The Global UGRAD Program is for young leaders commited to serving their home communities.
Why would you be a great participant in the Global UGRAD Program?
Please help me review this essay, it really means a lot to me. I will appreciate any remarks and feedback.
The first step towards solving an issue is making it known. We are all aware that communicating any matter the right way is very important, especially nowadays, when media is bursting with headlines and gives everyone a chance to expose this or that problem. Psychotherapy, which has gained huge popularity among all groups of people, is all about addressing our internal crisis, and then finding the right solution. In order to achieve a goal, we have to verbalize it, in order to solve a relationship conflict we have to talk about it, and the list goes on.
As soon as I understood this concept, I asked myself: 'How can I help to make things known?' With this in mind and still being a pupil, I began writing for the school newspaper and was dreaming of a journalistic career. Then, since becoming a tutor, I started sharing knowledge by introducing new words, new rules and ways of learning. Managing several social media networks also helped, but the impact was not big enough. It seemed like working in small communities only benefited them - and them alone. It might have been just an impression, but it is what made me find the 'Signum' project, a volunteer translation laboratory. And this is where I felt the true power of information. When our translated lectures started spreading among hundreds of people and the whole community began growing rapidly, I wondered: 'How can this work help those in need?'
This question was a beginning of a new chapter, a new way of thinking and planning my life. Another week of research, and I stumbled upon Voice of Belarus - a project, whose goal is to translate and distribute the latest Belarusian press reports, news and analyses. At the time, it was only a small group of people, trying to expose the brutal events which followed the presidential elections. And as I already had some experience in translating and editing, there was nothing left to do than to take action and join the team.
We started building a multilingual archive of texts, translating and publishing subtitles for the videos on our YouTube channel. I got in touch with my friends who study abroad and asked them to contact their university professors and local media. That way I was able to send articles for future publication in foreign media and establish better communication with them. Since then, more and more people have been reaching out, which brought a chance to send our translations to such news agencies and newspapers, as The Guardian, The Washington Post, CNN, The New York Times, BBC, Spiegel, Reuters, El Pais, Polityka.pl and others.
The work of this project, among other initiatives, has helped to collect financial support for the victims and create new opportunities for employment and education both in my homeland and abroad. The world has got to know what is happening in Belarus and started offering its help.
These days I am asking myself: 'How can I go further and contribute more?' How can I become more professional as a translator and interpreter, gain new skills and become more open to the world? How can I learn about other cultures and share the best about mine? What can I bring to the community regardless of where I am at?
I believe that participating in Global UGRAD exchange may be the answer. I wish to keep calling attention to things we justly consider wrong, but do it with more confidence and expertise.
'Words have the power to make things happen' - and I will do my best to see these words at work.
