Ben Hughey makes maps. As a kid growing up in Alaska, he used a GPS to hike off-trail. Then, as a college junior, he combined his GPS skills with his mapmaking ability to help three indigenous communities in Ecuador create maps of their lands, which they’ll use to defend themselves against future land incursions.

Now, at age 25, Ben is using mapmaking to try to get people on board land conservation projects in Washington State, in the north-western United States.

Listen to the report by Eilís O’Neill in Seattle:

 

 

 

 

Global Youth Connect is now accepting applications for its summer human rights programs in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Application Deadline:

Feb 15, 2014

Here’s more from the organization:

Dear Colleagues, Friends, and Future Participants:

We wanted to remind you that Global Youth Connect is now accepting applications for our Summer 2014 Human Rights Programs in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda.

Each program will bring visiting youth (from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and all around the world) together with youth in the host location to engage together in three key activities:

• A cross cultural human rights workshop

• Visits/meetings with policy makers, organizations, and to relevant sites

• Volunteer service with grassroots NGOs on a variety of human rights issues including but not limited to: conflict resolution, education, health care, food/shelter, access to justice, human rights of children/youth, women, low-income populations, LGBTQ populations, indigenous populations, genocide survivors.

The deadline for applications is February 15, 2014.

Ages 18 – 30 (for Bosnia Programs) and 18 – 35 (for Rwanda Program).

Anyone can apply! From the US, Canada, and all over the world.

So please forward widely, share on Facebook, or help promote by putting up this GYC 2014 Summer Programs Poster.

Note: Program fees quoted are for visiting participants (not for local Rwandan or Bosnian participants). Some tuition reduction scholarship assistance is available for each program. See individual application documents for more information about tuition reduction scholarships.

To apply, click here.

For testimonials, click here.

For previous Rwanda reports, click here.

For previous Bosnia reports, click here.

GYC Blogs: gycvillage.org and the Open Society’s youthpolicy.org/interculturalblogging

The dream of fame and fortune is a familiar one for many young people – but giving it up in pursuit of activism is much less common.  Twenty-seven-year-old Felicity “Flik” Finlayson did just that – in one of the most extreme ways possible. She gave up her goal of becoming a fashion designer and moved to a remote island in Borneo to devote her life fulltime to marine conservation with the organization TRACC.

Listen to the report by Emily Richmond from Pom Pom Island in Malaysian Borneo:

 

 

What do you live for? Fifteen-year-old Melis Omalar wants more people to think about that question. So she posts tiny written reminders – in the form of yellow post-its – all around town. It’s a guerilla movment – with a difference.

Listen to the report by Natalie Muller in Cologne:

 

 

 

On a trip to South Africa a few years ago, Jesse Carlton Ndongo, 21-year-old student from Cameroon, was touched by the large number of children he met who’d been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. He saw first-hand the pain and anguish they  face, but also noticed that they seem to be neglected by the rest of society.  He felt that he had to do something about it. So three years ago, he founded the Carlton Smile Charity on Easter Sunday.

The charity is already active in five African countries – Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon, South Africa and Zimbabwe – and has plans to expand even further. Carlton tries to stand out from other organizations in that he doesn’t focus first on giving the kids material goods. Instead, his first priority is to show them love.

Listen to the report by Ngala Killian Chimtom in Yaoundé, Cameroon:

 

 

 

 

When Madalina moved from Bucharest to Paris, she fell in love with the city. But she was so disturbed by the stereotypes she encountered that she founded a project to introduce real Romanians to their Parisian neighbors.

The initiative, Je suis roumain (aussi) – I’m Romanian too – breaks down stereotypes by helping Parisians get to know who the local Romanian immigrants really are. One of them, artist Dan Perjovschi, recently joined the campagne with an installation the Immigration Museum.

Listen to the report by Fabien Jannic-Cherbonnel in Paris:

 

 

We like buying “organic” food because it sounds like it must be better for our health and for the environment. Admit it – buying “organic” makes us feel good.

But in Germany, young organic farmers like Julia Bar-Tal don’t feel good about the rising price of the land they need to produce the local organic products their peers want to buy.

Julia and other young farmers blame multinational and German companies for buying up land for speculation purposes. This has led to price increases – especially in eastern Germany – of up to 300 percent.

Julia helps run an organic farm collective outside of Berlin with 14 other farmers. Her farm is successful, but she says she can’t expand because the land has simply become too expensive. So she and her group have decided to fight back. She is a leader in a movement that aims to enlist the help of customers who buy organic food to stop industrial giants from bidding up the price of land.

Listen to the report by Michael Scaturro in Berlin:

 

Graffiti has a bad name. It’s often associated with vandalism, out-of-control youth and illegal tags in seedy places.

But for 23-year-old Daria Andert, graffiti can also be an important way for young people to express themselves and connect with their “inner artist.”

The art student from Cologne volunteers with a graffiti project called MittwochsMaler (Wednesday Painters), which holds drawing workshops, and helps aspiring sprayers practice graffiti on a legal wall.

Daria is hoping to deter illegal tagging, and show society graffiti artists shouldn’t be painted with the same brush as vandals.

Listen to the report by Natalie Muller in Cologne:

 

 

 

 

 

Every day, 263 million pounds of consumable food is thrown away in the United States – enough to fill a football stadium to the brim. At the same time, nearly one in six adults doesn’t know where their next meal will come from.

As president of Feeding Forward, a non-profit organization that fights food waste and hunger in the local San Francisco Bay Area, Chloe Tsang is working to change that.

The 20-year old student at UC Berkeley spends her spare time overseeing the website and app Feeding Forward created to make private food donations quick and easy.

Listen to the report by Anne-Sophie Brändlin in Berkeley, California:

 

 

In Buenos Aires, it’s not uncommon to see ads plastered on every street corner featuring scantily clad women in lascivious positions. The prostitutes for sale, however, are often there against their will. Human trafficking in the sex industry is a major problem.

Jerónimo Velez is working to change that, together with the organization Martes Rojos. He leads volunteers on walks through the city to remove the sex ads. Their aim? To raise awareness for the fact that many of the city’s prostitutes are victims of trafficking.

For some people in the community, it’s unusual that a man like Jerónimo would have the courage to take a stand on this sensitive issue.

Listen to the report by Maria Cruz from Buenos Aires: