By Iminza Keboge
Published March 17, 2021
Faysal Islam of Bangladesh has been declared winner of the 2021 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year Award for providing low-cost ambulances and medical care to rural people.
Islam, who dedicated the award to his parents, said the motivation for his project that offers low-cost ambulances and medical care and has already served an estimated 1000 people, had been inspired by the death of his best friend who had died in a road accident due to the unavailability of an ambulance.
RELATED: Inventors and Innovators Receive Commonwealth Awards for Development
“This recognition will help my project grow even more and serve more people,” Islam, who also won the regional award for Asia, said as he received the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year Award that comes with £5 000.
The Commonwealth Secretariat said the winners had been chosen from more than 1 000 entries received from 43 Commonwealth countries. Each regional winner received £3 000 for their projects that were said to be transforming lives in their communities and helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Organization.
RELATED: Why Sport Should Be Rooted in National Policy and Planning
The five regional award winners were:
- Africa: Jeremiah Thoronka, Sierra Leone, for producing affordable and clean power for local communities using an innovative method
- Asia: Faysal Islam, Bangladesh, for providing low-cost ambulances and medical care to rural people
- Caribbean: Bevon Chadel Charles, Grenada, for creating climate-smart farms across the Caribbean
- Europe and Canada: Siena Castellon, United Kingdom, for convincing schools to change how they perceive autistic students, and
- Pacific: Maselina Iuta, Samoa, for advocating for the rights and opportunities for people with hearing-impairments.
RELATED: Serviced Workspace Takes Root in Kenya
Sierra Leone’s Jeremiah Thoronka whose company harnesses solar energy to create clean and affordable energy for local communities,dedicated his award to ‘single mothers and people living with energy poverty’ who he said “have no option but to use wood for energy. I stand with them and I look forward to how we can collectively address this issue.”
Thoronka’s company is reported to have ‘powered more than 150 households and 15 schools, and has reached 10,000 people in his country’.
RELATED:Kenya Tourism and Travel Operators Issue Update
“It is an honour to be selected among the brilliant youth leaders from across the Commonwealth,” Grenada’s Bevon Chadel Charles, whose organisation builds self-sustainable farms spread over 100 acres and provides fresh vegetables and fruits to in-person and online customers, said in her award acceptance speech. “We have a substantial amount of food being imported to Grenada, which could be produced locally. It is one of our missions to reduce our national import dependence while creating sustainable farms throughout the region.”
RELATED: South African Wins Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry
While Britain’s Siena Castellon has founded ‘Neurodiversity Celebration Week’ which influences schools and colleges to change the way they perceive students with autism and learning differences, Samoa’s Maselina Iuta is a founding member of an association which advocates for inclusive opportunities, policies and legislation for people with hearing impairments.
During the 2021 Commonwealth Youth Awards ceremony that was held virtually from Marlborough House in London and live-streamed on Facebook and aired in partnership with media outlets such as the South African Broadcasting Corporation, Caribbean Media Corporation, Fijian Broadcasting Corporation and News Bangla 24 on March 10, 2021, ten young people from ten countries were also recognised as ‘COVID-19 Heroes’ for their efforts in addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic in their communities.
RELATED: Australian Book Celebrates Lola Kenya Screen
“With 60 per cent of the combined population of the Commonwealth under the age of 30,” said Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, “these awards are a vitally important expression of our collective commitment to young people.”
