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As I mentioned in earlier blog posts, at the Young Commonwealth Climate Change Summit I discovered many inspiring people and organizations working toward tackling climate change. One of them was a social enterprise called Worldview Impact that works on mitigating climate change and reducing poverty by creating green jobs in poor communities. 

After watching a dynamic presentation by founder Bremley Lyngdoh, I asked if he’d have time to give the Youthink! audience a little more background and insight into his organization. When I arrived for our meeting at Worldview headquarters, Bremley first treated me to some “conflict resolution tea” (lemongrass, in case you’re interested, and delicious).

Curious? I was. It’s thus named, Bremley informed me, because it was grown on Paradise Farm.

Even more curious? It turns out Paradise Farm is one of Worldview Impact’s projects—a farm in Sri Lanka where both Tamil and Sinhalese women work together to produce organic food. For those of you who’ve been living on Mars for the past few decades (or ok, are out of touch with Sri Lankan politics), the Tamils and Singhalese were opposing factions in a decades-long civil war that took place in the country.)  “Farming releases the negative energy in people,” Bremley tells me. “You can’t fight over there.” From what it sounds like, the people who work on Paradise Farm are probably too busy to think about fighting. They not only grow crops like tea, cocoa and cashew nuts; they also grow rubber trees which they then harvest to make a host of products—yes, including carbon-free condoms. 

No matter who you are, any international conference can be an overwhelming experience. As with most things, the surest way to fully grasp what to do and where to go is by experiencing it. But everyone will experience a first time, so I’ve jotted down a few notes from past experience that helped me here in Istanbul, and will hopefully lower the learning curve for you at your next international conference.

Are you a big fan of any band? I love music and I like some bands a lot, but to actually be a “big fan” is a different thing. One of the bands I’m a huge fan of is U2, and the reason is that they actually use music as a means to achieve great impact in our world. 

I had listened to their music for many years before I became a fan. My sister used to play their famous songs all the time and of course I learned them by heart, but it wasn’t until 2004 that I really fell in love with their music and what they’re all about.

The biggest misconception that a lot of people have is that the end of a war means total peace. Most, if not all of the time, post-conflict can be one of the most trying times for the people of any country, particularly for women. Post-conflict means the restoration and the rebuilding of communities. It’s that time when many, especially women and children, struggle to get over the trauma wrought by widespread violence.

It’s sad however, how very few member states of the United Nations are actually supporting the National Action Plan, a resolution on heavily involving women in the peace building and peace keeping process. Now in its 9th year, the resolution has only managed to get the support of 16 member states and that’s not even half of the entire United Nations.