Post date: Mar 08, 2014 3:5:47 PM
A host of inspirational speakers including Prince Harry, Sir Richard Branson andMalala Yousafzai join the global youth empowerment event, 'We Day UK', at Wembley Arena in London.
LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 7, 2014) (REUTERS) - The inaugural 'We Day UK' event was held on Friday (March 7) atWembley Arena, London.
Participants included Prince Harry, international education activist Malala Yousafzai, actor Clive Owen, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Sir Richard Branson, and musicians Ellie Goulding and Jennifer Hudson, as well as the co-founders of Free The Children, Craig and Marc Kielburger. The event was co-chaired by Holly Branson, daughter of Sir Richard, and Lord Rumi Verjee. Cressida Bonas, girlfriend of Prince Harry, and Harry's cousin Princess Beatrice also made an appearance on the red carpet.12,000 young people from across the United Kingdom, along with their teachers, attended the event.
'We Day' is an initiative of the international charity, Free The Children. In a series of international 'We Days' each year, Craig and Marc Kielburger share a stage with world-renowned leaders and A-list entertainers with the aim of inspiring the young generation to take action. 'We Day UK' state that "We Day is Free The Children's most powerful tool to engage young people in active citizenship, volunteerism and social action."
"We want to show that it's cool and possible to change the world for young people. So we have 12,000 leaders here, along with incredible celebrities, from you know Prince Harry to Malala, from Gary Neville, to Clive Owen, from the cast of Pretty Little Liars, Glee and Harry Potter etc to show these young people that it's cool to make a difference and to challenge to keep doing the amazing work that earned their way in the first place," said charity co-founder Craig Kielburger, to Reuters.
To attend the event, school children had to earn their free tickets by making a commitment to undertake at least one local and one global charitable act of their choice as part of a year long 'We Act' programme.
Prince Harry took to the stage, praising the efforts of the school children in attendance.
"Some people don't think it's cool to help others. Personally, I think it's the coolest thing in the world," he said.
16-year-old Malala Yousafzai, whose foundation the Malala Fund supports the right to education, spoke to the audience about the extreme struggles she once faced just to be able to go to school and reassured the audience that nobody, even her, was perfect.
"I just want to tell you that we have some weaknesses. We all are not perfect. You were expecting me to be very tall, but I'm not. I know we all have some weaknesses but it does not mean that we don't deserve to be special. We all are special. We have some talent," she said.
Later on, it was announced at a press conference that the Malala Fund and Free The Children have formed a multi-year partnership "to raise awareness for the issue of girls' access to education and how youth around the world can stand together and take action."
"When I was in Swat I faced terrorism there and I saw that more than 400 schools were blasted at that time. Girls were banned from going to school. Women were not allowed to go to markets. And I realised that education is something special. It gives women the power to go forward in their lives so I learnt the fact that yes for your bright future and for your dreams to come true you need to be educated and that's why, now, we do this campaign. To speak for the education of every child," Malala said.
When asked about International Women's Day on Saturday (March 8) Malala replied, "I think that every day is Women's Day. But tomorrow you celebrate it just to raise our voices and once again remind people that women want equality. The fact is that yes we will continue this struggle for women's equality, for women's rights, because if half of us are helping then we can never succeed. For this world's success, we all should be treated with equality, with justice and with love and with peace."
The day also featured performances from artists including Grammy award winner,Jennifer Hudson and Brit award winner, Ellie Goulding.
'We Day' is one of the world's largest charitable causes on Facebook with 3.7 million fans and over 1 million Twitter followers. While this is the first 'We Day' event in the UK, past events have been held in the United States and Canada.
Because of 'We Day', it is estimated more than 160,000 youths this year alone will earn their entry into stadium gatherings.