Following the Yellow and Green Hats: Youth Volunteers at the Alliance of Civilizations in Brazil

There were some 30 of them: all in white shirts and yellow and green striped hats, big enough that I was almost sure I wouldn´t lose sight of them throughout the day. They did well enlivening the international youth participants, especially those who arrived after 18 hour flights – they are the local volunteers, young, vibrant and full of life.

The Third Annual United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil brought together representatives from all over the world and the Youth Event was no exception.

Held on May 26th, just 2 days before the main forum opened, 140 young people from around 60 countries gathered to experience the SAARA marketplace - what they call Rio´s example of and answer to cultural diversity. The market brings together merchants and businesses from different religious and cultural backgrounds. The youth participants were divided into groups of 10-12 people, each assigned with a different colored shirt.

Each group were guided by 2-3 local volunteers who conveyed the stories about the history of the merchants in the area – where they originally came from and how they started their businesses. Most of the establishments were owned by Lebanese, Syrian, Turkish and Jewish settlers who began as peddlers as early as 1913. The volunteers also shared stories about how these people from diverse cultures, sharing one market space, collaborate for shared success.

“I had never heard about the UNAOC until I received an email from college with some lines about the Cultural Youth Walk and the Forum in Rio. The idea of working as a volunteer in a UN project involving young people, cultural respect and projects for a better world really got me,“ says Alyne Neves, a local youth volunteer, when she was interviewed by the UN TV. 

Juliana Marquez, the volunteer who led us in the yellow team, made sure that members of our group could ask questions to these merchants as we toured around the marketplace. She guided us through the different establishments and even translated welcoming comments by the local people – all of them curious about the presence of so many young people in colored shirts.

I remember another volunteer, Julia Blum, talking to us for the first time on the bus about how she was so excited to meet so many youth from different countries and show them the best of Brazil. She was so thankful to be given such an opportunity to meet so many amazing people, she said later.

The day ended with the youth getting to know one another and sharing their experiences in Saara in front of the entire group over dinner. It was during this dinner that the volunteers were given special recognition for all their effort and support for the event- from the preparation, to the training they had to go through, to the groups they had guided throughout the day. The volunteers expressed their heartfelt thanks for being given such a wonderful chance to be part of the event.

Isabelle Legare, the UN AoC Programme Manager for Youth, summed up her words of gratitude, “simply put, this event was made possible thanks to the youth volunteers who helped us along the way…without each one of them, this gathering would not be a success.”

After a very long day, the volunteers still had their smiles on and managed to make the other participants laugh and enjoy the night away.

Now that´s what I call volunteer power….truly the heart of a young volunteer!

To end I´d like to share words from Mariana Serman, one of the bubbliest among the volunteers I met in Rio who, I know, truly captured the hearts of many of the participants. “I can't find words that express my thankfulness for having taken part in this amazing event and met marvelous people who freely shared their wisdom and kindness... And for those who are kept with a lot of care in my heart, I say: it was a honour!”

Anyway, no better sentence to finish it but this: "Bridging cultures: Building Peace”