young people are strong, capable and will create change
by Ethan McInally
My name is Ethan McInally and I am from Glasgow, Govan. I am a #Iwill Ambassador for Scotland campaigning for more youth social action. I started up my own youth led project called “Getting The Message Across” (GTMA) to promote youth social action and to give the chance to young people to take action within their communities on matters close to their hearts. I wanted to show that young people indeed can make change and a difference to their community and to the life of others.
When COVID hit at the start of March and forced our country into a nationwide lockdown, meaning people being asked not to leave their homes, people being asked not to visit loved ones, schools being forced to close and young people being stuck inside not being able to connect with friends face-to-face. We started to see a high level of youths taking their own lives. This was extremely difficult for us to hear and see as this was our peers deeply struggling and feeling they had no one to turn to. The wider community was also struggling with the deaths including their families and friends.
As a peer led group we felt we had to step in and help our community in some way. We started walking the streets in the areas affected by the deaths of young people to engage with the youth to bring them comfort and reassure them that there are people out there willing to listen and ready to support them with any struggles they may face. We wanted to reassure them from young people to young people and spread the message “ITS OK NOT TO BE OK”
I knew we had to do a little more, so we started up or very own G.T.M.A Youth Space. It was a youth club started in an outside space to give young people a place to go during the pandemic. It gave young people a chance to get out the house, clear their minds and also have the chance to talk to our youth work team which was made up of workers from GTMA & Govan Youth Information Project–(Who also do outstanding work with young people and always putting them at the heart of their work, giving them a platform for their voices to be heard) about any worries they had on their minds.
They also got the chance to have a game of football and kick about with their mates and to create new friendship with young people from different areas creating one big youth force were they can all stick by and support one another. We had over 100 young people sign up for this club and an average of 30 young people attending each session.
We kept a careful eye on Government restrictions and adhered to the guidance including having a robust track & trace procedure. I also completed a COVID -19 online training course to ensure the sessions ran smoothly.
During the pandemic I also supported Govan Youth Information Project to hand out packed lunches to young people in our community for 16 weeks. We distributed 8400 packed lunches including a host of other things such as sanitary products, Easter Eggs, and Arts & Craft packs.
The reason why I done this throughout this pandemic was to give back to my community at a time when we all needed each other more than ever. To come together as one, to support each other in dark times in the hope of seeing that light at the end of the tunnel sooner rather than later.
I think what Scotland could learn from this is listen to our youth more, give us more opportunities to show our abilities and what we are capable of and can achieve. To the young people who stepped in as student doctors and nurses, young carers and helped in shop floors and in foodbank a massive well done to you all. Youth social action is the way forward and young people taking action on matters important to them to show we are strong, we are capable and we will create change.