the Dublin-based founder of ‘Kanchi’, ‘a not-for-profit disability organisation that works to change mindsets and behaviours around disability,’ and Kanak Dixit, a journalist/writer from Nepal.
The lasting message from the summit was explained by Lauri.
“It’ll be performed in words, whether that’s written, poetry, a story – they’ll decide themselves,”
“We’re also recording the events, the message will be presented in film format of the language of the G8 leaders, and that will be forwarded on to the G8 leaders.”
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