GYV Alumni Inspired to be a Social Innovator

Amir Dajani attended the  Global Youth Village in 1986, 1987 and 1989 where his experiences inspired him to become a social innovator and a global citizen.  Today,  Amir is Deputy Managing Director of Bayti Real Estate Investment Company, where he oversees the Rawabi project, the first Palestinian planned community. Dajani directs all technical and business development operations of the Rawabi project and oversees and coordinates donor community participation.

Prior to joining Bayti, he worked in the Private Enterprise Office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) West Bank and Gaza Mission in Tel Aviv. In this capacity, he oversaw the design, implementation and monitoring of multimillion-dollar institutions and capacity-building programs, along with trade facilitation and loan guarantee programs. Dajani formerly worked on a European Commission-funded program as the small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) technical assistance specialist in Jerusalem, gaining extensive experience in private-sector sustainable growth and sustainability.

Amir received a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College (Dublin) and a master’s degree from Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom.

“Let’s Move” at GYV

First Lady Michelle Obama recently unveiled her “Let’s Move” campaign a national public awareness campaign against childhood obesity.  A staggering statistic….one in three American children are overweight or obese, putting them at a higher risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other illnesses.  Here at the Global Youth Village, healthy eating habits are a way of life and we teach our participants the importance of a healthy balanced diet.

“Let’s Move” is a campaign geared to target all aspects of a healthy lifestyle including helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in school vending machines and lunch lines, making healthy food more available and affordable, and encouraging children to exercise more.

Here at the Global Youth Village, our daily activites and diet mirror what this campaign is trying to promote. Our menu is predominately vegetarian with tasty international foods and all of our dishes are prepared with natural foods and whole grains. The youth learn the importance of a healthy diet for their physical and emotional well being. Each day of our sessions we encourage our youth to get involved in one of the numerous recrational activities we offer!  So if your looking for a place to “Let’s Move” visit us at GYV!

The Domino Effect of Community Service

Recognizing the importance of the “domino effect” on civic engagement within your community is vital to its growth and preservation.  You rarely ever see just one person involved in a “community” project, instead several members are compelled to become involved and make a difference. With this concept in mind, working with youth in particular can change a generation. We need our youth to recognize the value of preserving our communities and encouraging growth in a constructive way. 

Here at the Global Youth Village , we try to instill the importance of this concepts in our participants as we provide the tools necessary for them to become community leaders. We show our participants the importance of giving back, while encouraging their peers to do the same. Our hope is by encourage a small group of youth, we will create a global domino effect amongst youth around the world.

 Become part of our “domino effect” and attend GYV this summer!   APPLY TODAY! E-mail Suhad Rasoul at gyv@legacyintl.org for more information.

WIN A SCHOLARSHIP: GYV Essay Contest!

Enter our Global Youth Essay Contest between February 20-April 10, 2010!  Your essay must answer the question “How can I use technology to change the World.” The winners will receive full or partial scholarships to this summer’s program. Click here for offical rules and details.

• You must be ages 15-18 and a US citizen
• Essays should not exceed 500 words
• You must read the official rules
• Essays should be e-mailed to gyv@legacyintl.org
• Essays should be submitted between February 20- April 10th
• Your essay will be judged on
  • (a) overall creativity (20%),
  • (b) content for your proposal on how using technology can change the world (70%)
  • (c) overall grammatical and structural fluency (10%)

Face of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking  is defined as  being tricked, coerced or otherwise removed from a home or country, and then compelled to work with no payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. The practice is illegal in most countries. The victims of human trafficking can be used in a variety of situations, including prostitution, forced labor and other forms of involuntary servitude.

Due to poverty and lack of economic opportunity some people are more susceptible to fall victim to empty promises of job opportunities in other countries. Many of those who accept these offers find themselves in situations where their documents are destroyed, their families threatened with harm, or they are bonded by a debt that they have no chance of repaying.

The prevention of human trafficking requires several types of interventions and community action.  One way that you can help is to start an awareness campaign in your community or local high school! Amnesty International is a non-profit organization that focuses on human rights.  Learn how the youth in your area can start an AI student group at the local high school and recieve an activist toolkit