Cultural Voice

1) In your travels where is the most special destination you've been to and why? The Actun Tunichil Muknal ( ATM) Cave in Belize: It is a cave two (2) km under ground full of several thousand year old intact Mayan artifacts and the entrance is almost mystical 2) What is your opinion of world peace? "Politics and oil will prevent us from ever achieving world piece, governments are too greedy to cooperate" 3) What is your favourite drink? " A 2006 chateauneuf du pape"  4) If there was anything you could change about the world what would it be and why? "Changing the world is a bold statement, why push for fantasy items we cannot achieve, rather lets focus on the things we have the ability to impact"

Here are a few things you may not have known about Anush Hayrapetan, Manager of Forgottendiaries.org a project of youth action for change promoting intercultural dialogue and one of Cultural Voice's partners. Anush Hayrapetan: Founder, Forgotten Diaries Nationality: Armenian Anush has won the following awards: Hero of Millennium 2011, 2nd World Summit for Youth Volunteering EUNIC 2010 European youth competition winner,category “Democracy and Politeia” World Youth Summit Award 2010, category “Pursue truth” (Forgotten Diaries project related) Intercultural Innovation award 2010, Marketplace of Ideas of the UNAOC 3rd forum, (Forgotten Diaries project related) World Aware Education Award 2009, North-South Centre of Council of Europe (Forgotten Diaries project related) Favourite City: "My favorite city is Riga, the capital of Latvia. I lived there for almost a year and love it for its unusual charm, warm people and relaxing atmosphere." ...

Twelve young leaders from North America and Europe are arriving in Rabat this Monday with the aim to create new alliances, gain knowledge, and understanding of North Africa and the Middle East. From the Maghreb to the Gulf peninsula, twelve young leaders are now embarking on a journey across the MENA region. Every single day of the program is going to be rich in learning and in exchanges.  The UNAOC’s Fellowship Program focuses on creating opportunities for young leaders, across the Arab world and the West, to increase mutual understanding through experiential learning and direct interaction with civil society. The fellows will be part of a two-week program organized under the auspices of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). The program is  funded by the German Foreign Office with the  support of the Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace and developed in partnership with the League of Arab States, ISESCO, the Institute of International Education, the Government of...

© HBKPhotography. All Rights Reserved.   We live in uncertain times. This sentiment echoes through the photographs of Hari Bangsha Kirant, President of the UNESCO Clubs Federation of Nepal. His mission is to always strive for peace, and he speaks with great hope and appreciation for the road on which Nepal has had to travel to be where it is as a country today. Photographer and UNESCO Activist, Hari Bangsha Kirant "Nepal is working hard for peace and writing a new constitution." When asked about the efforts towards peace in Nepal, Hari shares that there is pressure placed on the political parties in Nepal from the civil society and the media and this is where the change is happening. He shares that he has lived through four different political shifts in Nepal and believes that they are all equally inportant and have helped in the process of democratizing Nepal. He is very concerned with languages on the verge of extinction in Nepal and told our repre...

Cynthia "Cinti" Salandy There's lots to talk about when you have the opportunity to sit with Cynthia Salandy! We caught up with Cynthia while on location in Trinidad and Tobago for 2012's Carnival! Certainly something Cultural Voice recommends as a must-do for all our readers! Something Positive on Stage. Photo by Zoe Mocker Something Positive in the Studio. Photo by Zoe Mocker "Cinti" is the Associate Director of "Something Positive" Cynthia, affectionately known as "Cinti" is the Associate Director of Something Positive, a dance company based in NYC, started dancing at age 17 in Diego Martin, Trinidad. Her career started through the community based programme called "Best Village" and all the different communities in and around Trinidad would compete for bragging rights and a trophy. Best Village "The programme seeks to preserve, protect, and build on our Folk Traditions, and to facilitate the gr...

  Emprezz describes herself as a passionate, benevolent entrepreneur and media personality. She focuses on making ideas tangible realities. How many of us can say we've started and successfully run a resturant (alongside husband Steven) ; a Jamaican themed clothing and accessories store; manufactured and designed new card games; produced multiple shows including her newest 'Talk up Yout' which can be seen on TVJ every tuesday @6pm, and much more?   Emprezz gave us a peek into her life before returning to Jamaica. 'CHERRY' Emprezz spent most of her high school years in Australia and during that time she was a member of a pop singing group called 'Cherry' and used her middle name 'Camielle'. The Group was signed to Sony Records and Warner Music. It was during this time that Emprezz aka Camielle 'found herself' asking many self revealing questions in the multicultural environment...

