Youth inspiring youth

Our last class, the FFF pitch session, was as important and educational as only a youth group meeting can be. I believe that all of us gained a lot in terms of new ideas and plans of action from the guests. I did not only enjoy the session, but I also learnt how young people can motivate other young individuals achieve their goals, dreams and ideas. The Q&A part was immensely helpful for our portfolio decisions, but at the same time it contributed to our better understanding of each project.

My take away memo from the pitch session was that everyone, especially young people, has their own personal ideas for which they live, dream and make plans. Natalia's interactive question that made us all stand up for having ideas and sit down for not being able to fund them is a vivid example that funding is a major obstacle. Quoting Buddha by his words that “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea" tells us that no matter how interesting and fascinating an idea could be, if it is not put into action, it is not as important as it could be with a little more action, i.e. investing.

All I am trying to say is that Yes, we all have ideas and Yes, we all need money to make those ideas true. However, finding those money is the hardest part. I appreciate the fact that we, the FFF students directors, had the chance to meet with other young individuals that showed us their ideas and inspired us even more. Even though I am part of the health portfolio group I would like to see not only the health projects put into action. I would love to see ALL of them come true. But how??? All of us were deeply interested in the pitch session and that was proven by our questions, participation and interviews. On the other side of the story is the truth that none of us can practically (meaning financially) help those motivated individuals. I want to take an action, but I can't invest with money in all those great projects. It seems like our next step should be finding a way to make other people interested into those projects, people with money and a little more power. We, the FFF students and youth directors, might not be able to be the real investors, but we can take the initiative to involve other people into this great activity.

To me the pitch session was a meeting for youth to inspire other youth. Let's make youth inspire investors and thus invest in the success of others' great ideas. Funding should not be the reason why we should sit down, but the reason we would stand up and fight for.