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]