Focus on the FutureJust Focus is a youth-focused and youth-led group – this means YOU get to decide how it runs, how it makes decisions and how it relates to other groups. That’s why YOU should get involved now! Find out more!Election Time!Ahhh, politicians kissing hands and shaking babies… Gotta love it: the arguments, […]

Mariana Gledhill from Wellington, N.Z spent 7 months, in 2005, in Peru doing voluntary work. She shares her experiences.

Well, my AFS programme is almost at an end, but I am in Peru for roughly seven weeks longer. God, it seems like it was just yesterday when I got the news that I was going to Peru. I am excited about going home. There are some material things here I miss, like hot showers, milk that is not made from condensed milk and hot water, but what I miss the most is all of you…

Ilai Amir, Waitakere.

In a world where there isn’t enough time to do everything that we want, we end up relying on mainstream media to show us the world beyond our front doors.

I’ll talk a little bit about one of the issues associated with mainstream media - Sensationalism.

by Kate Thompson, Wellington
Why can’t we see beyond a face,
Beyond a belief, or a race?

by Annie Boanas, age 23, Wellington
Pauline Tangiora Q.S.O., Q.S.M. is a Māori elder from the Rongomaiwahine tribe on the East Coast of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. She has affiliations with many other tribes. She is a Justice of the Peace, a former President and currently Vice President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Aotearoa), the former Regional Women’s Representative for the World Council for indigenous peoples, an Earth Charter Commissioner and a member of the Earth Council. She is a life member of the Māori Women’s Welfare League and a Patron of the Peace Foundation. She has represented Aotearoa at many international fora and was a Consultant to the International Steering Committee of the World Court Project, a legal challenge to nuclear weapons.
She has also been recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Just Focus is a youth-focused and youth-led group – this means YOU get to decide how it runs, how it makes decisions and how it relates to other groups.

In the future, Just Focus will involve more and more participation from members like you.

We need to decide how Just Focus is gonna govern itself, how we make decisions around the country and how we relate to adult-led organisations that support us.
That’s why YOU should get involved now!

Nicole Matthewson, age 17, offers her opinion on race relations in New Zealand and National party Don Brash’s controversial Orewa Speech

By Cameron Walker, Auckland
‘Globalisation’, ‘free trade’, ‘neo-liberalism’ (call it what you will - the economic policies supported by global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank) have been protested about and opposed by tens of millions of people around the globe. Why are so many people so angry?

I see two major problems with the corporatisation of youth – the effect it has on youth, and how it reduces the potential of youth rebellion to create real change.

By Andrew Colgan, Auckland
Globalisation is the buzz word on everybody’s lips in the 21st century. But what does it mean? Who are Globalisations winners and losers and why?