international

Last week I was able to meet NFL All-Pro Safety Roy Williams and learn about his work with young people in Uganda and his work with single mothers.

With fellow players Tommie Harris, Mark Clayton, and Adrian Peterson, Williams is giving back in every way he can. Next month the players along with a team of doctors will travel to Uganda to feed thousands, set up clinics and build wells in villages desperate for clean water.

The team says that with basic necessities they can bring hope and healing to innocent Ugandan children who have become the victims and weapons at the center of one of Africa’s longest running wars.

Twenty-nine year old Williams began his personal foundation aimed to help single mothers in 2004 after being inspired by his sister's work to manage work and family alone. The Roy Williams Safety Net Foundation gives support, guidance, and assistance to low to moderate income single mothers in effort to help their daily lives.

Williams said:

"I've seen first-hand the many challenges she and other women like her with children face on a daily basis. I want to do what I can to provide a safety net to help catch those families who are struggling."

Like many Millennials, Williams and his colleagues volunteer and work to give back to those most desperately in need. When the going gets tough, our generation gets going to help.

On October 14-16 young activists from around the world gathered in Mexico City for the Alliance of Youth Movements 2009 Summit.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a video message to the summit:

The main theme was how young people and emerging technology would change statecraft and international relations in the 21st Century.

For a good round-up of the summit check out the following posts from Dipnote, the official blog of the U.S. Department of State:

Spotlight on Change Agents: AYM 2009

Today’s events featured a plethora of panel discussions on new media technologies to amplify the cause, the role of 21st Century women leaders, social media and good governance, and social media as a tool to promote human rights. Panelists included young leaders and entrepreneurs who have become the global agents in the technological pathways toward peace-building and social change. For Rodrigo Nogueira of Viva Favela, an AYM delegate from Brazil reaching out to kids living in the favelas (slums), “Last night and today, I have met people from around the world who all share the same passion. I thought I was alone. AYM offers the chance to empower people to produce changes in real life, not virtually.”

AYM 2009: Viral Change, Growing the Movement

This second day of Summit activities focuses on movement building with panel discussions and breakout discussions among global changemakers on creating sustainable anti-violence initiatives via viral change. In a recorded video message, Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton conveyed to AYM 2009 participants in Mexico City, “You come from different cultures and countries and speak different languages. But you all share a common commitment to engaging with the world, to using every tool at your disposal to bring people together to solve problems. And that makes you the kind of leaders we need as we work to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century."

Update: Kim Ong, the author of the video, sent me a quick response to my congrats about the awesomeness of the work. Kim suggested we also check out Youth Malaysia a sweet site about their movement. I'm now on a hunt to find other similar sites/countries that are empowering young people, we've seen their impact in the google news alerts, but I'm sure there are more.
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When I interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this year, one of her praises for the Millennial Generation is our ability to span the globe to unite as one group working together for issues that impact us.

Here is a new video uploaded from a YouTuber in Malaysia who interviewed people about their thoughts on Generation We. Its really pretty cool to see stuff like this

Earlier this week I reported on a potential youth surge in the Polish elections. CNN is now reporting that an increased youth vote (along with their text messages and bootstrapped version or Rock the Vote) was indeed responsible for ousting the current (and pro-Iraq war) President and Prime Minister.

While both major parties have both young and old supporters, the older rural voters who tend to back the Law and Justice party appeared to be outnumbered this time by the younger city-dwelling voters.

They had conducted a text message campaign to urge young people to vote, telling them to "save Poland" and "hide your granny's ID."

We're going international . . .