Environmental Networking Platform for Children and Youth by SAMSUNG E&A
Stay connected with Eco-generation :
| Share 
| 
- Home >
- Our Actions >
- Ambassador report
23
Comments
My experience in GYELS 2016 |
|---|
|
Global Youth Eco Leadership Summit (GYELS) 2016 has been the greatest experience I?ve ever had. I?ve gained so much new knowledge and new friends from around the world. There, I learned the value of teamwork and friendship and with those two combined, together hand in hand, we can achieve anything. On Monday, 25th January 2016, the global delegates arrived. Some of us in the afternoon and some of us in the evening, but we had dinner together. During dinner, we were told to introduce ourselves to everyone. Dinner was great and even though we just met, some of us has already clicked with each other. On the second day, we were taken to Seoul National University and were given lectures from various lecturers such as Mr. Julian Quintart, Mr. Gerhard Sabathil, Professor Yun and others. Mr. Julian Quintart talked about sustainable living and what we could do to live sustainably. He also showed us a video campaign that he made on living sustainably where we could plug off chargers when not in use, use spaghetti sticks instead of straws to stir your coffee, etc. Mr. Gerhard Sabathil talked about efforts to make sustainable energy in practice in EU along with his colleague, Mr. Thomas Lehmann, who talked about green taxes in Denmark. Professor Yun introduced us to the topic of sustainable energy, but she spoke in Korean so we were given a portable translator to use during the lectures. Ms. Hana Kim talked about first zero energy housing that would be built in South Korea by January 2017. These lectures were very inspiring. The third day was quite stressful. When we first arrived in Seoul National University, we were put into our teams. I was in team F along with my team mates, Jingle, Seyoung, Ebrahim and Jinyoung. We were given an activity to create a team flag and choose a team leader. I became team leader for team F and it was an incredible experience. One of us piped up that we should name our team ?Team Fantastic!? because we?re fantastic and so that was how we got our name. The decorations were quite random. Jingle decided to draw the Earth on it as a joke, but we all agreed to it. We then decided to draw the whole solar system, along with the black hole. After our team activity and introduction of our team was over, we were separated and put into our groups. Mine was ?Academic experts?. There, we discussed about the roles of academic experts in solving global warming issues. We all agreed on the fact that academic experts have the role of educating and spreading awareness to the youth and that we can do extensive research on sustainable energy in which we chose Nuclear fusion and thermal electric system. We were then put back into our teams where we all had an inter-stakeholder discussion. There were 5 stakeholders in my team. Seyoung came from NGOs, Jinyoung came from developed countries, Ebrahim came from industries, Jingle came from developing countries and I came from academic experts. With the information we earned during our group discussion, we brought them back with us to our inter-stakeholder discussion. In this discussion, we were told to make a resolution paper and a PowerPoint presentation in under 1 and a half hours. We were given 1 and a half hours to discuss and then another 1 and a half hours to create the resolution paper and the presentation. The discussion went really well. Everyone?s ideas were great and we finally found a way to connect all these ideas together. Then came making the resolution paper. We?ve got all our ideas written down, but we didn?t know how to put them all down in our resolution paper. After all the remaking and rewriting we did (we wasted over 1 hour on this), we were finally done with our resolution paper. The PowerPoint presentation was aloud to be brought back to the hotel for those of us that aren?t done with it so that night, Jingle and Ebrahim came over to my room to continue making the presentation. Since the Korean delegates didn?t stay in the hotel with us, we did the presentation together through facebook messenger. Everything was well. The fourth day was incredible. We were taken to Everland in the morning and it was so much fun. I went on almost all the rides we got to go on. It was exciting as I don?t usually go on roller-coasters but this time I did and it was so much fun. It?s nice to try new things sometimes. After Everland, they took us to the Samsung Engineering Headquarters where we would be doing our presentation. The bus ride to Samsung Engineering Headquarters was surprisingly fun. We were all singing along to songs and it was a great bonding time for all of us. We had tons of songs on queue that day for our bus ride back to the hotel. Our presentation went well. I was so nervous the moment before the event started that I was almost to the point of crying. When we got on stage, I was more relaxed and it all went by so quickly I almost forgot that we actually already did the presentation. Our team was given the award from Samsung as the best presentation. I was so proud of our team. The last day was the worst day of all because we had to say goodbye to everyone. Our chairperson, Mr. Luiz Bispo, fell sick that day so we didn't get to see him. We went to the royal palace first where we learned about the culture of Korea. Next we were then taken to Insadong where we could shop for 45 minutes. This was one of the saddest part of that day because I had to say goodbye to almost everyone. Most of their flights were on the evening so they wouldn?t be joining us for our next trip. The next trip was to Myeondong. We shopped for a bit and said goodbye to a few more delegates. We then went to Seoul Tower and the night market. The night market was the last stop for us. We said goodbye to all the delegates and only 3 of us went back to the hotel, Shasha, Juan and I.
To this day, I still miss everyone, but i?m glad that we all have social media to keep in contact with each other. This summit really opened my eyes. I learned about the different cultures from around the world. I gained more friends from around the world and that was the best part. This summit will forever be in my memories and I am so thankful to Tunza eco-generation, Korea Green foundation, UNEP, Seoul National University and Samsung Engineering for giving me this opportunity. I came back to Bali with new knowledge and new friends. I came back with a team and most importantly, I came back with a promise of making a difference in my region with the knowledge I received from this summit. |
  
|
|
|
|
|
Previous : Making UAE home sustainable
23 Comments
This is certainly a great report. I wish I could have joined the GYELS I live in Seoul :) Thank you for sharing! :)
Posted 15-02-2016 00:28
Wow big article, well written how GYELS went on. I wish I had participated there:(
Keep going on for keeping the environment!
