Tuesday, December 29, 2009

WAY 60th Anniversary - "One Youth, One World, We are the World"

11-13 December 2009

Day 1 - 11 December 2009

In August 1949, an initiative was undertaken to establish a youth organisation to promote global cooperation and understanding amongst the young people of the world. Recognising the need for a universal youth organisation, youth leaders from national youth councils of all member countries of the United Nations were invited to attend an international conference at Westminster Hall in London. That conference saw the establishment of the World Assembly of Youth (WAY).

After the Asian Youth Council General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, we were ferried to Puteri Resort, Malacca. All the other delegates were already touring the historic city of Malacca, so we quickly settled our luggage and headed off to meet them.

Photo with Acting Secretary General of WAY, Ms Ediola Pashollari:

In the evening, we went for the Melaka River Cruise.

During dinner, I got to know Patrick Kasyula, who's a Research & Development Officer at the Youth Enterprise Development Fund Board, Kenya. When I said I'm a Singaporean, he was quick to praise the Singapore Government. In fact, he pointed out that in the 1970s, Kenya and Singapore were in similar conditions. If Kenya hadn't been plagued with civil wars, Kenya could be like Singapore. He also shared that his country is learning from Singapore and he is confident that with the civil wars over, Kenya would be catching up.

After the cruise ride, we took some photos while waiting for the bus. Later would we know that our boat had dropped us off at the wrong place and the buses had left us. In the end, we spent hours waiting.

Photo with Prof Jakarin Srimoon, SEA-LAC Trade Center Executive Director:

Photo with Du Dong, Deputy Director, International Department, All-China Youth Federation:

Photo with friend from Nepal:

Photo with the Asian Giants - Du Dong from China and Ravi Narayan, Secretary General of Indian Committee of Youth Organisations:

And I bumped into Joanne, my fellow Toastmaster, who was in Malacca for a Chinese Calligraphy competition. What a small world!


Day 2 - 12 December 2009

In the morning, WAY participants gathered in front of the PKNM building to prepare for the Youth Walk "Democracy". The programme the One Asia Forum read WAY's Run, so many of us were quite surprised that we were going to actually walk for "Democracy".

The Guest-of-Honour was Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam, Chief Minister of Malacca and President of WAY. He led the participants in the walk towards the new World Youth Complex.

With the World Youth Complex in the background:

There was an official launch of the World Youth Complex and the WAY Headquarters.

Welcoming Address by Ediola Pashollari, WAY Acting Secretary General:

Address by Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, Chief Minister & WAY President:

Official opening of World Youth Complex:

Photo with a WAY executive member:

And we signed off our names at this historical event:

Back at the hotel, had the last meal in Malaysia together with Fred and Lesley.

The send-off:

Later in the afternoon, some of us decided to head to Malacca city centre instead of the bowling competition. Patt, Yunos and I were lucky to have a Malaysian Peng Hooi with us.

Our first stop was to try the famous Chicken Rice ball.

And not forgetting Chendol!

In the evening, WAY participants joined in the WAY's 60th Anniversary Celebration Dinner at Dewan Seri Negeri, Ayer Keroh.

Photo with friend from Jordan:

There were cultural performances from various countries, including Malaysia and Bangladesh.

Friends from Vietnam brought some Vietnam snacks for us:

When Yunos was named as the 7th place bowler, we were all stunned! How could he have won the competition without being there to play it?

Someone had used his name to play the game and won it for him! Yunos must be very happy. He told me he hadn't played bowling in his whole life.

We were all very amused and humoured by the different sizes of the prizes.

Videos of past WAY's themes were screened and awards were given to various youth leaders.

Photo with Dr Kwang Sun Cha, President of National Council of Youth Organisations in Korea (NCYOK) and Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, Chief Minister of Malacca & President of WAY:

Photo with Ole Lovig Simonsen, WAY Past President (1988 -1993) & former Minister for Housing and Building, Denmark:

Day 3 - 13 December 2009

Home Sweet Home.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:45 PM

    wat civil war are u talkin about in kenya???pleae make the necessary corrections...we havent had a civil war in kenya

    ReplyDelete

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