7th May, 2005

DAVID ADAMS

For 17-year-old Melbourne student Chris Varney being a Christian is more than just going to church and reading his Bible.

Varney, who says he had his eyes opened when he attended one of World Vision’s Global Leadership Conventions a couple of years ago, says being a Christian is also about taking action to combat global issues such as poverty and hunger.

STANDING TALL: Students at one of World Vision's recent Global Leadership Conventions. Images: Courtesy of World Vision. “The beauty about the convention is that, for many people, it’s the beginning of their journey as a global citizen,” says Chris Varney, 17.

“If you’ve got relationship with God, it's not just going to church and thinking ‘I’m a good person if I abide by the Gospel and everything’,” he says.

“It’s got to be living the love that He’s given us and that He sacrificed His life for. It’s got to be taking it out there, it’s got to be action...it’s getting out of our comfort zone.”

World Vision have been running the annual global leadership conventions for about five years with the aim of bringing together primary and secondary school students and showing them they can make a difference when it comes to tackling issues such as global poverty.

Held at universities, churches, basketball stadiums and town halls in capital cities and regional centres across the country, the conventions are based around a series of interactive workshops over a single day or, in the case of Victoria, two days.

This year's workshops cover subjects such as famine, war and poverty, and fair trade, as well as one workshop entitled “Real Life Mozambique” which will feature speakers from the African nation.

The conventions - which are being held in June and July - are expected to attract up to 3,000 students and will be run in two separate streams - one aimed at upper primary and another at upper secondary school students.

Varney, who is currently studying Year 12 at RMIT University and was World Vision’s Youth Ambassador for 2004 when he visited Tanzania, says the conventions (or GLCs as they’re known among the initiated) are aimed at helping students to gain a greater insight into issues surrounding poverty.

“That can be child trafficking, it could be war and refugees, HIV/AIDS - the main issues that seem to grab a lot of the spotlight surrounding what causes poverty,” he says.

But according to Varney the greatest benefits of the convention lie in its role in encouraging those who attend to take an active part in combating global poverty - whether it be through organising a group to take part in World Vision’s 40 Hour Famine or through other advocacy work, fundraising or efforts to educate people more generally about the issues surrounding poverty.

LEADERS NOT JUST OF TOMORROW BUT OF TODAY: Megan Goldsmith, 19, (right) with friends at a recent convention. “It’s definitely sent me in the direction of going overseas and working with the poor," says Megan Goldsmith, 19, of the conventions.

“The beauty about the convention is that, for many people, it’s the beginning of their journey as a global citizen,” he says.

“They leave with greater understanding but also action points they can take. That way the passions that they have and the motivations they get from the convention are harnessed by something like the 40 Hour Famine or (World Vision's youth arm) Youth Generation.”

Megan Goldsmith, 19, is another of World Vision's former Youth Ambassadors. Currently studying development issues and aid work at La Trobe University in Melbourne, she has no doubt that attending the conventions has helped shape her path in life.

“It’s definitely sent me in the direction of going overseas and working with the poor.”

In 2003, Megan accompanied World Vision staff on a trip to Thailand where she found herself confronted with the issue of child prostitution.

“There was so much of it in Bangkok, I had no idea,” she says. “I’d heard a little bit about it but to actually be confronted with it just made me sick. For two weeks seeing children hand-in-hand with these tourists and knowing what was going on, it was just horrible.”

But she is quick to add that she also saw much that was encouraging.

“The thing that really inspired me was going into schools and kindergartens that World Vision assisted in running and going ‘OK if World Vision wasn’t here and if Australians didn’t donate this money to help people, these children could possibly be forced into trhe same situation'. Seeing both extremes made me realise the importance of World Vision’s work.”

Goldsmith says that her faith in Jesus Christ plays a key role in helping her to come to grips with the world’s problems.

“Yes, there is poverty here and now and God does require us to help these people. But we can also give them a hope beyond this world. Even if they’ll never be rich and they’ll never have enough to eat, at least we can offer the hope beyond this world. That’s really what gets me through.”

Adam Valvasori, World Vision’s national project manager of the GLCs, says the conventions are about opening the eyes of students to the realities of the world.

“It’s like a wake up call. They go ‘Oh, so there’s more to life than perfect skin and white teeth’,” he says. “There’s more than reality TV - the reality is this.”

Valvasori says the conventions also aimed to address the cliche that youth are the leaders of tomorrow by showing them that they can make a difference right where they are.

“I think that they’re the right now. They’ve got awesome power within their own family unit to start changing things and within their schools. I think we under-estimate young people way too much. That’s kind of what we try and do at the GLCs - say ‘Go and get ‘em’.”

• For a program of the Global Leadership Conventions and for more information, visit www.worldvision.com.au/glc.