Our Very First Blog...From Barbados!

UNICEF UK/Barbados2009/Michael Cadogan

If you had the opportunity to tell the world's leaders what they should do to solve global problems, what would you say?

That's the question that the Junior 8, a group of young activists from Haling Manor School in Croydon will wrestle with as they decide what positions to present to the Group of 8 Summit of world leaders in Italy.

Harry Phinda, 15, Birzi Saleh, 16, Melika Myers, 16 and Sara Saleh, 16 won the Tagd J8 competition - http://www.tagd.org.uk/Latest/Events/Junior82009.aspx - beating the competion by a clear mile.

UNICEF UK/J82009/Jessica Wright

"Going to a school labeled as being one of the worst in Croydon, we can see why young people don’t care about taking part in the world. Our team feels as though we have the world in our playground, as our school has so many different backgrounds and we want to be that representation of multicultural Britain. We are the future generation and we should be able to have a say on what goes on in our world despite the many problems trying to stop us.

When they work together, young people can be so powerful and we could build a better future but we can’t do it alone. We decided to take part in the J8 Summit because we saw the perfect chance for young people’s voices to be valued and cared for and we would be honoured to be a part of this opportunity."

Their first assignment was to visit projects supported by UNICEF in Barbados

But it's not all a cheesy honeymooners and 5 * resorts. Barbados is facing some real humanitarian challenges. From on-site visits highlighting the impact of climate change on the country’s delicate coastal system, to personal encounters with local people affected by HIV and AIDS to meeting the Prime Minister The Hon David Thompson, our intrepid team were able to see first hand the impact of climate change on the island’s eco system and learn about it’s effects for the economic and social development of the Eastern Caribbean.

See more here - http://www.tagd.org.uk/Latest/News/Barbados2009.aspx

UNICEF UK/Barbados2009/Michael Cadogan