Use Our Skills to Produce Change

Approaching Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent the worlds commitment to deal with global
poverty in its many dimensions in making better world prosperity. This commitment is supported
by a global partnership, which calls for country-led strategies and support from developed
countries in the areas of trade, Official Development Assistance (ODA), debt sustainability and
access to medicine and technologies. MDGs is divide into 8 main worldwide goals that have to
be reached in 2015.

Eight goals of MDGs which are:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality rates
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

There must be a feeling of solidarity, especially in issues concerning the least of our people
around the world. The Millennium Development Goals are eight points that embody our
commitment to the poverty stricken, sick, uneducated, exploited, and minorities of our world. As
collegians who will become next leader of Indonesia in the future, we have to do some
movements to approach that goals.

But in the reality, young people are often characterized as restless individuals who have an
idealistic view of the world. Many of us truly want to see tangible progress in the realm of global
affairs. Nevertheless, despite our idealism and energy, we are easily discouraged by the pervasive
problems that afflict the international community. Sometimes, many of us think that no matter
how hard we try, we can never actually be the agents of change that the world needs. More often
than not, we incorrectly believe that political access is the sole way to affect change and reform.
Many are convinced that because doors of the hallowed halls of power are restricted to the
young, students are powerless to alleviate the countless ills that plague the world today.

I wholeheartedly declare that this is absolutely wrong. As students, we are being trained to use
our knowledge and skills for our self enrichment. We must then convert these skills into the
power to make a difference. We must look beyond ourselves and realize that our education is a
gift that must not be hoarded solely for our own selfish benefit. A lot of young generation of
Indonesia are being educated in the arts, law, medicine, engineering, and countless other fields.
All of these areas of study can effectively be used to help others and make change without
political or governmental support.

Some actions that we can do to give some contribution in MDGs like join kind of non academic
organizations such as SEMAKU, CIMSA, Jari Mulia, or many others. All that organizations will
help us to increase our creativity, self confidence, get a lot of new friends, we can learn how to
become a leader and be responsible in our job. And the most important one is we can help
another person who needs our help. All of these organization have some social activity as the
way to help another people surround us. For examples:
1. Educating people about what exactly HIV, how to avoid and decrease the number of
people who are infected HIV by doing seminar or go to public area and make some social
activities.
2. Go to village area and give short education to the society about what are good and
healthy life, how to avoid child mortality, how to improve the maternal health.
3. Go to elementary school and teach children about how to wash hand, teach them how to
read, write and many other activities.
4. Make kind of international program like International Tropical Medicine Summer School
(ITMSS) to share knowledge about tropical medicine in Indonesia with doctors or
medical students from other countries. In this case undirectly we make global partnership
in developing medical education in Indonesia.

The legal profession is an excellent way of illustrating this potential for service. As is true today,
an attorneys skills and professional expertise are often vital to protect ones self from the
maliciousness of the more powerful people in society. Give our hand to the other people, use our
skills to produce change and bring a brighter future to the world.

Your Choice Your Life, Choose to Enrich Your Life. Find Contemplation in Action

By : We Sagara Dewi / 20120310052