She was the youngest participant at an international conference. She had set off on her own on behalf of her organisation and was experiencing such an international meeting for the first time. I could sense how stressed she was at certain points. She left the conference room a few times. I kept offering her brief words of encouragement and support. On the last day, we came together for a discussion session. I told her a little about our go4peace network. At lunchtime, we sat together in the dining hall. I let her know how much I appreciated her courage in coming on her own, and I told her about my work with young people on the navi4life project. “It’s amazing that, at your age, you’re still so committed to us as the younger generation. And – to be honest, I hardly know anyone from the older generations who knows and understands me / us so well, and who is so genuinely supportive and empathetic. You know, the way you reached out to everyone here at the conference and made an effort to connect with them really helped me to stay. I don’t know if I would have managed it otherwise.”
