I belong to the Generation Y I can see
where a lot of Generation Y people in
this room sociologists believe that our
generation is afraid to commit or that
we get involved in the shorter term our
generation needs immediacy our
generation needs things right away but
speaking of involvement will this short
term be enough to change things when I
first got involved I only thought about
the short-term effects and Here I am
today it could leave me even further
tomorrow
who knows it all started when I was 15
years old my grandfather who had taken
care of me had grown old
he had mobility problems he could no
longer move alone and yet he still
wanted to travel so I went on a trip to
France with him following our stay and
her a nurse who accompanied the group
wrote an article in the associations
journal about the intergenerational
health between the grandfather and his
granddaughter me she put four words in
the article the commitment that had been
mine while taking part into the trip I
didn’t think about that commitment I
didn’t think I was getting involved it
was only after by reading the article
that I thought about about that concept
looking back I think this was the first
this is where it all started it all
started because I was moved I got
involved and
was recognized as actively involved this
was the starting point but I wanted to
go further I wanted to go beyond my
family reach so I looked for
opportunities and by chance I found a
poster in a school corridor about the
NGO plan Belgium recruiting youngsters
for their youth board so I became active
an active member of the youth board of
plan Belgium we organized raising
awareness discussions and activities I
then looked for other opportunities and
I found new involvements I got involved
in the Red Cross in the scouts and in
association who are aiming to
deconstruct hate speeches and unfounded
prejudices and within all these actions
I met people who gave me hope coming to
Laveranues I also discovered a new way
to get involved with the theme-based
student housing’s this unique concept
was created by our University and
consists in sharing an accommodation
with a group of students to work on a
specific project together the project
lasts for one year and can include
social cultural and humanitarian
activities for myself I chose a
Louisville dealing with the cause of
people with disabilities I got involved
because I was already touched and
involved for that cause of people decide
with disabilities I’m part of the
structured dialogue we’re a young group
who wishes to gather the opinions of
young people in Belgium on specific
topics a priority during our
consultation is to include people with
disabilities after
the opinions are gathered at European
conferences in order to include the
opinions of young people in European
political decisions following my
involvement I got other opportunities
from friends who knew I was sensitive to
society subjects and this is how I
discovered academics for development I
took over the presidency of academics
for development in September 2016 with a
team of 60 new members this this student
organization was officially implemented
in louvain-la-neuve two years ago and
promotes sustainable development and the
sharing of knowledge between students of
various disciplines experts professors
and actors in the field in order to
allow students to have a positive social
and lasting impact in this world
academics for development has taken a
majority of my time this year even more
than my additional year of studies to
become a teacher but yeah but I can
assure you that this time has been put
to good use because when you fill the
largest lecture hall of your University
campus for a conference on the subject
that matters to you you do not waste
your time it’s the opposite you have a
feeling of a job well done I got
involved in academics for development
because I was moved and because I was
outraged by what was happening today in
our world I’m using outrage because I
read the book time for outrage by Steve
Emerson and this book gave me a real
push forward to take a step further into
involvement I could also say that I
believe I believe in the change that my
commitments can make thanks to my
previous involvement
and I believe that in the change the
time I spent can make thanks to the
inspiring people I met an experiment was
done at the University of Cambridge
where participants were exposed to a
short video either they viewed a
documentary on nature a comedy or the
biography of Mother Teresa
after the participants were asked for
help well it’s well the research shows
that the participants who viewed the
biography of Mother Teresa
spent twice as much time helping so
hearing a witnessing pro-social acts
activates the desire to become better or
even to carry out pro-social acts
ourselves today I would like to be the
person person that encourages you to
take that further step after being
outreach outraged and after believing
like the people I met gave me the
motivation I needed at that time today
in our society were constantly waiting
for someone to bring change without ever
thinking of changing the world ourselves
who gives blood here well it shows that
7 out of 10 people need a blood
transfusion throughout their life well
only 1 out of 10 gives blood so I know
it seems like a small gesture but it’s
already a first step towards getting
involved 93% of our young generation in
Belgium believes that there are in
Justices in our country and
unfortunately we’re not 93 people % of
the young people to get involved
our history will tell it to us but we
often forget that it always has been
a group of engaged citizens that brought
all the positive changes that surround
us
a very concrete example is happening
near you did you know that it’s thanks
to an active group of customers that the
free disposable plastic bags are now
forbidden in our stores
a petition started the movement and it
all started from there and in a few
years this change will seem as obvious
and ultimately we will consider as it
never could have been otherwise by
getting involved I wanted to be part of
those citizens groups that brought
positive changes and I believe that
through my academics for development
actions we will one day be the trigger
of impactful changes
AFD has brought me a lot and of course I
spent a lot of time for that association
of course I met people throughout the
way that didn’t believe in the power of
change we could have and of course
sometimes I asked about my abilities to
be part of such an ambitious group but I
quickly realized that the positive
aspects of getting involved outwitted by
far the negatives once I was motivated
because I learned more and more I
acquired some new skills and new
responsibilities and I felt useful one
of the benefits of getting involved is
that you get to meet a lot of new people
and during my moments of discouragement
I always crossed the path of someone who
believes strongly in the possibility of
change I was part of an optimistic group
and today I stand proud to be involved
I’m also here optimistic because in the
field of in
movement our society is evolving in the
right way today politicians increasingly
recognize the power of citizen
commitments in France they have office
they have established a system to
officially recognize it it’s the idea of
citizen path it’s like your vaccination
tracking book it’s the same but for
involvement by getting involved I got to
meet people I got to discover a real
movement to go forward I took a step
further and I had some small achievement
thanks to big efforts even if there were
some failures and some never answered
applications I was I got more and more
responsibilities and all of this brought
me an incredible motivation that got me
to commit on the long term so more
importantly one of the benefits of
getting involved is that is that you get
to think to think in the long term long
term because the world we’re living in
will not be perfect tomorrow and I will
maybe never see the world I’m seeking
but I’m getting involved because I
believe I believe that change is
possible and I know that everything
takes time there’s so the small changes
I make in the world today will maybe be
the normality in the world of tomorrow
and I may or may not see them but I
trust that it’s going to happen and this
is the big adventure of getting involved
thank you
you
where a lot of Generation Y people in
this room sociologists believe that our
generation is afraid to commit or that
we get involved in the shorter term our
generation needs immediacy our
generation needs things right away but
speaking of involvement will this short
term be enough to change things when I
first got involved I only thought about
the short-term effects and Here I am
today it could leave me even further
tomorrow
who knows it all started when I was 15
years old my grandfather who had taken
care of me had grown old
he had mobility problems he could no
longer move alone and yet he still
wanted to travel so I went on a trip to
France with him following our stay and
her a nurse who accompanied the group
wrote an article in the associations
journal about the intergenerational
health between the grandfather and his
granddaughter me she put four words in
the article the commitment that had been
mine while taking part into the trip I
didn’t think about that commitment I
didn’t think I was getting involved it
was only after by reading the article
that I thought about about that concept
looking back I think this was the first
this is where it all started it all
started because I was moved I got
involved and
was recognized as actively involved this
was the starting point but I wanted to
go further I wanted to go beyond my
family reach so I looked for
opportunities and by chance I found a
poster in a school corridor about the
NGO plan Belgium recruiting youngsters
for their youth board so I became active
an active member of the youth board of
plan Belgium we organized raising
awareness discussions and activities I
then looked for other opportunities and
I found new involvements I got involved
in the Red Cross in the scouts and in
association who are aiming to
deconstruct hate speeches and unfounded
prejudices and within all these actions
I met people who gave me hope coming to
Laveranues I also discovered a new way
to get involved with the theme-based
student housing’s this unique concept
was created by our University and
consists in sharing an accommodation
with a group of students to work on a
specific project together the project
lasts for one year and can include
social cultural and humanitarian
activities for myself I chose a
Louisville dealing with the cause of
people with disabilities I got involved
because I was already touched and
involved for that cause of people decide
with disabilities I’m part of the
structured dialogue we’re a young group
who wishes to gather the opinions of
young people in Belgium on specific
topics a priority during our
consultation is to include people with
disabilities after
the opinions are gathered at European
conferences in order to include the
opinions of young people in European
political decisions following my
