By Dustin Niles, Layout Editor
(TEANECK) – Sands of Time is one of FDU’s experiential programs run by adjunct Eli Amdur and Associate Provost Craig Mourton. On Nov. 30, Sands of Time is taking its students across the Hackensack River to Global Young Voices’ first event here on FDU’s Metropolitan Campus.
They are hosting a panel of students titled “Stories from Across Borders,” and is taking place in Wilson Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Topics will include women in the workplace, the status of women in a patriarchal society, women’s roles in countries of economic development, and young women breaking away from sexual grooming. Panelists will be onstage and streamed in, and will consist of students as well as faculty. Students can email questions to eliamdur@aol.com.
Beginning in 2008, Sands of Time has taken FDU students on trips around the New York metropolitan area to events, museums, concerts, speeches and other internationally-focused events. This panel discussion fits well with Global Young Voices, and Associate Provost Mourton isn’t surprised.
“The fact that many of the Global Young Voices are also former/current Sands of Time members weaves all of this together,” Mourton said. “The Sands of Time program is designed to expose the campus community to great ideas and it is very rewarding to see that this program has been developed to feature our own homegrown greatness.”
FDU alumni Edy Semaan and Camilla Curnis founded Global Young Voices in Feb. 2015 during their time here at FDU.
Their organization seeks to “create an international community of millennials who are interested in sharing thoughts and information on what is happening in their respective countries,” according to Curnis.
“We live in an era in which prejudices on other cultures, religions and lifestyles are surging,” Curnis said.
“Individuals tend to judge occurrences and facts through second hand information that is often provided by people who don’t live in that specific country, who haven’t been immersed in that specific culture, and therefore don’t fully fathom it.
“Our goal is to reject this barrier and foster constructive exchanges among the young people of different countries so that we may become more aware about other cultures, lifestyles, religions and ways of doing business.”
The project started out humbly, and was inspired by the diversity that Semaan and Curnis saw in their own friend group.
“During one of our conversations over WhatsApp in early 2015, Camilla proposed that we start a blog where we can fulfill our responsibilities as young ambassadors by representing our countries’ youths and sharing their stories,” Semaan said, “and I welcomed the idea and was excited to start the online project.”
Global Young Voices is a network of millennial journalists from around the world that tell stories and experiences from their own countries. Semaan used the platform to write stories about youth struggles from his home country of Lebanon and Curnis researched the phenomenon of femicide in Italy.
Global Young Voices has grown from two to 45 members representing more than 30 countries and five continents.
“We have gained the sponsorship of large companies and have been recognized by established institutions such as the United Nations, FAF, Global Learning and many other private and public entities,” said Curnis.
