Youth Conferences around the world:

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Toronto youth conference advances local community-building efforts


Toronto conference participants sharing an artistic presentation. © Pedram Saleh Toronto, Ontario, 1 August 2013 (CBNS) — More than 1,000 youth from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories gathered at the Toronto Congress Centre from 26 to 29 July 2013 for a youth conference that is part of a process that seeks to build the capacity of youth to contribute to the development of their communities.


The Toronto conference is the second of three to be held in Canada as part of a series of 114 conferences worldwide. A conference took place in Montreal last month for the youth of Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces, and Nunavut, and another is planned in Vancouver from 3 to 5 August for British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, and Alaska.

Read more at:

Toronto youth conference advances local community-building efforts | Canadian Bahá'í News Service

(My niece attended this conference!)
 
Youth Conference in Papua New Guinea:

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Conferences for youth striving to serve their communities begin

Participants gather outside of the conference venue in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
 
Youth Conference Sri Lanka

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Under the banner of “Spirit of Service Stimulating Purposeful Action”, the youth conference began. Inspired by the vision of Bahá’u’lláh, 800 young people from 12 localities across the island came together to consult on the ways and means of community building. The gathering was remarkable for bringing together youth from ethnic groups that have been embroiled in armed conflict for the last two decades in an environment distinguished, instead, by unity.

Kadugannawa, Sri Lanka Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
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Youth Conference in Malasia:

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Addressing the youth of the world as “light bringers” with the aim to “raise up hope and the younger generation”, the song Gemuruh Belia with lyrics composed by a group of young people from northern Malaysia enthused the 350 participants gathered in Sungai Seput from 30 August to 1 September. Friends speaking English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil came together in this youth conference—to strengthen their common vision of how they could work with members of their communities towards progress.

Sessions began by considering the responsibility and potential of youth to contribute to the prosperity of their communities by aiding the social and spiritual development of those younger than themselves. “Young people are inherently good,” one young woman said. “The period of early adolescence is the time when we begin to investigate our reality and see the world with new eyes,” another participant said. “It is important that younger youth have positive influences in their life as they are making new choices.”


For more read:

Seberang Perai (Sungai Siput), Malaysia Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference in Brasilia, Brazil

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After months of preparation, the expectations of the organizers of the youth conference in Brasília were pleasantly exceeded when nearly 800 youth from the Central-West, North, Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil arrived at the venue, a conference centre surrounded by lush greenery.
The spirit of collaboration that characterized preparations for the conference was demonstrated by one group from a neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. Some of their youth were not able to afford the cost of travel, but others in the community helped to raise money by selling crafted purses, organizing movie screenings, and celebrating Festa Junina, a Brazilian folk festival.


Read more at:


Brasília, Brazil Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference in London

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Between 30 August and 1 September, the green campus grounds of the University of Warwick, some 160 kilometres away from the bustling crowds of London, hosted over 1,000 youth from Gibraltar, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, and the four countries of the United Kingdom. On the evening preceding the first day of the conference, hundreds of young people assembled in the courtyard of the university campus, greeting each other and cheering as they welcomed the arrivals of their fellow participants. One group had spent their whole journey in song, clapping, drumming, and sharing quotes and verses from the Bahá'í Writings. As they stepped off the bus, the singing continued and their joy was spread to all those gathered.


http://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/london.html
 
Youth Conference at Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

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Participants assembled in the large hall of the sports complex

The rich strains of a trio playing the morin khuur, a stringed instrument traditionally made with strands of a horse’s tail, stirred the hearts of participants at the conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The melody and rhythm of the morin khuur evoke images of the free-spirited horses native to the grassy steppes of eastern Asia, both revered and essential to Mongolian culture, and considered symbolic of the harmony between the soul and nature.


Surrounded by immense stretches of gentle hills and open grassland under a dome of blue sky, Ulaanbaatar is considered the coldest capital city in the world, with temperatures below freezing for the majority of the year. Inhabitants cherish the short span of summer, especially the months of July and August when it is the season for celebrating and enjoying the good weather.


Over 800 youth, hailing from all corners of this vast country, chose to spend some of this precious time at the conference in that city from 9 to 11 August, eager to discuss what it means to be a young person and what their role might be in contributing to the social and spiritual advancement of their neighbourhoods and villages.


In a country that in recent years has been experiencing rapid economic growth, and where social forces encouraging self-indulgence are increasingly directed at young people, the gathering was striking for its high aims—such as learning to not only be concerned with one’s own well-being but to work with others for the welfare of all.



Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference in Aguascalientes, Mexico

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Youth from over 20 states spanning all of the regions in Mexico made great efforts to attend the youth conference held on a ranch some 25 kilometres north of the city of Aguascalientes. For some, preparations had begun months earlier, with efforts to raise money for transportation to the conference so that as many youth as possible would be able to attend. The majority of the participants travelled to the conference by bus, many having journeyed for almost 30 hours.

Aguascalientes, Mexico Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference at Brisbane Australia!

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At a convention centre on the shores of the Brisbane River, 550 youth from Queensland and northern New South Wales gathered from 14 to 16 September for the first of three youth conferences to be held in Australia. The remarkable diversity of those present was notable—a diversity that was reflected in many languages in which prayers were recited during the morning sessions and by the variety of cultural dances that were performed in the evenings.

http://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/brisbane.html
 
Youth Conference in Kampala Uganda

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“We are learning about the unique role that young people can play in contributing to the transformation of society,” said one participant attending the youth conference in Kampala, Uganda. “Social transformation is not possible without personal transformation,” he added, capturing an insight gleaned from the three days of intense yet joyful consultations involving 1,200 youth hailing from a broad diversity of communities in South Sudan and Uganda. They had gathered nearby the Mother Temple of Africa—the first Bahá’í House of Worship in that continent, sitting atop Kikaya Hill, in northern Kampala—a sacred site they would be fortunate enough to visit at the conclusion of their time together.
A group from Juba, South Sudan, was undismayed when part way through the 700- kilometre journey to Kampala their bus broke down. As much as the group wanted to get to the venue on time, they waited patiently and unperturbed while repairs were carried out. When the bus was once again ready for use they continued their journey with prayers and songs, eventually arriving to be welcomed by the beaming smiles of the friends in Kampala who were eagerly receiving participants from near and far.


Kampala, Uganda Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference in Patna India

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Just a short distance from the ruins of Pataliputra, the capital of ancient India, and near to where Buddha is said to have received enlightenment, is the city now known as Patna. Here more than 1,150 youth from the states of Bihar and Jharkhand converged for the youth conference from 13 to 15 September with all the hope in their hearts that through strenuous, concerted effort to apply Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings, the world can be transformed.


Patna, India Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference at Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Bangladesh is said to be the most densely populated place on the planet and is home to a rich cultural and literary heritage. It was here, from 21 to 23 September, that over 500 young people gathered from across the country, in the capital Dhaka—one of the fastest growing cities in the world. There, on the grounds of the Gonoshasthaya Kendra Centre, the participants spent three days consulting on the contributions youth can make to the community-building process in their neighbourhoods and villages.

Dhaka, Bangladesh Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
Youth Conference in Aragip, Papua New Guinea

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The valley of Aragip, the site of the second youth conference in Papua New Guinea, lies in the midst of the mountains in the remote interior of Milne Bay. The closest port of Sirisiri is a six-hour walk away, and the township of Alotau is another 10 hours away by boat and road transport. Yet almost 1,400 young people travelled for days to participate in the conference held on the grounds of a school in this valley from 20 to 22 September.

Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea Youth Conference - Bahá'í World News Service
 
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