Anja Hamalainin, Pieksamaki, Finland

I've met people from other countries before, but this was different because we shared the same role.  We were like one person, just different nationalities and it's amazing how similar we are inside even though we are from different countries.  We have different cultures and ways of speaking and acting, and still, we were able to unite and work as equals.

I was the only person from Finland.  A couple of people were from Russia and I thought there might be some trouble, but there wasn't.  It was just great to work with them.
One thing I have learned here is never to trust stereotypes.  It's great now to be able to tell other people, "No, you're wrong; most Russians aren't anything like that."

Bernadette Babaran, Langapa City, The Phillipines

I was seven years old when I started working the street as a vegetable and plastic bag vendor.  My parents came from poor families and were not able to finish school.  They were not able to find stable jobs to provide for the needs of the family.  My mother used to work in the street even when she was a child.  My father is a mason, but the work is seasonal and most of the time he has no work.  So I had to help them.

Our parents taught us how to work in the street.  I was fortunate that my family was intact, and I wasn't like other children, who slept in the streets, so I've never been involved in some activities of the other street children - like taking drugs.
Some parents want their children to work rather than study and go to school.  I'm lucky my parents were not like that.  Even my teachers told me, "You can make it."
When I was in my first year of high school, I met the coordinator of the Urban Basic Services Program started by the United Nations Children's Fund.  They had an educational program for street children and I got one of their scholarships.  This program presented seminars, training, and helped turned me into a different kind of person.
Street children are children who have lost their hope or never had it.  But this program made us realize that even though we come from the most difficult situations and feel that we can't do anything for society, we can still do something to make things better.
In 1991, we organized ourselves according to our trade - pushcart boys, newspaper boys, the scavengers.  I was elected president of my organization, and later, president of the federation made up of all these smaller organizations.
When the federation tries to solve problems, some young people laugh at us.  Maybe they really are laughing at the thought that youth can do anything and maybe they just think that it's not their responsibility. 
But a better future lies not only in the hands of our leaders, it lies in the hands of every individual living in the world.  The young people can do something to make the world a safer place to live.  If not us, who will start it?

Luciano Zimmer, Curtiba, Brazil

I think it is important above all to ask:  What is our objective?  What is our quest?  Why are we on this planet?  If we don't know why we're here, we at least know that we should work for the next generations and we should work with hope.
When I turned 16, last year, I realized that tomorrow, not only me, but all young people will be responsible for society.

I started working as a volunteer for the Citizenship Project with people in the poor district of my city with medical and psychological problems.  Most of the time what happens in Brazil is that people are only given food to eat and that is not enough.  I started working with them and I noticed how I was being changed by the experience.  It gave more value to what I have, to what I am.  It strengthened my will to help people because it is a big step towards a better society.
I am starting to be aware of the importance of communicating with people in order to have balance in life.  I think if you want to convince people, you speak with one, then speak with another; doing that spreads ideas.  I'm doing that already, and it's incredible.  You don't see results right away, but you see things start to change.  Each of us has to realize that we can help, and that by helping, we'll leave a better world for the future. 

Melanie Parris, Trinidad and Tobago

I care about the fact that so many young people are depressed and frustrated.  I have watched suicide rates in my country and all over the world.  Every day more and more people kill themselves.  Why? Because they are unhappy.  Because they do  not experience love.

  I believe that as human beings we gravitate to love just like moths gravitate to light.  When we feel like we are not accepted, then it depresses the system -- physically, emotionally, spiritually.  You can destroy a person by hating them. 
I believe that each person was created special.  When we tap into that potential which was created in us, we can achieve what we're meant to achieve.  That is why I believe it is important to love your neighbor as your self.  Everybody in the world is your neighbor as far as I am concerned.  I want to be treated with love, with respect.  I want people to look beyond stereotypes and to see me.  I want to be listened to and heard for what I am saying.  I want to be supported and encouraged to fulfill my potential.  And so I must treat people in that same way. 

Phumelo Motene, Hillbrow, South Africa

The world has this idea of young people as not being very constructive, as being sort of out of line.  They think we are useless in the community.  But I think that's not right.  When you disapprove of people, and don't listen to them and tell them they're not good enough, they actually will not be good enough.  Imagine how many great ideas and how many great people you would develop if you gave them a chance by listening.

Everybody I've met has had an impact on me, for the lowest to the most high.  I've learned so much from people who don't usually talk to anybody because they believe. "Oh well, who's going to listen to me?"  I think the mistake the whole world is making is thinking that until you've had an education, until you can speak English, you're not wise.  But if you give everyone the same among of respect in the beginning and appreciate them, you will see how much more you get.
When I speak of South Africa the first word that comes up is "hope."  We kept going on hope.  The adults who told their children, "Listen, my love, someday we will get it right."  I don't think they really expected it to happen.  They just kept hoping that because of the belief and the trust they had in themselves, that someday - they didn't know when - it would come out right.
And now it's happened.  Nelson Mandela has had an incredible influence on everybody.  One day he called the widows together from both the extremes.  He said, "Your husbands and you were involved in all this in the past.  And I know that you on one side of the table hate the  person on the other side of the table.  But at the end of the day, we are at the same table.  And if you want to give your children a future, if you don't want your children to suffer the way you suffered, we need to settle this among ourselves."
South Africa has taught everybody a lot of things.  We've made our mistakes, but if there's one thing we can show the rest of the world it's that if we can get through our problems, anybody can.