“As cliché as it may sound, returning from One Young World Summit 2012, I feel different, my life has definitely changed,” says Shalini Seneviratne, who returned from the recently concluded One Young World summit. The prospect of attending such a summit which is rare is considered the world to those interested in peeking in to [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Changing the depths of the future

By Shaveen Jeewandara
After attending the One Young World Summit 2012, Shalini Seneviratne believes that the current generation has the ability to correct all the wrongs in this world
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“As cliché as it may sound, returning from One Young World Summit 2012, I feel different, my life has definitely changed,” says Shalini Seneviratne, who returned from the recently concluded One Young World summit.

Shalini with another delegate

The prospect of attending such a summit which is rare is considered the world to those interested in peeking in to the depths of the future through the eyes of diplomacy and goodwill.

One Young World (OYW) is an annual summit that brings together young people from around the world to discuss, debate, and work towards finding solutions to global issues.

This time around, the summit in its third year running was held in Pittsburgh, USA and saw an attendance of over 1300 delegates from 183 countries. OYW is the largest youth gathering outside of the Olympics. Shalini, 26, was selected based on her merits, as an employee at Unilever Sri Lanka undertaking projects revolving around infant sanitation.

Shalini, currently based in Singapore, speaks of her involvement in social development projects stating that her area of concern had been the ‘hand washing and sanitation’ projects undertaken, which can help alleviate the poor infant mortality issue. However she admits that her aspirations began to evolve, upon joining the Unilever group. Owing to the amount of travelling she undertook she says, “I had the opportunity to visit places that changed the way I looked at things. This sparked the traveller in me to reach out to places in need.”

The premise of OYW is simple, yet colossal – give young leaders of tomorrow a platform to gather together and change the world for the better. The summit which focused on five key topics: education, sustainable development, leadership and governance, global health, and human rights, spanned over four days in the company of world leaders, past presidents, international business people, Nobel Peace Prize laureates and nominees, and a gathering of young inspirational leaders.

“Speaking to the house, President Bill Clinton, addressed the three greatest challenges the world is facing: inequality of access to resources, global instability and unsustainable consumption,” she tells us. The theme of his speech was making change sustainable, so that change can have a real impact on people’s lives. He was followed by Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and the Father of Micro Financing, who spoke of his approach to eradicating poverty in Bangladesh, an initiative that took not only the developing world, but also the developed world by storm! He called on the audience to redesign the system and make the word “unemployment” non-existent. “Was he wrong to dream such a daring dream, he questioned,” Shalini tells us, mentioning that it inspired the crowd beyond measure.

“One of the most encouraging ideas from OYW was that the skill you hone, no matter how ordinary in nature it may seem, is enough to make a difference. I was touched and amazed by the people who so selflessly give their time and energy to better someone else’s, and most often a stranger’s life”, Shalini speaks of her most soul changing moments at OYW. Shalini reflects on her own life and tells us that she has been given the perfect opportunity, where she can continue doing the job she adores ever so much, while basking in her passion for serving the community at the same time.

Shalini is rather lucky in her scenario, where her job takes her places, and makes her focus energy on the fundamentals of social development. Although being based in a country with a minimal or even negligible underprivileged community, Shalini manages to reach out to souls in need through her travels.

Shalini is spirited by her experiences to share the message of outreach, and believes that the future generation, negating their differences, has the potential of correcting the wrongs of this world.




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