Mary Jionisi, aged 24, Solomon Islands

I have a full life, one filled with goals, challenges, achievements, friends, passion, motivation.

I wake up to a loving family in my parents’ home where I share a room with my two sisters. I walk to work at the Youth Division, Honiara City Council; the work of youth division is the coordination of all youth services and programs within the city for young people. More often than not our electricity is out; perhaps a bill isn’t paid, so the one computer doesn’t work and there is no light. If the power is on I am lucky to share my computer with other teammates and volunteers who come in and out throughout the day.

Each day brings different challenges whether it be registering a youth group for youth division’s database, managing youth volunteers that are assisting the division to plan a youth event or festival and working in partnership with other youth organisations to plan and conduct forums that is seen as an avenue where young people of Honiara discuss, debate, brainstorm on different issues that affect them. Currently I am working on a desk review on the Honiara City Council’s – Urban Youth Policy, a working document that gives directions for City Council on how to address youth issues.

On a visit to the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs I maintain networks and build rapport. Here I am often given a role involved in upcoming national youth projects, either as a taskforce member to review the Solomon Islands national youth policy, or as part of the core committee to plan the quarterly National Youth Stakeholders meeting where youth organisations, NGOs and youth professionals update and inform each other on their work that contribute to some aspects of youth development in the country.

Since my involvement with the Commonwealth I have a clearer picture of what Commonwealth really means. I see the uniqueness of shared consensus amongst different diverse groups of people from different regions of the world on different issues whether it be rotation of leadership, sharing of resources. It has made me realise how decisions can be made fairly through constructive discussions to reach consensus.

It is a colourful, diverse group of people from across different borders with different cultural backgrounds and experiences that interact, share, inform, and assist each other and most importantly the common principle and values that we all share. It’s a culture of sharing regardless of which region you are from; it is where person comes to give and take what is most needed for their respective countries.