Making Friends--Youth Reports Part 2

Photo-CarloUnderstanding a Little Bit More

My name is Carlo Diner, I was born in a small town in Namibia. I think this youth Beyond Borders is a great project. It let young people from two different cultures mix and learn a little bit more about each other. I think when the Americans go home they will take a little bit of us with them and we will still have a little bit of them here in Namibia.That's why I think this project is so great. By building this camp they will leave their mark here and whenever we come here we will remember that it was Youth Beyond Borders that made it possible for these two groups to work together. I think it's good when young people get together and decide to do something great and stay off the streets.
The way I think it will help the future is when the other kids go home they will start talking about the environment and tell people not to destroy the environment. Because if we destroy the environment we will have nothing left for our grandchildren. We have to preserve our endangered animals like the Cheetah--our favorite animal. It's almost extinct and if we don't do something soon, I think we will never have the Cheetah again.
If we, the youth, don't understand each other, we could never live and work together. But if like now, we talk about our religions, our customs and those things, then we understand a little bit more about ourselves. And we respect each other more and more each day. So I think it's going to be a great future.
 
Photo-GhaisExpanding My View, Learning To Love
My name is Ghais Abdullah Muhammad and I am here on this trip to Namibia with Youth Beyond Borders because we came from the U.S. to meet people and kind of change the world and learn about the Cheetah.
This experience has helped me learn to love a little better, as far as loving the world. I wasn't one of those people who didn't care about anything else--the world was important to me at all times--but this has helped me learn how to cherish people more, as far as different cultures and respecting people. Because here they treat you with respect totally.
Americans are a lot different than Africans are. We just dominate everything, just run over everything and want to control it. Dominance, that's why teens today want to join gangs and have everything revolve around them. But it's not like that for the Namibians. They just want to have friends, to just be cool and chill. They don't care who's the hardest. That's not important.
This will help me get a better perspective about who to hang out with and consult with. I watch people around me and I'm trying to stay out of trouble, but as long as I keep hanging with the same people trouble is just going to keep coming and find me. I need to learn how to meet new friends, because I don't like certain kinds of people and think, oh, I can't hang with him he gets on my nerves. But here I've been hanging with all kinds of different people so I got kind of used to it. They're helping me learn how to meet new friends and associate with different kinds of people. They don't have to be exactly like me for me to like them. I can learn how to expand my views of people and not be so prejudiced, thinking just 'cause he's like this he's not cool to hang with. He might be something else if I just got to know him.
Photo-ChewbaakaI respect life more now that I'm here. Life is a lot more precious. All this stuff that's getting killed and taken away and people just don't care, just overlook it. In my life, I should try to do something to help something like that, rather than just living, working, trying to make some money and then dyeing. I should be trying to help something else survive. I never really thought about it like that until I came here and learned about the Cheetah dyeing.
When they shot the Cheetah with that anesthesia stuff, and he was all limp and being carried around it was so sad. I seriously couldn't look at him anymore, I wanted to cry. He was just laying there, his eyes were so big and those black stripes under his eyes looked just like tears. He looked like he was telling me he was dyeing. I just want to help something, do something with my life I can be proud of. Then when I go to my grave people will say, well, he tried to do this, he tried to do that. Whether I succeed or not, it's important that I try.
Back to Namibia Reports 1

Namibia Introduction | The Project | Daily Field Notes
Travel/Service Programs


Return to YBB Home Page | About YBB | Educational Presentation Programs
For information send email to: youthbeyond@earthlink.net

YBB In
Namibia
© 1998


4> Making
Friends 2
* Reports 1
1. Namibia
Introduction
2. The Project
3. Daily Field Notes
5. Daily Field Notes
6. Sights and Sounds of Namibia
Other Links:
*Country of
Namibia
*Cheetah Conser-
vation Fund
*Cheetah Spot
*Leopards Etc.

You can get a
YBB T-shirt!