By Yonca Poyraz Dogan
It all started with a dream and then came action. Answering our questions, they tell us how it all came about and what they are doing to make a difference by taking part in the competition.
Gülçin Eroğlu, who leads her team, explained that their history teacher, Gamze Emeksiz talked about the Teens Dream Competition at their school, and she and her friends loved the idea of being a part of it. “So we were inspired by being a little voice to a big problem,” Eroğlu said.
Why did they choose the goal of zero hunger?
Competition participant Elif Sıla Erdem said that since too many people die of hunger every day unnecessarily, it was a natural choice.
Her teammate Gülşah Bal added that it was all about raising awareness. “Maybe we can’t solve the whole problem, but we can be the light of somebody’s life. Even if we can reach one person, our dream will come true,” she said. Another team member, Yağmur Uğur said that with the support of TATV, they found an opportunity to make the world hear their voices. “As a world citizen, I do have some responsibilities due to damage that has been made to planet Earth by our kind. And it is on us to fix it,” she said. According to Elif Kumlu, finding solutions to the world’s problems should be permanent. And one of the greatest ways of doing this is to participate in the Model United Nations (MUN) conferences. She reminded that “zero hunger” is one of the sustainable development goals of the UN, and as an active participant, she finds participating the MUN is a great platform to end hunger by finding solutions.
Global Co Lab Network notes: Elif Sila Erdem has joined the Global Co Lab Network’s Hunger Hub, a virtual room led by teens working on hunger in their communities. We invite all teens globally to join our Hubs!