Evanston, Il- On Saturday, February 25th, Jeremy (GYPA Founder/Director) and I presented at the International Youth Volunteerism Summit at Northwestern University. The Summit brought together an impressive group of several hundred students from 20 countries and 30 universities to explore "the pitfalls and potentials of international engagement."

We led the Global Service Learning Workshop, where we presented GYPA's program AFRICA: WHATEVER YOU THOUGHT, THINK AGAIN! This program focuses on telling the positive and innovative stories coming out of Africa that transcend the overwhelming negative imaging and stereotyping that we see in mainstream American media. THINK AGAIN! fits into one of our larger goals, which is to fundamentally change the way that Americans think about Africa.

There was a lot of energy in the room, and I think that is partly because other Africa related group at the Summit were asking students to join them in helping to end unspeakable human tragedies and extreme human suffering. It was interesting to have the conversation with our friends from Genocide Intervention Network and Uganda-CAN, who are doing incredible work, about finding the balance between hope and outrage while dealing with African pandemics. It is my belief that the efforts to end suffering in Africa will be bolstered when we recognize that Africans are often times providing innovative solutions to their own problems.

- Josh Goldstein, GYPA Associate Director