How to harness your power for good

[Music]

i was 11 years old when i was first

exposed to the quality of the outside

world

it was the morning of another school day

and i had walked into the living room to

find my mum crying her eyes out on the

sofa

i asked her what was wrong and she

pointed to the tv

it was the news of the ebola outbreak

as i watched the story unfold i saw

images of

kids younger than myself flying limp and

lifeless on the floor

i saw mothers just like mine carrying

their babies in their arms

wailing looking to the skies if some

divine intervention

could come and stop their children

suffering

i saw these lifeless beings dressed from

head to toe and white

carrying these bodies deep into the

ground and as i was watching this

horrifying story i didn’t understand a

couple things i didn’t understand why

they couldn’t just go to the doctors

like we did i didn’t understand why

because they were poor it meant that

they had to die but most of all i didn’t

understand why no one was doing anything

about it

by my simple and limited logic as a

child i thought that

if someone is hurt you go and help them

so i went to school that day with a

frown on my face and deep thought

thinking

what can i do to help how do i get

people to care

and then i had a lightbulb moment i

thought you know what i’m gonna have a

pajama day

at school where everyone will come to

school in their pajamas for a pound

and i’d also hold a baking competition

where everyone had to pay to enter their

bakes and everyone else would have to

pay to get a slice

so i went to my teacher shout out nick i

spoke to him about it and

he was on board with it so we made a

presentation to the school and what was

going on in west africa why it was so

urgent that we had to help

and that was that pajama day came i

stood outside the school gates bucket in

hand collecting money from parents and

children as they walked in

and after school i ran around handing

out slices of dinosaur cake to whoever

wanted some

by the end of the week the office had

counted up the money we raised and said

we’d raised over 700 pounds

that felt like millions to me back then

i was ecstatic

so we sent the money off to actionaid we

got a certificate of approval back

and that was it i couldn’t do anything

else so

i watched the story for days weeks

months after

seeing if the situation was getting

better if

you know the mortality rate was going

lower if mothers would stop mourning

they didn’t it took until 2016 for the

ebola outbreak to end

two years of endless suffering

and that was when i realized that in

this life just because you asked for

help you won’t always get it

and in many ways i haven’t changed since

i still don’t understand when people

don’t do things in

the face of injustice and i still ask

myself the same two

questions what can i do to help and how

do i get people to care

for everyone that doesn’t know hi my

name is christina

i am uh proud to graham we are a small

but mighty population from the

northernmost region of ethiopia

and i live in south london but i was

born in amsterdam and my mom brought me

here in pursuit of a better education

i found secondary school pretty okay it

was quite fun i really enjoyed the

humanities and i’m

delving into that kind of interest in

the social

issues and social sciences in the next

phase of my life

i want you to realize however that i am

just another young person i’m not

extraordinary in any way i’m not a

genius i’ve never been gifted with

any amazing talents i’m just me

i make mistakes i have off days i have

dumb moments

just like everybody else so why am i

speaking in front of you today

well i’m an intersectional youth

campaigner that means i fight for

several issues mainly food inequality

racial injustice and climate injustice

based on the issue that all these

topics are interlinked and look to the

same systems for change

i am co-chair of the bite back 20 youth

board which

bite back 2030 youth board which is an

amazing youth-led movement

essentially helping to fight for a fair

food system and half child obesity by

in 2020 i was named one of the bbc’s

100 most influential women of the year

which is still

shocking um but i’m going to try and

explain why

so it was the eighth week of lockdown

and the government had just announced

that they were pulling back free school

meal provisions

i was shocked it didn’t make it made no

sense

families had no money coming in there

were absolutely

no support from schools or daycares like

that you would usually rely on

no income no support and they pull back

the one

essential provision that would allow

their children

to eat for one day one meal one day

and it was it made absolutely no sense

as to why they would take that back at

such a crucial time so

that pushed me to launch the petition to

get the government to announce a u-turn

and it blew up

it has almost half a million signatures

now and

it propelled the topic into a national

news story

and extended it into a very

large and long campaign to end child

food poverty

because even though we did manage the

government u-turn they did not

guarantee free school meal provisions

for all children

over the year 365 24 7. so we knew that

the fight had just started

and we’re still fighting even though

marcus rashford jumped on it and

did an absolutely amazing job at getting

young people provisions over the summer

holidays

we are still fighting to end child food

poverty in one of the richest

and most powerful economies in the world

but that’s not it when i talk about food

inequality even where you live

has a factor in what you eat i am twice

as likely to develop obesity which means

that i’d have to deal with issues like

heart disease and liver disease

just because of where i live i’m also

likely to die around

10 years earlier than someone that lives

in a more affluent area

because i live in a food desert which

essentially means that

my high street is filled with junk food

store after junk food store

with little to no access to fresh

produce at an affordable price

but again that’s not it we are also

bombarded by tncs

pumping millions of pounds into

marketing junk

which has you know overwhelmed us with

floods

of unhealthy food that has propelled us

into a public health crisis

children in the uk see nearly 500

advertisements junk food advertisements

online per

second

we are robbed of our right to health

before we even reach adulthood and we

don’t even realize it

and we’ve seen what young people can do

when equipped with the facts so we can

change this we push the world into

taking climate and racial justice

seriously

so we have to do the same with health

we’ve caused mass youthquakes

and have made companies really think

about their purpose

and mission we need to see the same

change

in health as this is a systemic problem

just like the others

it goes back to what i was saying

earlier about intersectionality

and the understanding that all these

different systems of oppression and

privilege are interlinked

which i think has really been driven

into us as a generation whether you

realize it or not take me for example i

am black

i am a woman my parents are immigrants

and we’re working class

these different dimensions of my

identity are what have equipped me to be

powerful as a campaigner

because i know that i can relate to

other people based on the similar

obstacles we’ve had to face in our lives

and that in turn helps me to fight for

us all more effectively

but it also means i know when to shut up

and pass the mic on to people

that have their expertise through their

learned experience and that’s why i

think the free school meal campaign was

such a success we saw

people from all over the uk from

completely different backgrounds

all united and in solidarity with the

young people that are going through the

same struggles they did growing up

i want us to embody that mindset in

whatever cause we’re fighting for

always ensure that we are pushing

ourselves

to realize what implications our actions

have on the rest of our community

and some of you might be thinking well

none of this really applies to me i’m

not an activist

i have nothing to fight for yes you do

within the time i’ve been speaking i’ve

mentioned at least one thing

that affects your life and your future

we all eat food

and we all live on the same planet those

are two causes right there that need

your voice

and your insight to see us into a better

tomorrow

we should all be asking ourselves the

same two

questions what can we do to help and how

do we get people

to care and it doesn’t mean you have to

stand outside parliament

banner in hand screaming your lungs off

you can weave it into whatever you’re

passionate about

if you love the arts find a way to be

bold and creative in your statements

be loud in your creations if you love

the sciences

challenge outdated concepts and find new

ethical ways of living

we can all do our bit to work towards a

better future

and i really really want you to remember

to preserve your empathy especially in a

world

that often pushes us to do the otherwise

or to feel

the opposite remember your excellence

remember your potential always keep

giving always keep

asking questions and remind yourself of

the power

of you thanks

[Music]