Team246....LET'S GO!

After many months of e-mailing, Skyping, chatting, Whatsapping and collaborating...the entire Team246 group FINALLY met on January 3rd, 2013. We've made this our official launch date because it was the first time we were all together and our meeting was held at Krystal's house. Most of us knew each other but there were a handful of members who were meeting for the very first time: Who would have thought that you'd still be meeting new people after living on such a small island your entire life?

I opened up the meeting with a small presentation on One Young World and what it had meant to me. I talked about the experience in Pittsburgh and coming away with an urge to shout about the conference from the rooftops, because I was so excited and couldn't contain myself. I tried to put these feelings into words but struggled to do so, even after blogging about it so many times already. First and foremost, I wanted to get a TEAM of Bajans together for the next One Young World Summit because the experience was too great to have to do on your own. I also felt that Barbados could benefit tremendously from sending more young people to conferences such as this one, to broaden our horizons and networks. I put together this powerpoint, which you're free to have a look at.

Standing there before an entire room full of people who were seriously interested in bringing about positive change in Barbados filled me with the same emotions as the conference; hope, determination and a sense of camaraderie  not often found amongst the youth of this island (At least in my experience).

We sat in a circle and discussed our personal areas of interests and the range was incredible; people highlighted everything from the environment, to public health, to sustainable business, to youth development in many forms and caring for the homeless and elderly. I know this sounds really cheesy but I nearly shed a tear as I heard everyone speak; I knew I had done the right thing in bringing these people together, even if we couldn't get our butts to South Africa. We were taking a step in the right direction!

We had such a diverse range of interests and as inspiring as this was, it was also going to be a problem when marketing ourselves as a team. How were we going to convince sponsors that we weren't just throwing together a mish mash of ideas? We need to set up a trust in order to qualify as a non-profit charity and this was one of our more complicated issues. And, most importantly, as exciting as this all sounded, what exactly would Team246 be about and what would we contribute to Barbados? We needed to focus on our main goals and aspirations, not as individuals, but as citizens of a country that needs positive change in certain areas. 

The seed had been planted though and I was so happy with the intense brain storming session of our first meeting. It would be the first and only time some of us would be meeting until we met again in South Africa, as certain members were jetting off to different corners of the globe and wouldn't be home for a long time. Communication is going to be KEY in getting it all together.

As Harvey MacKay once said: 

We had a LOT of work to do but we were ready and excited to get started.

- Malou