2023-12-01 20:42:00
Queen Mathilde participated, Friday around 6 p.m., in the “Invisible Youth European Summit” event at the Koekelberg Basilica. Organized by the “One Star, One Destiny” aid program of the International Organization for Success and Development (OIRD), it aimed to give visibility to the most vulnerable young people, “those who lack opportunities or feel left out“.
In total, more than 1,000 young people, aged 15 to 21, came together to discuss social issues, such as poverty, school bullying, inclusion and the fight once morest discrimination.
The participants, also called the “invisible“, came from Brussels, Wallonia, Flanders, but also from several European partner cities, such as Marseille or Nice.
Our journalist asked one of the participants regarding the role of young people. Do they have things to teach us adults? He responded with a strong message: “I will paraphrase Nikos Aliagas. Once, he saw children on TV and he said this sentence which shocked me: ‘They are the way forward’. It’s not the other way around. We missed everything. Look where it’s at. Look what we learned. Look at what we left behind and what we are leaving behind. No, they are the way forward, we should trust them. We must teach them the love that we have not been able to keep. Try to find it once more, maybe die happy for that, for having left them that seed in their minds. That’s what we’re going to try to do here, love. We have nothing else, what do we have to offer, except love?“.
“One star, one destiny”, co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union, helps give more visibility to young people. The initiative also brings together a vast network of European organizations to integrate young people into the job market and combat stigma.
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