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A Message from our Editor-in-Chief Jasmina Siderovski
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jasmina Siderovski
CEO and Editor-in-Chief at eYs Magazine
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The year that stopped the world!!
There isn’t one of us who will ever forget the year 2020 –
The year that made history for all the wrong reasons. The year that stole our freedom, our normal, our self-confidence, and forced us all to take a break from our routine, business, and dreams. The year that divided us all.
Each of us creates goals—an incentive for a sense of achievement. Amongst the chaos chasing our dreams, our purpose, our passion, and our identity, we find ourselves caught up in the madness for innovation, technology, business, fashion, entertainment, travel, adventure and a never-ending need for self – growth. We are accustomed to life-happens we forgot the real reason we are here on this earth.
History has taught us about the milestones of each Century, events that have shaped our future, and lessons learned along the way. It has enforced change, opportunity and mastered science beyond our comprehension.
We have taken a leaf from the giants of philosophy, our mentors and the heroes along the way. We have made things bigger and better, faster and more economical. We have selfdriving electric cars, social media, Bluetooth and fibre optics have brought the world closer than ever. We are presented with the social and economic challenges for low carbon energy, climate change, sustainability, plastic pollution, deforestation, economic growth, manufacturing, education, gender equality, air pollution, global health, to name a few.
Social changes in the 21st Century have made little change in attitudes and behaviours toward mental illness in low-income countries. ... Poverty levels have increased, cultural differences
even among generations have been widened, and risk for common mental illness among lower socioeconomic groups has skyrocketed.
COVID-19 has taught us how our life perspective changes in a second. A societal encounter with mortality has shaped the transformation of the life of society. And, now it has given
humanity a taste of our own medicine and the real power of nature. Just as we are destroying our natural world, causing the extinction of animal’s nature is fighting back through the pandemic reminding us that as humans, we are also part of this world and not indispensable.
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It has taught us who the real heroes are and the power of connection. Frontline workers, cleaners, couriers, cashiers, sales, volunteers, teachers and more, the pandemic has bonded us all. What we as a society do now is the foundation for the sustainability of life and our lifestyle, the way we operate and conform to a new order. This is an opportunity for reflection to re-evaluate our lives and make the changes for more significant impact in the years we have left. Life is precious, and we need to be grateful for what we have. There are goodness and humanity, even in the darkness, and humans are adaptive, and life is more flexible than we think.
2020 gave us the willpower to fight, to love, to pay it forward and notice what has been under our noses the entire time – THE GIFT TO BE ALIVE!
We are proud to have ended the year on a positive note and celebrate the change-makers who never stopped and continued to change our world. The one’s who kept us humble and honest and our head above water. In this edition, we honour our Top 2020 Not-for-Profit Humanitarian organisations and congratulate them for being loyal to their cause and always placing humanity first. We are delighted to showcase the United Nations Association of Australia (NSW Division) and find out what is the motivation behind their endless hours of contribution and volunteerism for humanity. Our unique feature this season is our extraordinary guest Chrissy Sykes from My Body is My Body, and we celebrate the artists of our time.
A special thank you to the eYs Team for another wonderful year and welcome our new additions, Dr John Harrison, Dr Nasrin Parsian, Marsha Casper Cook and Paula Dunn. I dedicated this edition to the eYs Team because they are the backbone, the heroes and the heart of eYs Magazine.
From all of us, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings in the hope for a fresh start to 2021. May it be the year we make history for all the right reasons and bring some positiveness in our world.
I would like to also on this note thank the World Youth Summit and Lead Like Mandela Forum Hosts, Amb. Hassan Mfouakie and Amb. Ndileka Mandela for honouring me with the opportunity to be a guest keynote speaker in North Cyprus.
On December 5th and 6th, the World Youth Summit NPC in collaboration with Leading Like Mandela and Dr Kalam Smriti International Foundation hosted the first edition of Lead Like Mandela Forum at Acapulco Resort Convention Spa Kyrenia North Cyprus.
Leading Like Mandela is a leadership development program in partnership with the United Nations. It promotes active citizenry and strives to develop transformational leaders that are ethical and principle-centred to contribute to sustainable development.
Thank you to the Honourable Guest Speakers; The President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, H.E Ersin Tatar, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations South Africa, H.E Nardos Bekele-Thomas, and the eldest grandchild and CEO of Thembekile Mandela Foundation - Ms Ndileka Mandela.
It was a very successful summit and an honour to be part of something that impacts the youth of tomorrow.
I would also like to thank the Amb. Dr Ameena Ali from the Federation of International Gender and Human Rights (FIGHR) – USA, for giving me the bestowed honour and a nominee at the Annual Human Rights Prize of Peace Award Ceremony in the category of 2020 Lifetime Achievement/ Living Legacy Award. A magical end to the year no one welcomed.
Jasmina Siderovski
CEO and Editor-in-Chief eYs Magazine
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