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The year was 2015. A big year for me, as it turned out. In April, I graduated from my university course and felt a huge sense of relief and a new sense of time on my hands. I found out that the next world youth camp was held in Istanbul, Turkey. I didn’t need much convincing. A friend named Olwyne and I became the two representatives from Australia to attend the camp. I paid for my registration and was set to go.
Upon arriving at the camp, I couldn’t believe the number of other young Deaf people my age from around the world. In all, there were about 115 participants from 40 countries. I was staggered to discover the breadth of their experiences, volunteering pursuits and leadership qualities. I had been a leader at previous small-scale camps in Australia, so the jump up to being amongst peers was incredible. I made so many new friends and relationships. All the while, I was lamenting the fact that Australia is not blessed with such an opportunity.
The camp began with activities, leadership training and teamwork skill development. As well, we were exposed to presentations on a variety of topics, of which a couple of standouts were a person from Hong Kong. He presented sign language from the region and another from Fiji on establishing the Deaf youth association in that country. Colin Allen also gave on human rights. The diversity of people at the camp was fantastic. I had never met anyone from Saudi Arabia before. All of the participants were divided into groups and then had to make up a poster showing some artwork on particular themes. Placed along a wall, you could see the cohesion of the pieces from each group.
During the camp, people were asked to present their nominations for the WFDYS board 2015 – 2019. The board requested the whole camp to consider themselves new board members as they were looking for more diversity of directors – gender, background and region. Several people approached me to put forward my nomination, and while I was initially reluctant, I did eventually submit my nomination. Their encouragement cited my capacity to work through problems, my positive attitude and my ability to get things done. Making that final decision wasn’t easy. I didn’t consult with my parents but luckily was able to talk with the president of DYA (Deaf Youth Australia) to ask for a vote of support. Without question, she was happy to support me and my nomination. So from there, I held on to my nomination form and gave it some more thought. In the end, it was a question of “why not?” If I didn’t submit the nomination, I would be living with regret. “What’s stopping me?”
By the end of an exhausting week, as you can imagine, I did not get much sleep during the camp; I represented Australia at the general assembly, where I was also the delegate from DYA. The assembly also heard our bid to host the next junior camp in Melbourne. I was really anxious yet confident I could deliver a good presentation as never before had I presented to any people on a world stage like this. We got overwhelming support for the Melbourne bid at the end of the presentation. It was a surreal moment because countries in the northern hemisphere host mostly these events. The previous event of this kind was the 1999 WFD Congress in Brisbane. It was indeed an exciting moment. Then came my presentation for becoming a board member.
I required two rounds of presentations, and I think I was more nervous about this one about the camp bid. Members of the general assembly voted on each presenter, and votes were tallied. I felt okay about my presentation but was still shocked to find out I had been selected. Altogether the board consisted of 7 people. After greetings, photos, and some congratulations, we entered the WFD congress. I was blown away by the size of this event – so many people! Without much sleep in the bank, I struggled to survive the congress week but eventually got to the last day, where the old board was handed over to the new board on the stage. We watched the closing ceremony for about two hours, culminating in the WFD flag being handed over to France’s next host nation in 4 years.
It was an amazing two weeks. At the start of it, I never imagined I would become a new board member of the WFDYS. I travelled Europe for about six weeks following the congress before setting for the home.
