Children struggle with depression, bullying, drug use, social issues, school and much more. There are children in the world who are unable to obtain an education because COVID causes them to lose their parents and family members. It changed a lot of people during these times causing some children to lose their social connections because of being inside for a long time without many friends to talk to in person.
Life can be overwhelming for the youth when it comes to finding a talent or skill before they go to college. Some children don’t have an idea of what they want to be or do in their future so finding a talent or skill that they know they will love is important. That is why I believe the youth’s role in nation building is to use their talents and skills to help their community.
If people didn’t have talents or dreams to make their ideas come to life there wouldn’t be people changing the world today. For example, if someone wants to become a chef, they can use cooking to help make food for people who need it. It is better for someone to have a talent that they love and can help others, than to make someone else choose it for them. Youth should work with their parents to identify their talent that will benefit themselves, their family and the community.
The youth can find their talents by experiencing other skills. For instance, if someone has a friend that has a talent, they can influence each other by their different talents and if they like each other’s talents or skills, they could give it a try. People don’t always have to reference other’s talents. It is good to find what makes them strong. They must be motivated in their life and experience growth and satisfaction. There are times when other talents inspire. Sometimes talents are skills that people have. Other talents can make them feel good about themselves and connect to their soul. The youth’s talents should also inspire them and make them feel happy. A lot of children help the community by helping people in need.
People can’t really help others if they don’t have a social connection. Social connections are important because they can lower anxiety and depression. The lack of human connections can be harmful to people’s health. Having a social connection can give young people the opportunity to work with their community and create a better world. Some people want the youth to think about what they want to do and use freedom fighters as inspiration to decide on their paths for the future. Freedom fighters are role models and can motivate others to fight unfairness to create an amazing future.
Egypt Ufele, Marley Dias and Jahkil Jackson are young people that helped their community by using their talents and skills. Egypt Ufele a talented fashion designer and antibullying activist who started a campaign to stop bullying, Marley Dias an author and activist who collected books with black girls as main characters and Jahkil Jackson an author and philanthropist who started an organization to help the homeless.
Egypt Ufele
Egypt Ify Ufele is a fashion designer and anti-bullying activist who started her own fashion line at age 9 called the Chubiline. She is 17 years old and was born on May 3, 2005 in Long Island, New York. Egypt’s parents are Dr Reba Perry Ufele, a chaplain at the New York Police Department born in the United States, and Emeka Ufele from Nigeria. Her life was hard when she was bullied and called names at school by her classmates because of her size. So, she created Bullychasers LLC to help others.
Egypt helped her grandmother push the pedals on her sewing machine at age 5. At age 10 she was the youngest designer to show her designs at New York fashion week. Bullies called her chubby so she turned chubby into good by naming her clothing line that. Chubiline is for all sizes, shapes, and genders. Most African clothes are formal and for special occasions but Egypt decided to make her clothes so that people can wear it anywhere. Her sister Seda Perry is also a fashion designer who inspired her to do a fashion line.
With her mother’s help and confidence, they created an anti-bullying campaign at her school so that students signed an oath to stop bullying. Egypt’s inspiration is seeing people’s outfits on the streets and her father’s African culture. She believes that “If people see someone being bullied, report it, or try to step in to prevent it.” Egypt Ufele travels to different schools and talks about how to prevent bullying for themselves or someone else. Egypt Ufele has done many things for the youth and cares about keeping them safe. She has traveled many places and has collected 2,000 pairs of shoes in Nigeria for kids who needed it in 2017.
It is remarkable how Egypt Ufele had the courage to fight against bullying. If children were not standing up for themselves or finding ways to stop the cause there would be children with low self-esteem because bullies are putting them down with negative and hurtful words. Egypt Ufele is helping many children because bullying can cause a child to have mental problems and depression. She helps inspire the youth to nation build by creating a better system for children to have healthier lives in school. Her fashion helps a lot of African people because some of them do not always want to wear regular clothes and African clothes can be used a lot on special occasions. Traditional wear does not always have to be for special occasions so her idea of making it for people to wear anywhere is helpful. Egypt Ufele is trying her best to improve the world and that is what everyone should be trying to do.
