By Siyasanga Tyali
A Rhodes School of Journalism and Media studies (JMS) MA student, Nicolene McLean, will be jetting off to Istanbul, Turkey, to attend the 5th World Youth Congress from the 31st of July to the 13th of August 2010.
She will be joined by Liza Smith, a second year journalism student who will attend the congress as a journalistic delegate.
Over a thousand young people from all over the world will be heading to this mega youth gathering - for a discussion on the millennium development goals. The targets for these goals have been set for 2015 and the youth will collectively add their voices on these various millennium development goals.
Nicole, as the founding member of the Gender Action Project (GAP) in South Africa, is going to Turkey specifically for the gender equality workshop.
In 2008 she attended a World Youth Congress in Canada, where she mostly spent her time discussing GAP programmes. She also talked to the delegates about gender issues in South Africa.
“I am highly excited about the trip although it’s my second one to the congress,” said Nicolene with a brimming smile on her face.
In answering how she was chosen, Nicole said, “I just made a simple application and the congress assessed the project I was involved with, and the rest was history.”
Currently working on her MA research project on rape reporting in the media, Nicolene stated that she expects to participate in an interactional activism environment at this World Youth Congress.
Nicolene said, “The World Youth Congress allows a person to cover national issues but one is also putting them in a global context. Your activism is put into a context but it can also be blown out of context.”
The office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor will help pay for Nicolene’s travelling costs, but the accommodation costs in Turkey will be covered by the congress funding. Liza, on the other hand, is being assisted by a private donation.
In explaining how she received the anonymous sponsor, Liza said, “It’s important to get the word out there – use even facebook to tell your story and someone will definitely come along to assist.”
She said she hopes to contribute on how the media can inform the public on issues of development. Therefore she will be participating in action projects during the congress.