Webisode #7 - In Bochum, Germany

This time I'm in Bochum, Germany and I brought the first YV team in Germany with me! They've got a little message and I can't remember where I am...enjoy!



The link, in case it doesn't work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I2rmDePmdc

This Woman Is A Saint, Monaco Has Lots Of Ferraris, & The South of France Is A Lot Like SoCal

First and foremost, this woman – Catherine – is a living saint. The woman picked Christelle (the YV France Director) and I up from the airport, insisted we use the only two bedrooms in her house while her family of four slept on air mattresses in the living room, fed us, organized a speaking event for nearly 200 French youth and took us to a stand-up comedy show, all without EVER meeting us before this experience! She is one of the most incredible people I have ever met, and I wanted to give her a big shout out. She’s a huge supporter of young people creating change, and we’re lucky to have her as an ally. Plus, she has the most adorable kids ever...


(We engaged in a rather serious pillow fight)


They live on a charming grape farm that is so perfect, it doesn’t seem real.


I almost wanted to end the tour there and just disappear from the face of the earth for a while – maybe forever…


Second, Monaco is absolutely beautiful and has now become the perfect example of excess. I’ve never seen so much excess in my entire life (combined with the latest in French fashion).


I saw a Bentley and couldn’t help but think to myself, that would fund 350 teams or feed a small country for a month. While this tour is fast, I do think it’s helpful in the sense that I’ve been able to get (and share) a vivid snapshot of inequity on a global level, and it has made the need for change so much more apparent. Less than a week ago I was interviewing young people in a Sao Paulo slum who just recently got running water and now I’m standing at an intersection looking at a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin and a Rolls Royce. Messed up much?


Finally, the south of France could be Southern California, minus the rocky beaches, naked bodies and much more fuel efficient cars. I stepped out in St. Raphael and honest to goodness, for a split second, I thought I was in Newport Beach, CA, only people weren’t using the words “dude” and “sweeeet” (except for me). This moment of shock was followed by “Mexican food” for lunch, which made clear that I was indeed in the south of France and not in southern California.

You don’t even want to know what I’d do for a taco stand taco right about now.

World Tour’s Ain’t No Thang

A few days in France and already I’m noticing that young people here are truly acting at a global level, for better or for worse. I first met with Michael and Eric of Un Monde Au Coeur Vert (A World With A Green Heart). The leave September 24th for an 11-month world tour looking at the impact of eco-friendly “green” projects across the planet. They’re then going to develop an educational CD to be used in classrooms across France in an effort to creatively educate youth on green issues. Big-time global.


Then I met Florian Noutsos, a UN Unicef Young Ambassador who traveled to Jamaica last year on a goodwill mission to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and condom use. He also accompanied Former French President Jacques Chirac to the G8 Summit last year as France’s speaking youth advisor, where he got into a heated discussion with President Bush when he challenged the efficacy of abstinence-only education. “It doesn’t work. I’ve seen that it doesn’t, and I told him so,” Florian explained to me. Really big-time global.


It came full-circle with Aymeric & Loic, who are now heading Entrepreneurs Without Borders, an organization aimed at assisting young social entrepreneurs around the world to launch their ventures. In this, their inaugural year, they’ll help launch ten teams on two continents. Again, global.

“Oh yeah, lots of young people in France have done world tours. This isn’t original in France,” Christelle, the Director of Youth Venture France explained. “A global impact is very obvious here.”

I really got to thinking about the idea of an individual’s world. That is, if you live in a small village in Argentina just a few miles from the Bolivian border and you’ve never really left your town, then that’s your world, and that’s where you’ll create change. Comparatively, if you’re French or American or British and you’ve traveled a great deal in your life, then your “World” is, in effect, the whole world! This is where you first think about taking action, not because you don’t care about your town or city or country, but as your existence broadens you can’t help but be attracted to those distant places. It’s exciting, different and new, and relative to your own town, that far-off place seems a lot more in-need.

There’s nothing wrong with this idea. After all, I did the same thing! I went abroad, experienced a great deal and then wanted to take action at the global level. It’s only natural, I feel, to be most attracted to the broadest context you know.

