ALL FOR A WORTHY CAUSE: AYICC K Day of Excellence(6th Aug)

The maxims of knowledge is power and there is strength in numbers was brought alive last week Friday, 6^th August 2011 during the AYICC-K organized Day of Excellence; its theme couldn’t have been more appropriate than the one chosen “Passion with Action”. The man objective of the event was “Creating a Volunteer Revolution”, so as it would befit the aforementioned objective, the speakers for this event were young people who had a huge dent to the volunteer sphere through their volunteerism, as well as the audience in attendance. Important to note was that the person who conceived the event is an actual embodiment of the values enthused in the event: David Wainaina, a volunteer at AYICC-K and a catalyst and driving force in most, if not all, of AYICC-K’s activities.

The first speaker on the podium was a young music artist straight, Simon Muoki, who talked about individual leadership and how to influence other young people to discover their potential and do things that would positively impact their lives and those of other people, especially young people. He cited his songs which are socially conscious, and that address the issues affecting young people.

Clayton, the next young speaker spoke on the theme of Sustainable Movements; he is a member of Change Makers, an offshoot of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) that runs a youth exchange program that enable the youth involved to gain different perspectives on leadership and advocacy, creating a very viable platform for the young people to share their ideas and ways of implementing them. His presentation was quite insightful, as it delved deeply into the benefits of networking in achieving desired goals in a united front. George Auko, the chief coordinator of AYICC-K, also gave a presentation of how the Change Makers project  helped to shape him to have a greater capacity as a volunteer and exceptional young leader.

Working with young people is central to her activities, and she has honed her mentoring skilss; I can bet that no one in the audience that day had mentored more young people than Anne Karau. The organization she works with deals with the aforementioned objectives, but her inspiring story was actually defined at the point where she began volunteering, while still a university student, in mentoring young people, and shaping them to be responsible and proactive in their societies. This is an invaluable incentive as there is no more worthwhile investment than investing in a future generation.

Advocacy is critical to achieving desired goals and objectives; Grace Wanjuki, a young volunteer, told us of how she was involved in a project aimed at lobbying against the construction of the Gibe 3 dam – for r-electricity production -  along the River Omo in Ethiopia. The opposition to this project stems from the fact that this project has been assessed to have dire negative environmental effects on the environment around it, and threatens the existence of Lake Turkana. She explored how advocacy can be used to by youth-oriented groups to achieve their desired goals.

The main act of the day lived upto his billing as one of the exceptional motivational speakers in the country. Mr. Mbugua Mumbi has an intriguing life story; on of hope, passion and action, and this he extoled on all the volunteers present, and also those not present, to never give up, because it is never easy to be a volunteer. Noteworthy is that he gave his motivational speech for free, despite the fact that he is one of the most sought after motivational speakers in the country; thank you very much.

The curtain closing presentation was by some exceptional young volunteers who are part of the African Young Volunteer Corps: Daniel Wasonga, David Wainaina and Kennedy Mbeva. They shared the virtues and importance of Pan-Africanism and how to synergistically tackle the challenges facing the continent by offering to volunteer in another country for a year, working with the host organization to address the key issues affecting the continent.

Thus, this event lived upto its expectations. The passion was reignited, and the young volunteers in attendance were all eager to go back to their endeavors and continue making a positive impact in their societies. You, too, have something that you can offer to your community for free; just look deep into yourself, have the conviction and commitment, and get it done, all for the good of our society.

Compiled by: Kennedy Liti Mbeva