On the 13th of March, 4 girls went to Christchurch to represent Timaru Girls’ High in the Youth Vision Conference 2019.

They heard from a range of speakers addressing various economical issues currently within the society, such as climate change, the South Sudan refugee crisis, colonising in Mars and finding your purpose and means of individuality. Creative speaker and Youth Partner Manager, Chris Jupp spoke to the girls about the potential life on Mars and the global attempt at colonising a new community on the planet in 2024, whilst emphasising the current on-going results of climate change. He briefly touched on the topic of the South Sudan civil war with a small heart-felt documentary-interview of a girl named Edna, from South Sudan, and her heart-breaking encounters. Jenner Harris, who’s passion for people led her to inspire and motivate movement in youth with the Zeal Foundation, a youth agency that develops young enterprise where Jenna is currently the Wellington manager, spoke about her role in Zeal and how that has helped her find her unique creativity. Julie Zhu, spoke about the importance of recognising your past and moving forward, whilst ensuring that you keep your history and humility in mind, remain humble though your journey and challenge your ideal perspective of ‘leadership’, all whilst being empathetic towards others. The last speaker of the day, Abe Nouk, shared his story of being an illiterate refugee whose journey into becoming a hip-hop fanatic has had many ups and downs. Abe is currently the director at Creative Rebellion Youth in Melbourne. There were three main key points for the ‘levers of change’ discussed, that the girls got to take away with them today; lifestyle, advocacy, and redistribution. Along with these creative speakers, the girls also had the opportunity to hear from the 2019 Youth Ambassadors that had the experience of visiting a small refugee centre in Uganda that supported the refugees from South Sudan. In 2018, New Zealand raised $1.3 Million alone which was served towards building a safe space for the children in the refugee, so they can relax and live their childhood without any trauma and fear. Some of the money was also distributed towards building storage spaces. Overall, the girls walked out of this conference with a heavy heart for the refugees of South Sudan and an understanding of their journeys, awareness for the Mars One project and the potential future on the face of Mars. This was a wonderful experience for the girls to take part in and learn many interpersonal skills which will benefit them in their futures.