involvement I got other opportunities
from friends who knew I was sensitive to
society subjects and this is how I
discovered academics for development I
took over the presidency of academics
for development in September 2016 with a
team of 60 new members this this student
organization was officially implemented
in louvain-la-neuve two years ago and
promotes sustainable development and the
sharing of knowledge between students of
various disciplines experts professors
and actors in the field in order to
allow students to have a positive social
and lasting impact in this world
academics for development has taken a
majority of my time this year even more
than my additional year of studies to
become a teacher but yeah but I can
assure you that this time has been put
to good use because when you fill the
largest lecture hall of your University
campus for a conference on the subject
that matters to you you do not waste
your time it’s the opposite you have a
feeling of a job well done I got
involved in academics for development
because I was moved and because I was
outraged by what was happening today in
our world I’m using outrage because I
read the book time for outrage by Steve
Emerson and this book gave me a real
push forward to take a step further into
involvement I could also say that I
believe I believe in the change that my
commitments can make thanks to my
previous involvement
and I believe that in the change the
time I spent can make thanks to the
inspiring people I met an experiment was
done at the University of Cambridge
where participants were exposed to a
short video either they viewed a
documentary on nature a comedy or the
biography of Mother Teresa
after the participants were asked for
help well it’s well the research shows
that the participants who viewed the
biography of Mother Teresa
spent twice as much time helping so
hearing a witnessing pro-social acts
activates the desire to become better or
even to carry out pro-social acts
ourselves today I would like to be the
person person that encourages you to
take that further step after being
outreach outraged and after believing
like the people I met gave me the
motivation I needed at that time today
in our society were constantly waiting
for someone to bring change without ever
thinking of changing the world ourselves
who gives blood here well it shows that
7 out of 10 people need a blood
transfusion throughout their life well
only 1 out of 10 gives blood so I know
it seems like a small gesture but it’s
already a first step towards getting
involved 93% of our young generation in
Belgium believes that there are in
Justices in our country and
unfortunately we’re not 93 people % of
the young people to get involved
our history will tell it to us but we
often forget that it always has been
a group of engaged citizens that brought
all the positive changes that surround
us
a very concrete example is happening
near you did you know that it’s thanks
to an active group of customers that the
free disposable plastic bags are now
forbidden in our stores
a petition started the movement and it
all started from there and in a few
years this change will seem as obvious
and ultimately we will consider as it
never could have been otherwise by
getting involved I wanted to be part of
those citizens groups that brought
positive changes and I believe that
through my academics for development
actions we will one day be the trigger
of impactful changes
AFD has brought me a lot and of course I
spent a lot of time for that association
of course I met people throughout the
way that didn’t believe in the power of
change we could have and of course
sometimes I asked about my abilities to
be part of such an ambitious group but I
quickly realized that the positive
aspects of getting involved outwitted by
far the negatives once I was motivated
because I learned more and more I
acquired some new skills and new
responsibilities and I felt useful one
of the benefits of getting involved is
that you get to meet a lot of new people
and during my moments of discouragement
I always crossed the path of someone who
believes strongly in the possibility of
change I was part of an optimistic group
and today I stand proud to be involved
I’m also here optimistic because in the
field of in
movement our society is evolving in the
right way today politicians increasingly
recognize the power of citizen
commitments in France they have office
they have established a system to
officially recognize it it’s the idea of
citizen path it’s like your vaccination
tracking book it’s the same but for
involvement by getting involved I got to
meet people I got to discover a real
movement to go forward I took a step
further and I had some small achievement
thanks to big efforts even if there were
some failures and some never answered
applications I was I got more and more
responsibilities and all of this brought
me an incredible motivation that got me
to commit on the long term so more
importantly one of the benefits of
getting involved is that is that you get
to think to think in the long term long
term because the world we’re living in
will not be perfect tomorrow and I will
maybe never see the world I’m seeking
but I’m getting involved because I
believe I believe that change is
possible and I know that everything
takes time there’s so the small changes
I make in the world today will maybe be
the normality in the world of tomorrow
and I may or may not see them but I
trust that it’s going to happen and this
is the big adventure of getting involved
thank you
you
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