Pen your own story

Sharonice Busch has become a household name in Namibia, particularly on matters concerning learners and students, or the youth at large. She has built the reputation of a trendsetter. Over the years and through her involvement in youth development, many have referred to her as a friend to all and of the many leadership accolades she has collected, the most recent is reason to celebrate: Her victory to serve the youth at Pan Commonwealth level. Born just two days after Namibia’s independence, Sharonice is a starlet in a league of her own and reputable for the fact that she is a ‘born-free.’ She was born and bred in Windhoek but has strong roots from Rehoboth, a town many link to her childhood. In her early school career, she attended about five schools including spending two years in Walvis Bay while being raised by a single mother. Ultimately, she is a product of St Andrews, DHPS, Flamingo Primary School, Walvis Bay High School and Cosmos High School. She then went on to the Polytechnic of Namibia (now transformed to Namibia University of Science and Technology) where she currently is at the Faculty of Business Management. Her involvement with youth work started way back while in school uniform. In Grade 10, she joined the Junior Town Council at the City of Windhoek where together with other young people they got involved with community work. Sharonice then got nominated to the Children’s Parliament as the speaker of the second session. She thereafter joined the Namibia National Students Organisation where she dealt directly with students’ issues - a position where she became even more vocal on youth empowerment. She raised her prominence more recently at the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) held in Malta last month – at the Commonwealth Youth Forum and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC). The CYC is a biennial meeting which brings together youth leaders from across the Commonwealth to exchange ideas and cultures, build networks, identify development issues, challenges and opportunities and agree on youth-led initiatives to mitigate challenges facing young people and create opportunities to enhance young potential. The youth leaders through the CYF made policy recommendations and worked with decision makers and stakeholders to deepen Commonwealth values and development efforts as part of the Commonwealth family. The platform is aimed at primarily providing a platform for young people to set and manage their agenda and contribute to development and democracy work within the Commonwealth. Established in 2013, the CYC is the official representative voice of more than 1.2 billion young people in the Commonwealth. It acts as a coalition of national youth councils and other youth-led civil society and private sector bodies across all the countries of the Commonwealth. At the proceedings, young people from all walks of life battled out their strengths to serve on the youth-led council. After all the candidates presented their vision for a more youth-centred Commonwealth during the election primaries, results are as follows: Chairperson – Kishva Ambigapathy from Malaysia; Vice Chairperson, Policy, Advocacy and Projects - Nikoli Jean-Paul Edwards from Trinidad and Tobago; Vice Chairperson, Partnerships and Resources - Faith Manthi from Kenya; Vice Chairperson, Inclusion and Engagement - Angelique Pouponneau from The Seychelles; Regional Representative, Africa and Europe - Sharonice Davinnia Busch from Namibia; Regional Representative, Asia - Pravin Nikam from India; Regional Representative, Caribbean and the Americas - Sujae Boswell from Jamaica; Regional Representative, Pacific - Christina Giwe from Papua New Guinea and Representative, Special Interest Groups - David Aoneaka Rupa from Papua New Guinea. As regional representative, her duties are to advocate for young people in the region; to promote the CYC through formal and informal networks at regional level; support the work of the CYC in achieving its objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan; to serve as a trustee for the CYC in her region; to plan and conduct regional meetings; to ensure that all the member organisations in the region are involved in the work of the CYC; to represent the council to the national youth organisations, governments, regional bodies, etc.; to promote intra-regional networks with other non-governmental organisations; to work with national youth bodies to expand CYC programmes in the countries in the region; to build a closer relationship with governments, donors, civil society organisations and other stakeholders in the region and others. Sharonice’s victory comes at a time and in a year when young people have been vocal in many areas of Namibian development. And thus, her hit is not only relevant to the big regions she represents but to Namibia firstly. “This is an international recognition for Namibian youth and Namibia as a country where we now have direct influence on global policies affecting and shaping the lives of young people. “We have access and opportunities within the Commonwealth organisation and its networks that we have direct access to help better, expand and improve on youth development in Namibia,” said the young leader. Realising her duty as a regional representative, she called on young Namibian to make use of the opportunity by coming onboard to make her two-year-tenure a success. “Young Namibians can play an essential role in the implementation of the resolutions taken at the just-ended Commonwealth Youth Council General Assembly. Especially the grassroots youth-led organisations and the youth organisations affiliated to the National Youth Council of Namibia. Moreover, through my presence they can be informed of how they can benefit from grants, training or areas of mutual cooperation with sister youth-led organisations or the rest of the Commonwealth initiatives.” She makes it clear that now is the time for young people to hold hands work towards one goal. “Now is the time for youth to hold hands. It is not a Sharonice post but a Namibian seat. If I shine, Namibia shines and when I fail, Namibia fails too.” The vocal and inspiring youth champion advises the youth at large to work hard in order to realise positive and greater things in life. “We live, we learn, we grow. Our only constant in this world is change, be brave enough to welcome it, but also be smart enough to know that only you are the author of your life, so you can dictate how your story will read, no one else,” she concluded. FIKAMENI MATHIAS