源自恒星英语网，翻译详见原网https://m.hxen.com/englishlistening/rumen/huanqiu/2019-12-04/528176.html
Encouraging Stories fromYoung People
来自年轻人的励志故事
Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight. I'm Joshua Leo.
AndI'm Rebekah Schipper.
Spotlight believes that young people are the future. They willbe future leaders. They will be teachers, doctors, lawyers, business people,mothers, and fathers. So, Spotlight likes to encourage young people to be theirbest. Spotlight likes to challenge young people to help make the world a betterplace.
So,today's Spotlight is on four [4] young people who are changing theircommunities for the better. Their stories can encourage everyone, both youngpeople and adults. Anyone can make a difference in his community.
Spotlight has taken each of the stories today from Unicef's voices of Youth website. Unicef is part ofthe United Nations. Unicef serves children and young people.
"Now we are small, but when we grow up then we can teach our little, the younger generation, to understand what is good and whatis bad."
Thisis Shamima from Bangladesh. She is seventeen years old. She teaches peopleliving in her community about safe water. Many people living near Shamima donot have toilets or latrines in their homes. They do not have a clean supply ofdrinking water. And there is a lot of waste in the river where people collecttheir water. Many people are sick in Shamima's community because of the badwater situation. But, Shamima plans to change that.
Shamima visits many homes. She carries with her a simple set of directions anda picture that she made herself. The picture has two sides. Shamima calls oneside "good" and the other side "bad". She shows people herpicture and explains what a healthy community looks like. She makes sure eachfamily is drinking safe water from the well. She also teaches them methods tomake drinking water safe. She asks if they are using toilets or latrines. Shetells them where to throw their waste. And she teaches them the importance ofwashing their hands before eating or preparing food. Shamima is improving thebad water situation in her community.
"I am the one who has hands and feet and mind. And AIDS is only somethingthat is inside my blood. So it will try to rule the inside. But outside I willbe the boss. I will be in control."
Thisis Thembi. She is nineteen years old and lives in South Africa. She is veryyoung, but Thembi has AIDS. She is one of the five million people living withAIDS in South Africa. AIDS is a big problem that affects many young people inSouth Africa and all over the world.
Unicef's voices of Youth asked Thembi to record partsof her life. She agreed. And Unicef made a radio program about Thembi'sexperiences. People in many parts of the world heard Thembi's story.
Yousee, Thembi wants other young people to know what it is like to have AIDS. Shewants to tell them about the risks of having sex without using the protectionof a condom.
Thembi has experienced many hard times in the last few years. And she hasrecorded many of those hard situations. While recording, Thembi tells herfather for the first time that she has AIDS. It was a very hard thing forThembi to do. She also records herself after a time when she was very ill. Shesays,
"My face was becoming like bones. I could not walk. Everything that washappening I thought would never happen to me. I just wanted to sit home andhide."Manypeople do not understand the AIDS disease. They fear it. And they fear thepeople who have it. It can be dangerous for people who have AIDS in Thembi'scommunity. She said,
"People talk. People point. Sometimes if people hear that you have AIDSthey will burn your house down, so that you cannot stay there anymore."
Thembi hopes that other people can learn from her experience with AIDS. Shehopes people can remain healthy. And she hopes that more people will understandmore about the AIDS disease. She hopes that violence against people with AIDSwill stop. Thembi says,
"I think when people hear something that is coming naturally from someone;that is personal. It is better than reading it. It affects people and someonemay change his mind."
Thembi is teaching the world about what it means to live with AIDS.
"We talked with some young people. We asked them questions. Some younggirls have been forced to have sex. The rebels are fighting them. So, they havelost their parents. They are living in the camps. They have spent like eighteenyears in the camps."
Thisis twenty year old Edward and twenty-one year old Stephen. They live in centralUganda. Rebel armies are fighting to the north of them. Many innocent peoplesuffer in northern Uganda. In fact, the rebels sometimes steal children. Theyforce the children to fight in their army. Many of the rebel soldiers forceyoung girls to have sex with them.
Toavoid being captured, children often walk many miles a day. They walk to a safepart of town. They sleep there. Then they walk home in the morning. It is a badsituation for the people living in Northern Uganda.
Edward and Stephen visited Northern Uganda. They have experienced the violenceand fear. They offer their time to an organization called GEMS, or GirlsEducation Movement. They encourage the importance of education for girls inUganda.
Edward and Stephen live in a safer part of Uganda. It is easy for them toforget about the young people in Northern Uganda. It is easy for them to forgetthe fear. But, they do not want to forget. They want to remember. And they wantto share about the problems of Uganda with other people. They want to be the voices for people who have no voice. Edward said,
"It is as if we are two countries within one country. The people in thenorth are suffering. And the people in other places are enjoying."Edward and Stephen care about the suffering of others.
Ending suffering takes courage. The stories we heard today were of fourcourageous young people. Each of them is trying to end suffering in theircommunity. They realize that there is an unfair balance between those who enjoymuch and those who suffer much. Many more people around them are suffering.
Weall live in lands where suffering exists. We cannot end suffering alone. Butworking together we can help to lessen the suffering in our communities. Lettoday’sstories encourage you.
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