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Wednesday September 7th through to September 16th I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and share stories with 140 other powerful youth advocates from all across the U.S as well as from other countries such as Namibia, Nigeria, Nepal and my own colleagues from Jamaica. Urban Retreat 2011 will forever be etched in my mind as I recall the sharing of experiences, talents, ideas as well as cultural exchange that took place between us these past days. Having been to the Urban Retreat in 2010 I sat on the plane on my way to D.C filled with excited and anticipation. One of the thoughts that came to mind during my preparation was how many times during this year’s Urban Retreat I would start crying as I recalled how powerful and inspiring Urban Retreat 2010 had been. It turned out that these instances were too many to keep track of. And you know what, I am thankful for that because It’s moments like those that I reflect on and use as inspiration to keep going as I know that there is a larger network of great youth activists and adult supports who are also passionate and are fighting for this cause. The Urban Retreat also provided a great space for more structured knowledge acquisition from the training activities as well the awesome experience of lobbying. For many of us we’ve never been lobbying before attending an Urban Retreat. A big thank you to Advocates for Youth for this FABULOUS experience!
To my fellow youth activists, it was indeed a great pleasure meeting you all and certainly continue the great work :) Remember –If we work together nothing is impossible!! Let’s continue to be the voices of the voiceless young people across the world whose SRHR needs are not adequately being met.
In closing, Urban Retreat 2011 was Awesome and the youth advocates from Jamaica say THANK YOU for inspiring us!
One Love,
Maxsalia
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