At 7:30 AM OYE students crowded into the office. Dressed alike in blue OYE Mi Voz shirts, they formed a sea of blue with picket signs floating in hand. At 8 o-clock the sea of youth poured out of the office to join the march. Hundreds of students from local high schools and other youth foundations convened at El Progreso's central park. Youth from accross the city came to this event, organized by Unifec and Comvida, to demonstrate their voice and promote their rights. Themes of the march included equal rights with no discrimination based on race, color, sex, language, or religion.
Furthermore, the youth participating in this event demanded that their government be responible to protect youth from physical and mental abuse, mistreatment, and exploitation.
OYE students appeared to enjoy themselves and feel very at home participating in such an event. The themes of the event mirrored many themes that OYE touches upon in our capacity programs and coincides very well with our global vision and the mission of our foundation. To see OYE students occupying public space and to demonstrate their voice, their power, and demand to be heard and respected was a awesome site.
As the event came to a close, representatives from various youth oriented organizations were asked to speak. Representatives from local high schools said a few words, a couple religious organizations shared their sentiments, and Yarli Yanes spoke for OYE.
In conclusion the event was well organized and the youth were well represented. True to the culture of Honduras' youth the event was fun with music and dancing. The youth demonstrated their potential as leaders and potential to raise their voices in unision to ask for their rights to be defended. After events such as this I can't help but think that both the future and the present look very bright for this country.
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