All similar, all individuals.

When a Ugandan, a Finnish and an Ethiopian-American shared a serious moment.

Hi, im Niina Lisma, 22-year-old Finnish girl who enjoys jumping into new things and somehow completely lost her fear of unknown by travelling alone to Uganda september 2010. Journey to Africa started many good things in my life, as a good example it made this project happen now, six months after i returned back home feeling lost and confused about everything I had experienced. What is the most precious thing i brought with me from Uganda? Definitely long-lasting relationships with cool dudes and ladies from Africa and Europe and the whole meaning behind the motto "Each one, teach one" used by amazing Breakdance Project Uganda which I was working with for five indescribable months. In brief this motto means that in life each one of us is a teacher to one another, while each of us is learning from one another. Without depending on our age, sex, profession or cultural background we are all able or even obligated to share what we have learned, but never think that we know everything. There is always more things to learn and we should keep our eyes, ears and mind open wherever we are.

       What always keeps suprising me is this never-ending line of similarities that brings us together around the world. Like Zumba, this american-european fitness-dancehit as-we-speak, that i though has only been spreading around here is now being teched in Uganda by my friend Antonio. Though im not the biggest fan of Zumba(tried it but was not my thing) it has been very succesful form in bringing people together for something good. The YMCA, an organization known for promoting health and positive activities among youth and families organized an international zumba gathering. Result was that over 10 million people participated, in more than 90,000 classes and locations in more than 110 countries. Cool I think.

       One afternoon i spent in Niteo cultural center in Kampala talking and sharing with young students under the age of 15 made me realise similarities between youth even more. Simple moment when boys where giggling while telling me about these cool discos organized by secondary school where they can dance close to girls reminded me of my first dance with a boy in school disco at the age of what, 10 i think. That boy is called Eppu, and he was beating my backbag away to get better hold of me while dancing, cute. What i want to say with this is that we dont go so far from each other, not even across the world. Being young, experiencing the hate towards parents or other older people "who think they know better", trying new exciting things for the very first time and being bored of school is something we are all experiencing or have experienced during adolescence. Or at least its something that we should all have a right to experience. Because when we grow up from that age we have learned from our mistakes and we are ready to take some responsibilities on our own. In some parts of the world this growing up happens earlier, even too early. In Europe, well my opinion is that it happens a little too late. Cause youth have the skills to develop their thinking long before they turn to the age of 15, at least in Finland we just dont need to, parents and other older people will handle it for us if we let that happen.

        Dreaming is something global. Every human being must have dreams and goals to keep on going forward. We all have dreams we wish to come true. Matters not if someone is in the middle of a war-zone, person won't stop dreaming. Cause when we stop, we have nothing to live for, no goals to achieve, no expectations to fulfill. We become indifferent. In a song called Dreamer K'naan says "shout out to the struggler's in my country, the hardest place on earth right now, but I still know how to get down, I still know how to vibe out, I still know how to talk to a pretty girl, take it easy now, yeah".

        What I saw in my ugandan friends, they always dream big. But they also have enormous potential in the way they work aiming towards their goals. And what is most important, they dont wait for someone to come and pick them handing money saying "I believe in you", they believe in who they are, they believe in themselves and thats enough to start working. After some while they'll have people around to help them cause what seems to be something that community based culture leads to.

        I think it somehow correlates, the less u have the more u dream. In Finland we already have many things so what we dream of is mostly more things or travelling to warm country for a vacation. We have free education so we dont have to dream of getting money to study. We have food enough for everybody and even if we dont have money there's government helping us. Most of us have parents or some other adults from family or elswhere taking care of us. So when we are kids we dream of getting more dolls, barbies and toy cars. When we are youngsters we dream of getting a motorbike and new clothes and make ups and being free to do all crazy things. When we turn to 18 we dream of a better iphone or computer or getting a real car. We should be focusing more in goals led by our values. Cause there's more in life than material things and there's more in us. And what we miss here in Europe is caring about people around us, whether they are strangers or friends. But, dreams can be big or small, its not like other dreams are better than others. As long as we hold on to our dreams and stay real.

       We started this project in order to bring youth around the world together to share experiences from different cultures, to tell about immigration, racism and problems that these issues are causing in our countries and to share thoughts about multiculturalism and globalization. We want to create interaction, discussion, real cultural exchange and exchange of opinions. There is enormous potential in youth and we are the ones leading this world in the future. What we start now can create some change for things that are messed up here. Change can be small, but at least it is a change. Thats something I learned from my dear friend Mark Kaweesi, 21-year-old brave, hardworking ugandan who is also working for this project. Thanks for your time, hope u enjoy reading this blog and even become part of it. "Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better" -Martin Luther King Jr. Contact me at any time, niinalisma@gmail.com

Smiles and happiness, Niina