On November 15th 2009 the story of 60 young people began to be rewritten.

That was the first time I (Italo Ribeiro) left Brazil. Actually, that was also the first time I left my city. A mix of fears and excitement took forward of my body and I just couldn’t control that. I was supposed to meet my Changemaker Brother (David Riveros – Paraguay) at Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo, then I was pretty anxious for getting there. My flight took about 3 hours to get in São Paulo, then I had to wait for more 3 or 4 hours until the boarding time. Guarulhos is a too big, so I walked for a long time until I found the right gate. I waited for David and it seemed like he would be late. BUT after some hours he came and gave me a hug. We became friends quickly and started talking about several subjects. Surprisingly, David’s Portuguese is almost perfect (In contrast with my Spanish). We complained about an earache that was killing us.

Unfortunately, our seats weren’t close and we just couldn’t talk during the flight. My first international flight, words could barely describe how I felt at that moment. By the way, I’ve never thought how the clouds are so perfect personally.

We had no idea about what was waiting for us. Sincerely, the concept of "Global Changemaker" was instigating for us, at the same time, fascinating. We knew that we were about to get into an unforgettable and rewarding experience which would shake our structures through a way never observed before.

When we arrived at Heathrow airport, we looked around for our suitcases and then we found the British Council Driver, who was waiting for us outside. We also met Stefan Nikolic, another Global Changemaker from Serbia. We talked for some minutes until we met João Brites, a Global Changemaker from Portugal. We came to Uplands (The most perfect hotel ever) together and we had our first contact with social activism after we arrived in London because we shared some of our activities. That was really funny.

I was fascinated with London. The architecture, weather and everything was so different from Brazil as well as so new for me. We could see the difference between the developed countries and the developing countries. That’s interesting.

After about 30 minutes the driver said: Finally here! Oh My God, I got really nervous. We were about to meet the other Global Changemakers, the peer facilitators and we would be introduced to the world as Social Activists. I got amazed with that place! What a perfect hotel!

HAHAHA, we met Louise (British Council Projects Manager, Global Changemakers' Mother), the Peer Facilitators (Scott - UK, Alanda - Indonesia, Ellie - UK, Els - Namibia, Helen - Iraq, Ibrahim - Yemen, Mohammed - Gambia, Zuhal - Iraq and Jason)and the rest of the British Council Team.

We gained our bedroom keys and some information of how proceed during the Summit. I went to my bedroom to take a shower because I was really tired and hiddeous.

We gained our bedroom keys and some information of how proceed during the Summit. I went to my bedroom to take a shower because I was really tired and hiddeous.

David began to work on his wall with the pictures of his social works. He's very creative. After I took a shower I worked on mine too. I put on a Brazilian t-shirt, haha my national passion. Finally we met the other Global Changemakers. I've never seen such a praiseworthy manifestation of social activism. To be fair, world seemed so small there.  Americans, Africans, Asians, etc... Everybody was getting so along. Incredible, Inspiring, Outstanding! So... We started telling everyone about our social initiatives by showing pictures of them and sharing our expectations for the Summit. It was pretty nice to discuss in first contact about the oil found in Sierra Leone and American Youth. As I worked on a great video as my presentation I did not print pictures of my activism as that video was supposed to be my main tool. I noticed that it wouldn't be possible to show my video so... I printed some pictures and improvised a wall. That didn't bring the same effect as my video would but that's okay. After we met each other we joined the Dinner (At 19:30). I was in Ibrahim group (Table nº 8) with Zain (Palestine), Viktor (Slovakia), Amanda (Canada), Eugene (Zimabwe), Kanit (Thailand), Lihini (Sri Lanka), Marina (Argentina) and Serene (Nepal). I don't remember in which table my brother David stayed, but I am sure he had a great time!

During the dinner we had the team introduction and talked about funny curiosities of each country. At 20:30 we had a Movie Screening: Age of Stupid (2009), a drama-documentary starring Pete Postlethwaite set in the near future, asking the question: "Why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance"?

I've got to admit that I didn't see that. I was so tired that I went to bed early.

As you all could see, we had just gotten into the Global Youth Summit 2009! That was just the beginning. Do you want to learn more about our participation in that Summit? Keep in touch and see the other episodes.

Thank you very much for reading us!

Posted by Italo Ribeiro Alves - Brazil Global Changemaker