Youth Ambassadors aren’t going home yet

After the European elections and after the Brussels summit, our tasks aren’t finished. Although it was difficult to have a big impact in Italy during the summer, some of us Youth Ambassadors did great things organizing events and bringing hundreds of followers on board. Towards the end of August we were all on the move and changing counties, jobs, universities and that made it a little difficult to keep up all the good work but, once again ONE came to the rescue and knowing we are all youngsters trying to develop our own professional selves, gave us the MEP TRACKER, which you should all try out. It’s a nifty tool with which, in seconds, you can mange to contact MEPs from all the countries participating in the ONEVOTE2014 campaign. You can use the teacher to tweet, email or send Facebook messages and, believe me, a few minutes of your time can go a long way. Our progress has been enormous and it feels like we are actually getting somewhere in the attempt to “make a change”. Unfortunately our time as Youth Ambassadors will soon be up, nonetheless we will still be supporting ONE and all the wonderful things they do for those who really are in need. It has been a wonderful experience so far but this is a different blog post.

Florence for more

I had the amazing chance to meet the ONE team in Florence for a European reunion of the foreign affairs ministers.
It was a lovely and exciting day in which we accomplished a lot in terms of spreading the word and finding champion supporters in the European ministers of foreign affairs.
As soon as we sat down in our chairs in this elegant palace-like hall, we were greeted by the BBC journalist moderating the discussion and soon after that, along with speeches from the most influential policy makers and international organization representatives, a video about ONE was shown to the ministers.
For a few minutes everyone listened to Bono’s words and all the attention was for ONE. The day passed between a signature and a photo, a speech and a question and, after persuading as many people as we could, after taking a picture with all the present ministers, after thanking Lapo Pistelli for being one of our biggest Italian supporters, we returned home tired but enchanted by the stressful yet blissful day.
Hurray for ONE.

PS. Italians aren’t the only active Youth Ambassadors out there! Check www.one.org for news about the rest of Europe

We are ONE

The ONE summit in Brussels…if I was to describe it in a word: AWESOME!
When I wrote last time we were all hunting down the elected ( nasty job, let me tell you).
Unfortunately , due to the huge amount of work the new MEPs have on their hands, it was virtually impossible for me to arrange any meetings.
Happily enough I got a few answers…at least.

What is more incredible is the fact ONE brought together all European youth ambassadors in Brussels for three days. We are here learning, discovering, backing up ONE, who has guided us so far in this fantastic experience!
We believe in fighting extreme poverty in an intelligent way and we certainly didn’t give up because our new MEPs were busy.
We are going to be at the EU parliament this Tuesday, ready to win them over with our smiles and lots ( LOTS) of facts and arguments.

No more pictures with candidates for now but I did get to jump on the stage and get a big green ONE breakfast cup ( hope not to break it before getting home) because I collected 21 candidate’s signatures.
It felt kind of fun to hear I managed to collect the most signatures on the pledge but actually every single Youth Ambassador and every single ONE member and staff worker played a strategic role in allowing this big big puzzle to be assembled. Each one of us is a piece, and we are nothing if not united.

After the nightly wisdom spark I’m wishing everyone a good night!

Coming around again

The ONE Youth Ambassadors haven’t given up yet.
As the second phase of our project begins and we see hte first results all our efforts are giving, I must admit I feel a lot more relaxed than i did in April, when it all began.
My foot healed and I started practicing yoga again.
Confident I will have no more injuries – a broken foot and finger should be enough for a while- , I am studying for uni exams and I have less weight on my mind since my organization’s voluteers, whom I had sent to Serbia, came back and are safe.
Why am I writing this? To tell you something great: I have a lot of energy to focus on contacting the candidates that have been elected but did not yet sign the ONEVOTE2014 pledge.

Coming close

Voting day today in Italy.

Needless to say, I had a pretty clear idea of who I wanted to vote after meeting so many candidates. I realise also that other people across the country, who havent been so lucky, might not even go to vote because they have no idea of whom to choose.

I may be one of the last believers of the fact that the right to vote ( implicitly including the one not to vote) is a power given to us, citizens. It may not be a grand power but we still have the opportunity to use it.

There would be so much to say about Europe and it’s development during the years. Since I try not to be boring in this blog and to keep all issues and events in a light-hearted spirit, I will just say I agree that there have been many malfunctioning in the Europe system but at the same time I don’t think thee is any option for us to exit this system so, as they did in the old days, I believe we must use our power and stick together to make a better europe, closer to the one we imagine.

You can call me an idealist, and in a certain measure you are right, I do see the world through my pink glasses but on the other side I am a concrete person and like to think and act in practical ways.