A Welcome Time-Bomb

By: Robert Mukondiwa, a journalist and human rights advocate from Zimbabwe and one of the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders

A time bomb is always something that is said to be ticking and with the ability to have disastrous consequences should it explode. For once I encountered a time-bomb I would have every pleasure in seeing explode.

The Women Deliver conference held in Washington, DC last week with a hope of delivering solutions for women and girls was preceded by a youth symposium that sent an amazing message out and gave me a personal reflective realization.

While as young people we are in our little corners striving to light the world with our own acts of courage and a bid to change the world, in another little corner of the world is another person with the same good intentions. The level of interactivity and the myriad ideas that were passed around from the 100 Young Leaders in the room made me feel assured that there is hope for mankind after all. The level of commitment, hard work, energy and tireless dedication to the cause amongst the youth was unmatched. The room was teeming with intellect and ideas carved with such thought as could build nations and protect the rights of man.

From all over the world, the issues were the same and the ideas however, passed down as solutions, were varied, well-thought out, and logical as they were pragmatic. I was assured that there is a whole host of progressive youth out there with the ability to transform the future. I got a taste of the reality that under the seams of a seemingly quiet world with little going on, there is actually an unheralded youth movement that is about to explode... a ticking time-bomb of extraordinary leadership ready to be unleashed on the world. With the progressiveness and liberal approaches to the world's current problems, I felt for sure that the panacea to the world's problems as we know them today lies in exploring the thought trajectory of the world's youth as was done by the organizers of Women Deliver.

The responses to the world's various crises lies not in the hallways of the United Nations, that is where the problems are crafted, rather they are embedded in the dreams, aspirations and solutions rooted by the current breed of youth who shall thankfully, one day take over the reins of power to ensure a better world.

I interacted with youth who are qualified to be leaders of their countries by their sheer depth and wisdom. If there ever was a foot put right by the organizers, it was the experiment-cum-miracle of toying with and organizing a youth symposium ahead of the actual conference. In fact, with little having been explored especially from contentious topics raised in the first session, a day was hardly enough to pick the minds of the wise youth advocates and leaders that graced the occasion. A whole youth conference would indeed help bring out more ideas and issues to the fore from the group of youth that graced the occasion.

The beauty of the whole event was how discourse and disagreement was all deemed to be healthy and respected. I may have gone to the conference overwhelmed by the number of problems that mankind faced... I returned overwhelmed by the number of solutions at the fingertips of the youth, the leadership of tomorrow. I am not anxious anymore. I have no fear of what tomorrow will bring. Tonight, I will sleep easy!

Robert Mukondiwa is a journalist and Human rights advocate from Zimbabwe with a passion for equality, women and girl's rights and the general wellbeing of mankind. His nominee for the 2009 CNN Heroes programme, Betty Makoni, was a finalist in the Top Ten for her work rehabilitating women and girls who are survivors of rape and other forms of abuse through her Girl Child Network Non Governmental Organisation.