As this comes out, ten young and highly talented kids from the most economically challenged areas of the country are basking in well-deserved limelight in Bangkok as the Young Hearts Youth Arts and Media Festival winds down.

It had been a long and eventful journey for the magic ten, a two-year odyssey that began when they, along with over nearly three hundred hopeful others, signed up for Plan Philippines’ Young Hearts project.

The youth underwent training programs and exposure sessions and were soon thrust to production work. Being young, intelligent and adventurous, technology was a breeze to them despite their meager backgrounds.

Their works have been aired on national and local radio and television. Some works have been entered in international derbies, sending notice to the rest of the world that the Filipino has other talents besides singing and dancing.

Plan is a revered children’s development organization working in 66 countries worldwide to improve the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged young people. It operates quietly and independently and hence shuns any political, religious or governmental affiliations. This last characteristic of Plan is the secret of its unparalleled success in many local communities such as Camotes Island in Cebu and the incredibly impoverished Samar provinces.

The Bangkok gig hopes to demonstrate that young people have the ability and creative talent to produce high quality art and media projects. Plan Philippines partnered with Anak TV to harness its youth to maximize the availability of mainstream media opportunities that remain untapped. Kids as young as nine and as ripe as eighteen are now producers of video messages and radio programs on a variety of issues that affect them.

The theme at the Bangkok Young Hearts festival zeroes in on the universal problem of violence in schools. The engagement of youth in media is one serious attempt to empower them to be active participants in combating this epidemic of violence.

The Bangkok festival is the culmination of a series of country-level national youth media campaigns related to the Learn Without Fear crusade spearheaded by Plan. The ten Pinoy youth representatives to Thailand are radio and video amateurs who have created work that even MTRCB Chair Marissa Laguardia and media experts Emily Abrera and CheChe Lazaro found superior During the short festival, the kids interfaced with fellow Young Hearts colleagues in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Thailand and Vietnam. On display at the Siam Discovery Center were comics, posters and visual arts pieces from those countries. The Philippines was hailed for its video works and recognized for its strides in community radio. There were music numbers from the Indonesian and Thai delegations and theater presentations from nearly every delegation.

The Pinoy magic ten made an indelible mark among their new acquaintances, discovering with delight that power was in their hands. They hardly had time to see much of the city nor do any significant shopping. They will however fly back to their communities with much more than souvenirs. They are now more gung ho about the enormous potential of marrying youth and media.