Paruware Trust

My trip to Mexico, was the longest i hav ever taken, almost a 3 day journey. I arrived with a sore back and neck and ready to just collapse into bed after a much needed shower of course. When i was ready to explore the country and the conference, i was escorted by a knd Mexican who i was sceptical of. Sceptical of because i am now used to simple acts of kindness demanding payment. Whenever i see someone going out of their way to help me, i think they will want to be paid something for their generosity and i have proven wrong a few times. But not the Mexicans. These are the kindest people i have ever seen in all my travels and many people who attended the conference can bear witness to this fact. Whether it was a welcoming act for the conference i am not sure, or is that my scepticism creepin in again.

Anyway the aim of the conference was to draft a declaration for young people, which would feed into the government forum, which also to take place that same time. There were over 400 young people from 163 different countries. Discussions were being simultaneously transalated into Spanish, French or English depending on the language the pseaker was using. I sat in the groups that were discussing employment and education. I was struck by the similarity of problems and challenges by countries from the developig world. It was constantly reiterated that our generation had the biggest population of young people, the world had ever seen and with the highest unemployment rate. We were too big a population to continue to ignore anymore in national policies and decision making processes. We were not just the future of our countries anymore but a real present.

Entrepreneurship training and development topped the agenda as a key to solving the unemployment challenge in the developing world. They was need for government to create a conducive environment for entrepreneurship to thrive though either education, tax breaks to young people, simplified business registration processes and incentives for the private sector to include young people.

I was glad the government of Zimbabwe had sent in a strong delegation of 5 people. It is up to us young people of Zimbabwe to make sure they commit to the declarations they signed for we determine our own fate. We are way past the period of rhetoric and well crafted papers and now demand action and real results.