Young people around the city converged at Design Hub last Friday evening to attend the Creative Talks Africa, an event organized by the European Union together with KQ in celebration of the International Youth Day. As they celebrated the day in style, young people discussed a number of issues under the theme “Safe Spaces for Youth.”
The first session was moderated by tech lover, Angella Mirembe Ssemwogerere with panellists of Mildred Apenyo, Carina Juilfs, as well as Wabwire Joseph Ian. The first session discussed Safe Spaces in relation to Tech Hubs, Art Spaces and co-working Spaces.
According to Mildred Apenyo, the women rights activist, safe spaces exist. “Safe spaces exist but sometimes women don’t want to access them because there is gender imbalance. The truth is that our society is completely built to ensure that somethings are created for women such as cooking and cleaning.” Apenyo said.
Joseph Wabwire revealed that there is no need for young people to cry over unemployment yet there are spaces like Design Hub, Innovation Village, which they can access to earn a living. “We need to advise young people that there are safe spaces. You don’t need to cry of unemployment when there are spaces like Design Hub, Innovation Village, all these are safe spaces for young people. Even if you are three, you can get a space at SHs 500,000 and work.” Wabwire told the unemployed young people.
While answering the question of what can the government do to create safe spaces for young people, Carina Juilfs noted that young people should not wait for the government to do something. According to Carina, sometimes creativity is lost because most safe space creators are business (money) minded living no free options for young people.
While wrapping up the creative talks night, the second and last panel was moderated by Sanyu FM’s David Ogutu in a discussion that included panellists like Brian Mutebi, Neema Iyer, Suzane Muhereza and Nicholas Opiyo. This panel’s discussion rotated around Digital and Civic Spaces.
For those who keep blaming the government for everything, Neema Iyer told young people that they can make changes in government without upsetting the politicians. She adds that it is the young people’s role to tell the government that they need these services. “You can make changes in government without upsetting politicians. I come from India, we have the biggest democracy in the world, if you want a passport, you will get it in 24hours.” Said Neema.
BBQ and dancing continued throughout the night as young people continued to network till the late hours of the night.
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