Thanks for your article. Great work
Posted 14-02-2016 23:48
WOW!! I hope to impress Tunza with my good work and be a part of the GYELS next year..
Posted 14-02-2016 19:44
Thank you so much everyone for the great comments! I really appreciate it :)
Posted 14-02-2016 12:18
Dear Sara,
Thank you so much!
Posted 14-02-2016 02:48
Dear Rohan,
GYELS really did open my eyes. I've always known how important climate change is and how important sustainable energy is, but GYELS made me realise it even more. Now, each waking day, I open my eyes with a promise that I will do something good for the environment today. Whether it's plugging off chargers when not in use, or switching off lights when not in use. I do something each day. It is simple, but effective. Thank you so much for your nice comment and I agree, they all did an amazing job planning all of this.
Posted 14-02-2016 02:48
Dear Mohit,
Thank you so much!
Posted 14-02-2016 02:43
Dear Manav,
Thank you! Same here! Those memories can never be replaced. I've had so much fun in those short 5 days. Wish I could turn back time and relive those days again haha. Missing you tons, Manav and good luck with your board exams (pretty sure you'll ace them).
Posted 14-02-2016 02:42
Dear Patricia, I happy that you have been selected in the program GYELS 2016. The report and the pictures are so nice
Posted 14-02-2016 02:29
GYELS is an excellent platform for us Eco-warriors. When I visited in 2015, it opened so many avenues for me & I made many friends. A bundle of accolade to Dear Erika & Dear Christy & all the Samsung team for the excellent introduction to us & planning it really well.
Your writing skills are amazing, Patricia. Keep writing Be Green, Say No to food wastage...
Posted 13-02-2016 18:33
Wow Patrica,you shared your GYELS experience through this wonderful vivid report.I thoroughly enjoyed your memorable trip.Thanks for sharing your experience.
Posted 13-02-2016 00:24
Wow Patrica,you shared your GYELS experience through this wonderful vivid report.I thoroughly enjoyed your memorable trip.Thanks for sharing your experience.
Posted 13-02-2016 00:24
GYELS will remain etched in my memory for a long-time to come. Thanks for the excellent report, Patricia:)
Posted 12-02-2016 22:01
Dear Peter,
I miss you very much, Peter! I miss singing songs with you in the bus and laughing along with you. Thank you so much for keeping me company when everyone left on the last day at the back of the bus. We've had so much great memories together and I will cherish every single moment of it. Thank you so much for the necklace you gave me. I wear it every single day (except for when I go to school because that's against my school rules haha). It is literally my favourite necklace. I told all my friends back here in Bali about you and everyone else. About our memories together and they all wished that they were there with us. Your team was one of the most synchronised one. My mother said that you guys took lots of pictures together haha. My team didn't take much pictures together and I really wish we did :(
Missing you tons, Peter. I wish you all the best in your new school. Until we meet again (hopefully soon).
Posted 11-02-2016 23:58
Dear Humaid,
Thank you so much! GYELS is truly an amazing event for all of us.
Posted 11-02-2016 23:52
Dear Bindu,
Thank you so much! GYELS was a great experience to all of us and I'm sure you will agree with me on that. I didn't only gain knowledge there but I also gained friends from all over the world. I am very lucky to be part of this summit. As you said, it is a rare opportunity. Thank you for your comment :)
Posted 11-02-2016 23:50
Dear Joshua,
Thank you so much for your comment. Seoul is a beautiful city and I would love to visit seoul again some day. Tunza really changed my world and I am so grateful for them to give youths like us a great opportunity to participate in events like these.
Posted 11-02-2016 23:48
Dear Arushi,
Thank you so much for the great comment. I received plenty of knowledge through the inter-stakeholder discussion that it gets my head filled with ideas every now and then. We were about to visit Mr.Luiz in his hotel room that day to say goodbye but we were told that he left the night before. It was very sad. The amount of friends I made there was unbelievable and I am so grateful for every single moment of it.
Posted 11-02-2016 23:46
Great article,you are also a writer/enviromentalist!we need more like you.It has brought alot of nostalgia,the arrival,meeting other delegates,the songs and group work.GYELS is highly recommended for all young pepole.It was an eye opener and i made so many foreign friends that my head spins.
I will work very hard to introduce other kids in my country Kenya to join eco-generation so that we can be many and have more impact.Thanks Samsung ,Korea Green Foundation and our very cheerful and friendly guides.Erika hiiiii and thanks so much.Also kundos to my group the Green Belt!
Posted 11-02-2016 21:25
Your prescise report and vivid images gave me an wonderful insight into GYELS.
Congratulation on your participation in the youth summit.
Posted 11-02-2016 16:31
Dear Patricia, I recalled every of my moments of GYELS 2015, be it Model United Nations or visit to Everland Amusement Park. Needless to say, one can easily know how much you gained from GYELS 2016. Once more I would like to congratulate you for getting this rare opportunity.
Thank you for sharing dear Patricia :)
Posted 11-02-2016 10:56
WOW!!! I wish to travel to Seoul. I really want to. Your report and images are so attractive and I love the impact Tunza is having on young leaders as yourself.
Posted 10-02-2016 23:27
I still remember my visit to Seoul in 2014. Your report refreshed my memories of that trip and I can relate to every word written in your report.
Inter-stakeholders discussion must have been really insightful and a learning experience. Sad to note that Luiz fell sick on the last day.
I am sure all of you gathered lot of knowledge, made new friends and returned happier. Thanks for sharing your experience so vividly.
Posted 10-02-2016 18:44