Inspirational

LAST week, young people were involved in: 'The Future Forum: Inspiring Leaders of Tomorrow,' with The InterAction Council (IAC) at the Celtic Manor.
This event happened because of the incredible goodwill of the IAC. We thought that allowing 100 students into the opening ceremony to hear the speeches was generous, but their generosity didn’t stop there.
Students were given an opportunity to directly question these former leaders; a task they performed extremely effectively.
Their questions to Vikor Zubkov of Russia and Vikor Yushchenko, of Ukraine, showed the clear tensions.
Dr Abdel Salam Majali of Jordan, who spoke of the millions of refugees pouring into Jordan, placing terrible strain on the water supply.
Andres Pastrana, from Colombia, explained how millions of trees were being destroyed in the rainforest to manufacture illegal drugs.
The young people were split into three separate mock councils. Dr Moneef Zou’bi, director general, Islamic World Academy of Sciences (Jordan) led a discussion on the environment (specifically water security); Nicholas Fogg, former mayor of Marlborough, led on peace and conflict, and; Jess Camburn, ELRHA’S director, led the discussion on global health issues (specifically Ebola). Students were encouraged to find their own solutions to these major issues.
I spent time in each of the discussions and was impressed by the students’ engagement. A delegation from each mock council reported back with their findings. The morning also featured an extremely impressive performance by Bassaleg Senior School Choir.
I want to thank the IAC and all the young people who made it a day to remember.