Thirteen SI youths attend Oxfam International Youth Meeting in Sydney to advocate for global change

Thirteen youths from the Solomon Islands are currently partipating in the Oxfam International Youth Partnership program (OIYP) in Sydney, Australia which began yesterday and finishes next Monday.
Traditional Aboriginal landowners performing a "Smoke Cleansing" procession to participants at the welcome ceremony yesterday in Sydney[source: http://oiyp.oxfam.org/]

With the theme "Kaleidoscope 2007: 300 Action Partners; 100 countries; 8 days; 1 event; a world of outcomes; a global force for change", the meeting is a significant learning event that brings together 300 participants aged 18-25 from around the globe. This youth network will share eight days of learning and making connections to further strengthen their skills to create a global force for change.

The gathering kicked off with a welcome ceremony yesterday by the Aboriginal Darug people who are the traditional landowners of the land. The ceremony involved a smoke cleansing, welcome calls, songs, dance, and gift giving performed by the Darug people to ensure that the 8 day event is full of positive experiences and understanding. After that participants from many different countries offered gifts of songs, words and dances as well.

Today, the participants have started with the first two of five plenary session topics for the 8 day event by learning about "bienvenidos" (an introduction to Oxfam, the OIYP program and Oxfam partnerships with Action Partners) and "Demanding Justice" (analysis on critical global factors that enhance poverty and injustice around the globe). Other topics to be covered over the next few days include pieces of the Kaleidoscope, ideas for a better world and beyond OIYP Kaleidoscope 2007.

It is understood Oxfam International is supporting the Solomon Islands participants at the meeting.