So earlier this month I went to The Youth Media Agency's Youth Summit at the BFI. Having never been to one of these I was excited, but I also wasn't sure what to expect so with an open mind, jacked up phone and big up wheelchair I began my trek to the BFI.
The whole point
of the summit was to give an insight of how to get into the media industry so
there was speeches from SBTV, Reprezent Radio, Fully Focused, Vice (whom I've
now become obsessed with) among other organisations. It was also good to see
what organisations like the BBC and Channel 4 are doing in order to help youth
get into the industry. Overall it was a good day and I have to say by the end I
was full of knowledge, a new career path in mind and knackard (being up from
7am just ain't the one for me).
Towards the end
of the summit, one particular thought was running through my head. What if we had something like this
running in Africa? I won't
lie the idea was kicking through me for most of the afternoon, but there was so
many people around and to be honest I was just too shy and thought they would
say something like Aww, that's
such a cute idea and in their
heads it's just like This girl
is mad, no just no when I'm
sitting there dead serious like Nah,
on a level..I wanna do this, it could be a mad success as well as helping many.
Let's do this!
Now in the
comfort of my home behind my computer screen safe from rejection I propose the
following idea to anyone willing to help!
Youth Summit
Africa
So as we know,
Africa is a huge continent, but with a country that still can't bring back it's
girls, Ebola and civil wars, it's safe to say Africa hasn't got the best
representation. What better way to counter this representation than
through the youth? And something like the Youth Summit could help this along.
Let's face it
the government in Africa don't really care much about the youth so long as
money enters their pockets, they can send their kids to school in the UK or
America, drive the biggest cars and build the biggest houses not much matters.
The divide is so huge that we are effectively oppressing ourselves to the point
that if we don't have the best things you are irrelevant.
To be fair the
Afrobeats scene has exploded so much that people are starting to embrace where
they come from a lot more. However this isn't enough for me. Not everyone can
sing and to be fair some artists in the industry right now can't sing, but like
I said having money goes a long way in these things. However not everyone has
money, but this doesn't mean that they haven’t got the talent or drive in order
to learn.
So what if we
actually take the knowledge to them? Teach them, help them, educate them. Not
every kid is made for school and is set on becoming a nurse, doctor or lawyer.
So we reach out to the youth and give them the opportunity to learn how to use
a computer, camera as well as teaching to read and write so they can
become the next director, scriptwriter, blogger, vlogger or presenter?
I know it's a
big idea coming from a teenager, but it could benefit so many and change the
face of Africa as well as giving kids new found hope. I for one am tired of
watching kids suffer at the hands of greed and selfishness.
Aren't
you?
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