Youth and youth leaders had an opportunity of linking up and exchanging views at the recently held ‘History Maker GenerationSri Lanka’ (HMGenSL).
The group - History Maker Generation Sri Lanka (HMGenSL) has been run under the guidance of founder Dr. Woodrow Blok for a decade as a youth-run, youth-led programme for training young leaders in Sri Lanka and overseas.
The group’s focus is not about communication, IT or presentation skills but about the nitty-gritty issues faced by the younger generation. As creative director Dinesh Michel puts it, contemporary examples raise huge questions on matters of leadership, and HMGenSL is about sorting through the muck to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong.
“It takes a ten-percent minority to change the majority attitude, so we’re working on getting that critical ten-percent trained up to create a positive change” he continues.
Youth and young leaders between 14 and 28, numbering over 150 delegates from Sri Lanka, India, Australia, USA and Nigeria linked up in Colombo on April 13 and 14 to hear inspirational speakers Dr. Mike Bartolomeo and Dr. Steve Quernemoen on global issues.
They also picked up tips on the kind of lifestyle that facilitates successful leadership and took part in discussions and workgroup sessions on dealing with the battle between the private and public spheres of life that leaders are often faced with.
“It was life changing” said Australian delegate Jason Titus who “didn’t expect” to have this kind of edifying experience in Sri Lanka. Delegate for the USA, Paul Samson believes that “this generation needs more” of such sessions to be able to effect and transform their societies in a positive way. Udayanga Warakagoda, a youth worker from Kandy said that his approach to his work will change radically, “I was so old school and was sticking to it. Through this conference I began to learn how to speak the language of this generation”. |
E-mail