Marley Dias
Marley Dias is an author and activist. She is 17 years old and was born on January 3 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Marley Dais’ parents are Janice Johnson Dias, the president of the Grassroots Community Foundation who has a medal for her work in Long Island on Black girls’ mental, sexual, and physical health problems, and Scott Dias, who is a Real Estate Analytical Geographer. She didn’t like the books the teacher gave the students because they were mostly about white boys and dogs. She wanted books more about Black people specifically Black girls so that Black girls could see themselves in books. Marley Dias collected 12,000 books in total of Black girls as the main characters. Marley and her mother Janice Johnson would donate her collection of books to her mother’s school in Jamaica.
Marley Dias created a book called “Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So, Can You” about inspiring kids to create change for young people that want to make a difference like she did. Marley Dias started the “1000BlackGirlBooks Campaign” at age 11. She said that this is important because “if you see someone that you can relate to in a book, you will normally remember the things that they learn so then you can use them in your life to make your life better.” Marley Dias believes that “if the story that others read does not connect to their challenges in life, they will not have the motivation to read. “This is one of the reasons she made the 1000BlackGirlBooks Campaign so that Black girls feel more motivated to read books about themselves and feel confident about their identities.
Marley Dias’s inspiration is Agusta Baker because their work is so alike that she uses her work and example to figure out what she would do to build her campaigns. Agusta was a librarian at New York public library for 37 years and a storyteller. She made sure that young people were not connected to the stories of white people. Agustas’ strength, bravery and intelligence are things that Marley tries to be. During her times she has created an online book store for all the books she collected so that others can buy them. Marley Dias helps the youth by inspiring them to make a change in the world from their talents.
Marley Dais’ idea to collect books with Black girls as main characters is important because Black girls need to feel important and seeing books with themselves in it can do that. Her developing a book inspires the youth because it inspires them to turn their dreams into reality. Marley Dais’ talents advance nation building because she wants to make a difference and by doing that, she tries to make sure others can be able to change the world just like her. If there are children making a difference like she did children will feel like they can do anything they put their minds to. With motivation from their parents and friends they will be able to change the world just like her.
Jahkil Naeem Jackson
Jahkil Naeem Jackson is a philanthropist, author, and athlete. He is 15 years old and was born in 2007 in Chicago. Jahkil Jackson’s parents are Na-Tae Thompson and Jamiel Jackson. At age 5 he would help the homeless by going to homeless shelters with his aunt and cousin. Having the opportunity to help the homeless made him determined to help in every way he could. Jahkil Jackson got 15 of his friends to help him and they managed to pack 88 bags for the homeless.
He wanted to keep helping the homeless so he started an organization called “Project I Am” to raise money at age 8. Jahkil Jackson enjoys playing basketball, dancing, and acting. He believes that those talents connect to his organization because they use teamwork in packing bags for the homeless. Jahkil created a book called “I Am” about how he witnessed sixth and seventh grade bullying and it tells a story about overcoming bullying and inspiring other children to get through it. He has helped about 50,000 people in a lot of places including California, New York, Guatemala, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. In a few years he managed to make 275,000 dollars for the homeless with hundreds of young people.
Jahkil Naeem Jackson has accomplished many things recently including his virtual packing party that included 150 young people from 65 cities. He has connected with a lot of young people to make 5,000 blessing bags for the homeless. Jahkil did Project I Am to inspire others and build awareness of the homeless. He inspires other youths and believes that adults need to listen to younger people and to be successful people must go for it. He wants his legacy to be kind, hardworking and inspire the youth and that is how he wants to change the world.
If we as young people want to make a better world we should organize and help groups so that we can aid those in need by combining our talents and skills. Starting with our communities spreading through our city, states, and nation we can make a major difference in the world. In other word’s it is not too late today to start a youth movement to help build a better nation.
I chose Egypt Ufele , Marley Dias and Jahkil Jackson because they all make me feel like I can do anything as a youth to better the world without waiting to become an adult. I get happy helping others because seeing others being safe and smiling makes me feel like I did something good for somebody. Some examples of me using my skills to make others happy are helping my sister sew and mend her clothes, and creating miniature builds, and paper dolls for children at Nation House.
I will develop my architectural skills to build homes for people who need them so they can live and have a roof over their heads. When I develop these skills, I will be able to not only build homes but also businesses, schools and other structures that will help improve the world. Improving the world is what everybody should be doing because I want everyone to be healthy and live long lives. Before I develop my architectural skills, I hope to make enough income by starting a babysitting business and other businesses. I would also like to work in soup kitchens with my family to make sure those in need have food to eat.
The Watoto Speak! 