MyVoice

Notes from Conrad Mandsager

As we prepared the content for this edition of the newsletter, I was thrilled to see that the articles had to do with young people who have visited and worked in our program in northern Uganda.

It is not surprising that ChildVoice benefits from Generation Y (Gen Y 'ers), or the Google Generation, as some call them - the group born during the period of 1982-2000. If you take a look at this generation, which makes up 25% of the US population, some interesting characteristics are evident:

1. They are considered the first "native online generation". While many in previous generations have become functional users of technology, this generation is immersed in it. When I walk across the University of New Hampshire campus on any given day, it seems every student is either chatting on a cell phone, text messaging, or listening to a digital music player. A recent article by Kaila Krayewski noted that 90 percent of Gen Y 'ers in the US own a PC, while 82 percent own a mobile phone. And, perhaps not surprisingly, they spend more time online than they do watching TV.
2. Two-thirds of Gen Y college freshmen (66%) believe it is essential or very important to help others in difficulty. A recent report by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found feelings of social and civic responsibility among entering freshmen at the highest level in 25 years.
3. Because of their access to 24/7 news and commentary, this generation feels a part of the global society and is much more aware of social injustice which has led to a renewed level of social responsibility and social action.

Thomas Friedman, in his recent book It's a Flat World After All, notes that because of technology, places like India are able to compete equally for global knowledge work, causing a flattening effect on the global economy. Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, further notes that youth in the third world now have access to technology that allow them to contribute to the global community knowledge pool. It is still amazing to me to be able to access Blackberry service in a mud hut in the middle of the bush in a war zone in northern Uganda.

In 2003, led by three Gen Y 'ers from Southern California, a movement started to raise attention about the war in northern Uganda. The innovative use of technology sparked a fire within their generation which has had a profound impact on the international community's response to this tragedy.

Three years later in 2006, ChildVoice caught the Invisible Children wave that was sweeping the world and became an outlet for the passion of Gen Y 'ers. Their contribution has been both humbling and amazing.

Four interns from the School of International Training in Vermont joined our team in the summer of 2007 and helped turn the ChildVoice concept into a reality. In only 4 months' time, the Lukodi Centre, ChildVoice's rehabilitation program for war-affected youth, was operational and home to its first residents -- 15 formerly abducted girls and their children. This year, only two years later, 60 college age youth - both from Uganda and the US -- traveled to live in the extreme conditions of the Lukodi Centre, either as interns or work teams. Countless other middle school, high school, and university students are raising awareness and funds for the program on their campuses around the world through Voices Rising.

The passion and commitment from the Gen Y 'ers is infectious and challenging. Their enthusiasm and outpouring of love create easy connections with the young women living at the Lukodi Centre, who are themselves Gen Y 'ers seeking to find their own place in the world. These relationships spur further action, and this, blended with the relentless optimism and boundless ideas of a generation that has seen so many impossible problems solved, results in an explosive mix. Gen Y 'ers are dynamite, and ChildVoice is proud to have so many serving in our projects.