“Youth are not just the leaders of the future, but the leaders of today.” – Ben Peterson, Co-founder and Executive Director of JHR

Hello All!

On Saturday we traveled to U of T for a Health and Human Rights conference. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least, and we’d love to share a few key moments with you.

Our first indulgence in the conference, and perhaps the most important message we want to share with you, was at a lecture given about “the power of the pen” and journalism’s social influence. We learned about the importance of media and human rights based journalism from Ben Peterson, executive director of JHR (yes we met him too!). We took away from Ben’s talk the simple yet profound notion that journalism inspires people to take up a cause, and so we should use our passions as journalists to inspire others. This is based on the idea that media has an immense power to create social change. Ben also persuaded us to use the media as an outlet to create social passions, so we want to convey the importance of this to you. Don’t be afraid to get involved and act upon issues that you’re passionate about. As journalists and consumers of an array of social networks, we have the unique opportunity to use the multiplier effect, allowing one story to reach millions and millions of people. We encourage you to take advantage of this, because there is definite potential that lies within all of us and we shouldn’t let it sit idle.

As today’s lessons have taught us, we are the hope of the future. We cannot force change, it has to come from within. Ben stressed that never before has a single generation had such immediate access to alternative media that is run separately from the elites. There is great potential here. Therefore, just as we have been posed with many challenges today to be agents of social change, we’re passing this onto you. Go and be leaders of today!

“We can use the media’s power to make the world a better place”- Ben Peterson

Hope this was inspiring:)

Mara and Thansha