As part of Unite’s commitment to educating and empowering marginalized, at-risk youth, we recently launched a guest-speaker platform called The Unite Passion Project. The goals of the project are to expose our Unite Scholars and young people across East Africa to a wide array of perspectives and activities and to showcase ways that various ideas and talents can be translated into meaningful, impactful, and rewarding work and careers.
To date we have received more than 50 video submissions (and are awaiting dozens more) from professionals, students, and change makers around the world covering a wide range of topics from medicine, music, education, leadership, finance and the arts to acting, branding, business, science, entrepreneurship, and more. To watch any one of these passion videos and learn more about what makes these extraordinary people tick, visit Unitepassionproject.org and subscribe to our Unite Passion Project Youtube channel.
Above, a few of our recent Passion Project contributors who include ambassadors, doctors, artists, heads of school, teachers and professors, scientists, film makers, writers, editors, entrepreneurs, and others from around the world who have personal passions to discuss and share. We are most grateful for their participation and support.
Why?
Oftentimes when you ask Unite Scholars or teenagers in rural under-resourced towns or villages what they would like to do with their lives, their response will be the same: “To become a doctor, pilot, or engineer.” This may be, in part, because they are driven by a love of medicine, aviation, and science. However, oftentimes, it is because they know of nothing else to dream.
THIS IS WHERE THE UNITE PASSION PROJECT COMES IN.
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Unite is now partnering with a number of higher secondary schools across Tanzania to launch Unite Student Clubs, which are focusing, in part, on watching and discussing our Unite Passion Project videos. Each club will watch one to three videos per week and then spend time in break-out group sharing insights and ideas.
We will reach more than 1,000 students through our Unite Clubs by the end of 2020.
Students in our Unite Club at Same Boys School gather for the club’s kick-off event on September 1, 2020.
Unite Club students at Same Boys watch a passion video by Dr. Morton Shapiro, President of Northwestern University, on September 1, 2020.
To learn more or to contribute a passion video, email Lila@unitepssionproject.org.
In this time of widespread turmoil, fear, and suffering, we can—and must—focus on what brings joy. By sharing what feeds our spirits and ignites our minds, bodies, and souls, we can authentically connect with one another — across borders seen and unseen. And when we can unite as human beings on Planet Earth, we can and will create a more compassionate, equitable, just, and balanced world.
LEARN MORE AT Unitepassionproject.org.
Subscribe to our Unite Passion Project Youtube Channel HERE.