Still, what I’ve learned is that there are big problems in need of innovative solutions right in your own neighborhood, and they aren’t any less important. Everything is relative, yes, but even those comparative wrongs are still unjust. You don’t need to travel to distant lands on other contents to create change. You can do it in your school or town and still be a part of this global movement. So, think globally, act globally or think globally, act locally. We need change everywhere, and we need people to create that change – not just in Africa or Asia, but in elementary schools in America, flavelas in Sao Paulo and slums outside Paris. Find your inspiration, and it’s cool if it’s local, I promise.

Music That Moves Me

I spent the day with Maxime, YV France’s newest free laborer, tour guide extraordinaire and full-time changemaker. We walked the Seine (him against his will), cruising the Musee D’orsay (closed on Mondays, just fyi), St. Michel, Notre Dame and the Pompidou. More importantly, I introduced him to Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream after we shared some delectable Macaroons (have you ever eaten a Macaroon? It’s like a little piece of chocolate heaven mushed between two flaky chocolate sham tarts). Happiness? Check.

Maxime is also a young changemaker. For the past few years he has worked with two bands to mainstream social ideas through their music. “The lyrics mean something,” he explained to me. “There is a message there, but it’s in a popular package that people like to listen too.” The number of gigs continues to increase, and their following continues to grow. More importantly, he has found a way to connect with people where they are, a challenge we all face. Listen up, because he’s ROCKIN’ OUT (at the Louvre, playing a wicked air guitar).

Webisode #6 - In Brussels, Belgium!

Sorry for the delay, but the internet has been all up and down here the last few days!

The sixth in this series following the Dream It. Do It. World Tour. I'm in Brussels, Belgium now and things are just crazy! Or maybe less crazy and more wild! Or maybe less wild and more...anyway, enjoy!



The link, if it doesn't show up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKwIAzf8XJ4

I Left My Samba In Sao Paulo

I depart from Brazil with my mind absolutely reeling. In total, we covered over 500 miles by taxi and bus in just four days! I visited more than 30 projects. Interviewed 23 people. Spoke about the movement to nearly 300.

I got bumped to business class and spent the whole flight playing with the fold-flat bed.


Then I got sent back to reality on my way to Paris, making full use of my 18 inches of personal space (does anyone else wonder why employees of the World Bank, a development bank, fly business class? Shouldn’t that $6000 be used for, oh I don’t know, development?)


I slept in a hotel and was seen naked by the maid (I forgot to hang the “Do Not Disturb” placard). I moved to a coworker’s house and shared a room with a one-year-old named Lucas who just recently started enjoying solid foods. I spent countless hours dozing in taxis on the ride to project sites and spent many less hours dozing in a bed at night.


I learned that time moves at its own pace here. Dinner at 8? That means 10. Samba at 11? That means 12:30. Meet at 10? 11:15 sounds great! At first it drove my type ‘A’ personality completely insane. Then I realized that I didn’t need to be on time either, which meant more time for naps. I embraced this concept.


I discovered – along with my host family – that it is indeed possible to fit six people and a baby in a Hyundai Tucson, and that “The Police” sound even better when accompanied by a very diverse group of back-up singers.


I got addicted to Nintendo Wii and built a bitter rivalry with an 8-year-old named Sofi and two 11-year-olds (Vicky & Mili) that led to a rather intense thumb war.


I realized that to build a movement you’ve got to connect with people on so many levels, from a dance-off in the city streets (where I busted out an incredible robot) to sharing iPod playlists and at least attempting to speak the local language.


I met young people who are changing the world, and I did my best to learn their stories to communicate them with the rest of the world.

I was changed.

Brazil, we had a bumpy affair, but you will be missed. Obragado!

Brazil Video Up! Dream It. Do It. World Tour

The Brazil video is finished and fabulous! The blurb:

On the move in Brazil. From break dancing to baking cookies, young people across the country are taking action and creating change! This aint no Samba. It's a global movement. Join us.



The link, in case it doesn't show up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJw1bXeo3I8