Marketing Assistant by day, Dance Teacher, Choreographer and member of Tony Wilson's 'The Company Dance Theatre' in all other time available, Renee McDonald continues to make great strides in the Jamaican Dance Scene. A very Talented young lady, Renee would love to throw caution to the wind and be a full time professional dancer. It's a dream so many artists share, and often a tough decision to make especially in developing economies such as Jamaica's where its extremely difficult to earn a sustainable livelihood. Renee loves Jamaica 100% and would not want to be dancing anywhere else...so in the mean time she continues to make it all happen. Her Cultural Icon is undoubtably Bob Marley, and she expresses that it's undeniable that he's the best and none can compare! Today would have been the icon's 67th Birthday and we recognize his contribution to the Cultural Fabric of Jamaica, the Caribbean and the World! Views from the Artist on: WORL...

"War in the east, war in the west War up north, war down south War, war, rumours of war" It is a little known fact that dozens of wars are currently being waged around the world. Outside of the Middle East , most of these conflicts are shunned by, and receive almost no attention from the media. An even less known fact is that of the vastly untapped potential of young people in these zones and the significant role they can play in peace building. "That until there are no longer first class And second class citizens of any nation Until the colour of a man's skin Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes Me say war" These two little known facts form the heart of the motivation driving the team of seven hard working young people behind ‘Forgotten Diaries’. Forgotten Diaries (FD) is a project which aims to raise awareness of the dire situation facing over 100 million children and youth living in conflict ridden environments. Their ...

PEACE, I strongly believe you WILL COME!!! Contributed By: Arevik Hayrapetyan Having been living for 18 years in a forgotten conflict zone, I have always had a dream. A dream to contribute somehow to the peace building process in the South-Caucasus region, which will be a place for mutual understanding and respect, love and tolerance, cooperation and prosperity for all, where young people will look at the map to plan their traveling, where youth synergy projects will bloom and people will enjoy their lives. Now that I am an adult I go back to 1990s and recall the sweet and pure memories of my childhood. Meanwhile I remember people whose eyes were full of pain, fear and sorrow. That time I was a child for whom it was inexplicable why people had to suffer, why instead of smile they had unhappiness on their faces. That time I was not able to understand the meaning of very frequently used words, like “war” or “violence” . I was only able to realize that the...

"World Peace is something worth striving for; I try not to think about eventual success or failure, but simply to participate in the endeavour." Jamil Majid I interviewed Jamil Majid, who I met in 2007 in Madrid for the United Nations Alliance of Civilization's inagural conference. Since 2007 he has spearheaded a youth media education campaign in Spain, which is now to be launched in Pakistan and Liberia. Tell us a little about you, where were you born, where do you live now?     I was born somewhere in Asia, but am currently in somewhere in Europe. What is your life's philosophy? Mainly to not have a philosophy J You made Media your platform for change, why? I think the media today is one of the key factors that influence people's perceptions of themselves, of the world, and of others in it. There are of course many pressing issues in the world that need attention, but I would venture to say that the media plays some role in shap...

Florence Goldson, Belize "Hope is an eternal fire that for me cannot be quenched" Talking to our Caribbean Neighbours can be very insightful. I caught up with Florence Goldson (Belize) and Nalisa Maryat (St Lucia), two truly 'Caribbean' women and asked them what they thought of World Peace, Political Issues and Life... Florence Do you think there can be World Peace? "i don't know, i long for it and i do my part to achieve it in my little corner of the world but i recognize how profitable war is for a powerful, wealthy few. i do not think peace will be achieved in my lifetime, however hope is an eternal fire that for me can not be quenched...so i work with the hope that some future generation will know a peace that i have not known." In Belize, what is the biggest political issue that needs to be addressed? "for me a major issue is the rampant corruption at all levels of the public sector coupled with the absolute disregard of m...

The Amazon Rainforest in South America has been named as one of the 7 Wonders of Nature (for full list check link  7 Wonders of Nature - World Facts ) . I'm hoping that this designation will bring some attention to some of the not so wonderful aspects such as the marginalization of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon and the widespread deforestation that's robbing the world of critical resources and defences against the negative effects of climate change. I read an interesting fact on wikipedia (yes i did wiki) about the region. On 18 January 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil. Brazil as a result, now has the largest number of uncontacted people in the world... The Amazon region is expansive....this map gives us an idea of just how vast it is. Source: Study by Rett A Butler So when we think that in 6 years, between 2000 and 2006, the region lost almost 150,999 sq km (that's pl...

Juan Chong, Youth Activist, Peru World Peace in today's world is impossible, despite all our most beloved wishes, there is still a long way to go. Cultural differences -including religion- and economic interests are the biggest obstacles to understand and care for each other. Now more than ever globalization and ICTs facilitate access to information -which favors the cultural understanding, and it may be the accelerator for the world peace we crave for. But still, economic interests will remain as a huge challenge to beat… Jessi Shaw, Dancer, Jamaica I doubt there can be world peace because the human race seems to be victims of greed. We are always fighting each other; constantly competing for dominance whether it be economically, politically, socially, etc. We are not fans of harmony because money and power seems so much more satisfying. Kai Watson, Painter, Jamaica I'd say no. Because good and bad or war and peace are the balance of one another. T...