By Maximina Jokonya, youth leader from Zimbabwe When I was younger, I was always sick. By the time I was 13, I became quite ill. That’s when my sister took me for an HIV test, which came back positive. I spent the next two and a half years so sick I was unable to walk. It felt as though my dreams and future were shattered. But now I would describe myself as one of Zimbabwe’s unstoppable young leaders. I decided to turn my background – being born with HIV - into an opportunity of hope, to...

I’ve recently have made a new friend. Dread. The uneasy feeling has become a constant companion but is most definitely an unwelcome one. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment we became inseparable but its been making its presence much more known in the past little while. I sense that my looming adulthood might have something to do with it. Slowly, that youthful idealization is being chipped away, one horrific news story at a time. My most visited sites on my laptop used to be news sites but now I ca...

I observe a lot, which is one of my strengths that has given birth to several thoughts. I'd like to share some tips that keep me motivated to face bigger challenges.Perhaps it will fire up someone. Let's start here. Never get too carried away with the biography and/or autobiography of others and fail to bring yours to existence. I have heard many people say things like "I can't do it"; "I don't have what it takes" etc Albert Einstein said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its...

It is well known that the "journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step". I am quite sure you might have stumbled into that saying on your success mantra searches, talks, summits and forums that engage people in the journeys of setting and achieving success. Well, if you keep track of my Voices of Youth profile, you’ll see only three posts in a range of one year, since I made the decision to joining this community. Terrible right? It is a position that screams too much laxity, to the...

Before I begin, I want to make clear that I am not here to insult males. I am here to not insult females. By definition, feminism is about ensuring equality among all sexes by advocating for women's rights in various aspects like education, wages and employment. Several decades back, I feel that women were considered as birth-giving machines. Since then, I feel opportunities for women have grown where they are able to achieve in places they were never able to before. Education plays a vit...

I just came back from the USA after completing a year as a Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Scholar. I was actively involved for a significant time in community service projects as a young volunteer. I am now on board to do the same in Bangladesh and anywhere else in the world. I've already started the "Dream Green" campaign project to build awareness among young people planting trees and help stop global warming. I am passionate about mathematics and physics! I have a keen interest...

This was the topic for my extempore when I was applying for a post in "some" company. It baffled me at first, I found it an incomprehensible question. The most I could understand was that they wanted me to discuss the goals, aims and aspirations of our generation.What first came to mind for my response was gender equality. Being a citizen of developing nation, I still find a tacit norm of do's and don'ts based on your gender. Although there is a constitutional right of every individual to pursue...

We were born curious.Curiosity is the basis of any human endeavour which makes us different from other species. And it is the basis for any form of knowledge known to us. From the very moment we were born, we were thirsty for an understanding of the unknown. It is possible that, the flame within us which attracted any new knowledge about the world around us started to die, the day we were officially permitted to learn. Our notion about learning changed the way we look around us. We were no long...

I am the daughter of a single mom. Single parenting is constantly increasing at the rate of 15 million single mothers in the USA. What is the life of a single mom? It is lonely and financially draining. It is a race against the clock. It is exhaustion, it is double parenting 24-7. It is never giving up. Single moms are left alone to raise a child, oftentimes, more than one. My mom is a single mom who does it all, every day, without complaint. I am her world, and she will climb the highest m...