The Working Group and WYA

This fall I have been attending meetings of the Working Group on Girls, (WGG) an organization made of up of all sorts of women representing different NGOs that all advocate for girls' rights.

World Youth Alliance strives to protect and promote the dignity of every person, particularly those whose dignity is systematically ignored and abused. At WGG, we research topics that impact girls directly and present our research and recommendations to state delegations, in an effort to make girls continually "visible" during UN proceedings.

One of the Working Group's primary goals is to encourage girls' participation in matters concerning them and their communities.

At our November meeting, five high school girls came to talk about how they are working on behalf of youth rights in their respective schools and towns.

In October, Dorchen Leidholdt, the director of the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services at Sanctuary for Families, spoke about her efforts to protect women who had been trafficked into New York.

I've learned so much at the Working Group and look forward to continuing to represent World Youth Alliance at WGG for the rest of my internship!

Amy Secrest - United States

World Youth Alliance Halloween Party

It was a cold October fall night, and the night was quiet. This was the quiet before the storm, on the eve of Halloween. while the rest of New York and especially the west village were preparing their costumes and houses for the festivities the next day, the staff and interns of WYA were getting ready to start the party early on the Upper East Side.

The rule generally being, work hard, play hard; and we had all been working hard so we decided our annual Halloween Party was in order. And we knew it wouldn’t be a party unless a disco ball, guitar hero and great music were involved.

The party was a huge success, involving many crazy costumes and even crazier dance moves. The social event was a way for WYA to let friends from all over the city be apart of WYA, hear what we are about, and also just to have some fun! There were drinks, food, and lots of dancing that lasted into the night and included the belting out of musical numbers by all.

Over fifty young people from all over New York and the surrounding areas came to converse and dance all night long. We had so much fun, the party was a huge success. Personal favorite highlights of mine were the belting out of ‘Don’t stop belivin’ by Journey, crazy dance moves by some fairies, pirates, and hippies, and the awesome disco ball that set the mood.

I think the party can be best summed up into one phrase and that is ‘Don’t stop beliven’…

By Christin Redfield

Photos by Hannah A. Ondiek

A night with George Weigel

World Youth Alliance North America was honored to have had Mr. George Weigel accompany us for an evening. The interns and staff, planned and prepared a special dinner for Mr. Weigel and WYA special guests!

The night started with introducing our guests to WYA and presenting our video and afterwards, we had the pleasure of hearing remarks by Mr. Weigel. Anna Halpine (WYA’s founder) and several of our board members thanked Mr. Weigel as very interesting questions and remarks by the guests arose.

The event was a memorable evening with the surprise of His Excellency, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. Who accompanied us, learned about WYA and bestow everyone in the house with a blessing.

It was another successful cultural event, where interns and staff got the opportunity to meet and share ideas with scholars, activists and local WYA members.

Thank you everyone for your support and we hope to see you soon!

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America's leading public intellectuals.

Nicole Chalita - WYA Mexico

CITY Adventure Scavenger Hunt

Race on! Saturday, October 24^th, World Youth Alliance members competed to find a dozen hidden cultural gems in New York City, in WYA’s second annual CITY Adventure scavenger
hunt.

Members split into two groups and raced to discover as many stops as they could in just under six hours, using intricate clues and their knowledge of Manhattan subways and streets to maneuver their way around the city. Stops included the Cleopatra’s Needle and the Imagine Memorial in Central Park, and the Triumph of the Human Spirit Memorial, and the African Burial Ground at Foley Square.

Participants also learned the various ways to wear and use a
malong, a colorful, tubular piece of fabric which is part of the traditional Philippine dress.

At another stop, members discovered the delights of Enchilada con Mole, a spicy, chocolaty dish participants made and ate while learning about its history in Mexican cuisine.

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2. Members described this year’s CITY Adventure as “awesome,” “fun,” and “challenging,” and as a “great traveling experience” which encouraged “a lot of historical interest to NYC.”
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4. All in all, this year’s scavenger hunt was a lot of fun and a great success! Sign up here for information on next year’s CITY Adventure.

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Decade of Dignity and Development Conference!

World Youth Alliance presents:

Decade of Dignity and Development Conference at Yale University!

Can our generation respond to the world's gravest problems?

This two day event took place September 25-26 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The conference consisted of keynote addresses by renowned bio-ethicist Margaret Somerville, writer and classical scholar Anthony Esolen and educational pioneer Robert Enright. Other events were the screening of the film The Rescue by Invisible Children, and panel discussions on the family as cultural capital, human rights, international health and solidarity. As well as an exhibition of the winning artwork from our 2009 Solidarity Generation Visual Arts Competition.

This is a video from our experiences as staff and interns during DDD, we had so much fun, learned and met very interesting people, but most important: we met friends who believe in the same ideals we do! WYA mission was yet again accomplished!

Check it out!

WYA Fall 2009 interns arrive at New York City!

This fall on the 8th of September, 6 young women from different cities around the world arrived at WYA North America Headquarters.

We came with great energy and expectations, but mainly with wit all the disposition of uniting the youth of the world under one vision: human dignity!

This fall, interns are from 3 different continents: Amy Secrest, Christin Redfield and Maggie Snyder, from the United States; Nicole Chalita from Mexico; Hannah A. Ondiek from Kenya and Theresia Leitinger from Austria.

The six of us became friends immediately because, despite our cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds, we have one goal in common, this goal has expanded horizons when it comes to communicating, sharing and working together; breaking any barrier that may had existed between us!

Celebrating our second week at WYA North America, the interns want to thank the staff and all WYA friends for their hospitality and we hope to achieve wonderful things this fall!

Thanks!

Nicole Chalita - WYA Mexico

Meet the interns at http://wya.net/regions/Internprofiles09.html

Decade of Dignity and Development Conference!

We are getting more and more excited for our Decade of Dignity and Development Conference happening in just two weeks! World Youth Alliance is celebrating ten years of promoting human dignity both here in North America and internationally. We are thrilled that young people from almost 200 countries have signed the WYA charter, to show solidarity with each other and to proclaim their support for person-centered policy.

If you can make it out to Yale on September 25th and 26th, you will have a chance to celebrate with us! We are fortunate to be featuring several wonderful speakers and panelists, as well as great non-profits like International Justice Mission, Blood:Water Mission, and L'Arche USA. Invisible Children will be there to show us a film and to talk to us about the work they are doing to rescue child soldiers in Uganda.

This year, we're also excited to showcase the top five winners for our Solidarity Generation Art Contest!

Sign up now until September 22nd on our website: http://www.wyaddd.org/north-america.

We hope to see you there!