Striving for Equity in Nigeria

Click on the link below to watch a thought-provoking YouTube video featuring our Energetic Olympics guest speakers, Godwin Ugah and Juliet Olory.

One Sky’s membership in the BC Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC) has led to a valuable collaboration. Through our Energetic Olympics program, Godwin and Juliet were selected to participate in BCCIC’s Global Learning Symposium (GLS), and on our Energetic Olympics tour of the province this fall, we were fortunate to participate in two GLS events in the Comox Valley (November 2, 2009) and one in Prince George, BC (November 6, 2009.)

The theme of the GLS was “Striving for Equity in Nigeria”. The GLS provided an opportunity for our Southern partners, Godwin and Juliet, to share their stories, realities and experiences in order to raise awareness, knowledge and action around issues of global energy equity, poverty, gender equity, environmental degradation and human rights, and enabled audiences to respond and act on international development issues across ages and cultures.  By bringing together NGOs, Southern partners, community-based organizations, academic institutions, students and faculty, youth and schools the symposiums were not only an opportunity to learn and share, but a catalyst for engaging British Columbians in a ‘call to action’. 

The GLS presentations allowed Godwin and Juliet to verbally and visually communicate the realities of living in Nigeria today, and to share their experiences and perspectives of working in their respective fields of renewable energy and sustainable community development. Godwin and Juliet spoke to more than 120 youth and adults about the challenges facing Nigerians today, including poverty, violence, energy instability and the lack of energy sustainability. It was a perfect opportunity to inform, motivate and inspire British Columbians to think and act locally in order to make a difference globally on matters of energy consumption and energy equity.

Thanks to BCCIC, World Community and Blue Bamboo Productions, a nine-minute video has been produced of the highlights of their presentations, which also features Don Wright of Amnesty International Canada.  Watch the video and be inspired!

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