I got the chance to speak as a youth representative on behalf of my organisation, the Humanist Freethinkers Brandenburg/Havelland and IHEYO at the World Atheist Conference (January 7th-9th ) in India. That was possible through the organisational relationship between HFH and the Atheist Centre (AC) in Vijayawada based on our international exchange programme.
Due to the fact that I noticed that majority of the presentations made at the Congress are more of theoretical and philosophical speeches, I decided to make my presentation on active work, especially something about youth work and projects.
I gave an overview of our exchange programme, which is now in its 9th year, our experiences through that with another culture and other lifestances and social backgrounds. Furthermore, I also spoke about our membership and work as organisation in IHEYO and the projected activities for the year. It is necessary to do a lot of public work –like with speaking at such conferences- as a good example of international work and to show the results of such a programme. This may be as step that makes it possible to open the interests of others and will become a start for new projects.
Silvana Uhlrich, newly elected 2nd Vice President, IHEYO