Leading with hope
Lucía Landaverde, youth leader
"Being a leader is knowing that all people should be treated equally, without any preference, is someone who teaches with patience, respect, and has an appreciation for other young people".
Lucia is a strong girl with a noble heart, she likes to help, focuses on details and wants to do good to other people, she's a leader, a person willing to help, she has many talents that she would like to share.
When she was in sixth grade, she was not very outgoing. She liked taking care of plants, but she was most passionate about taking care of cats. She participated in some activities.
“I remember that when I was 15 years old, I played soccer, I was in a team in my community, I used to share more with young people. One of my passions was growing and caring for plants, so I spent time investigating their properties, the differences, and similarities of the plants".
She then stopped studying for four years, always with the dream to continue. In 2020 she was able to graduate from 9th grade.
The biggest and most significant change in her youth journey in SERES is when she participated in Catalyzers, a 6-day residential program, “It was a wonderful experience that transforms lives, now I can listen with the intention and support in conflict resolutions. My leadership style changed, now I lead WITH the youth, I am there doing the activities, feeling that I can support them to achieve goals is something gratifying ”.
"The fear of what they will say has been the greatest challenge in my leadership process as a woman, but staying motivated has been a fundamental part of carrying out positive activities and actions, it has also been essential to focus when I set goals"
Lucia is always learning something new, she motivates the young people of her community, giving them the confidence to show their talents.
She would like to be surrounded by forest and feel that she has been part of creating these spaces, that would be her grain of sand, in these types of spaces she is inspired to write her poems. Among her plans for her future is to write a motivational book, to tell from her experience so that other young people are inspired.
"I see a hope for transformation in the community and that is that more people become aware of caring for the environment, protecting our mother earth".
Lucia wants to see a generation of young leaders who can visualize the good and beautiful in life, the wonders that can be achieved by moving forward, and the changes we can make by taking care of our planet. She also wants to live on a planet where companies have better social and environmental responsibility programs.
Mary Alas,
El Salvador, facilitator
