Fight back or flee? Myanmar draft forces hard choices on youth
Reuters Weeks after Myanmar’s military government announced a nationwide draft, two young women from far-flung parts of the South-East Asian country headed to the jungles to take up arms against the junta. For two men in their 30s in Myanmar’s two largest cities, the threat of conscription after the February call-up prompted them to upend […]
Ethnic fighting kills 56 in South Sudan, official says
Juba, South Sudan Reuters Clashes have killed 56 people during four days of fighting in South Sudan’s eastern Jonglei state, after youth from the Nuer community attacked another ethnic group, a local official said on Tuesday, with the Nuer making up most of the casualties. The territory of South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan […]
Millennials adopt digital worship, but not at the expense of IRL faith
United StatesRNS No small number of millennials were first introduced to personal technology tending to their tamagotchis during recess. Only later did the dot-com revolution, smartphones and social media invade every part of their lives, from relationships to health to music – and faith. Today, meditation podcasts, TikTok sermons and livestreams of Friday (Jumah) prayers […]
COVID helps lift homelessness among Australian youth to “alarming” levels, says Mission Australia
Geelong, Australia As many as one in 20 Australian young people aged 15-to-19-years-old reported experiencing homelessness for the first time during the COVID pandemic, according to a new survey from Mission Australia. The figure is a significant increase on the one in 25 who reported experiencing homelessness in a 2017 report. Data from the organisation’s […]
Sight-Seeing: Youth ministries must innovate to survive
In an article published by Religion News Service, JOSH PACKARD, of Springtide Research Institute, and Rev ABIGAIL RUSERT, of the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, say youth ministries need to respond to the changing religious landscape…
Young people make their mark at Religions for Peace conference
RNS The 2021 Religions for Peace conference, which closed on Thursday, will be remembered as the first hybrid meeting, with most observers looking in via internet as 130 participated in person. It was also the most youth-oriented gathering in the 51-year-old interfaith organisation’s history. Nearly a quarter of those who came to this year’s conference, […]
Essay: Suicide prevention for our youth is doable – we must act now
As the US marks National Suicide Prevention Month, GLEN BLOOMSTROM, a member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Faith Communities Task Force, says there is no better time to take the step to be trained in suicide prevention measures…
Australian teenagers suffering COVID-19-related anxiety and trauma, says Mission Australia report
Sydney, Australia Teenagers across Australia are suffering from increased anxiety about their education, experience of isolation, mental health and future prospects due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Mission Australia report on youth says. The Young Voices of the Pandemic: Youth Survey COVID Report 2020, released on Wednesday, shows amongst those reporting personal concerns, 58.7 […]
The real threat to Chad’s military rulers: unemployed youth
N’djamena, ChadReuters When Neldjibaye Madjissem graduated with a mathematics degree in 2015, he began searching for work as a school teacher. Six years on, he is still looking – and is angry. The 31-year-old blames Chad’s government for lack of work, mismanagement of oil revenues and corruption. No wonder people are protesting on the streets […]
Widening horizons: From Africa to Asia, youth salute Prince Philip for changing their lives
As Prince Philip is laid to rest in Windsor, NITA BHALLA and ROLI SRIVASTAVA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards scheme has changes lives across the globe…