On the 5th of October 2021,

Email came in from Maggie communicating to a number of us about available slots to sign up for an initiative called “Sober Youth Tribe” from Movendi International!

 

 

These slots (according to Maggie’s email) were only available for the next 2 days, for young people that are not older than 30 years of age.

I happen to be just “available” and qualified for application to this tribe I was hearing of, for my very first time!

 

Now, for those that have clicked on these links for a while now acknowledge the fact that these links fail to work sometimes

And this is what happened this time round.

For a while, I clicked, clicked, and re-clicked but alas…my efforts were hitting a dead end.

I would be led to certain pages advertising numerous items but not mentioning any word of the three that I was looking for!

 

Suddenly, my anxiety and dread for these things kicked in…

I rarely apply to most of these links I receive simply because of a bias I hold in me (I know….it’s a whole me, a psychologist talking about things like this…you would expect me to know and do better) hihi…

My mind shut off and decided to try again tomorrow.

 

In the evening, I thought to myself… “I am friends with Maik Dunnbier from Movendi International headquarters; he can surely send me a link that actually works, this time round”.

And that’s how I went for my WhatsApp, immediately I was done with my shower…straight to Maik’s inbox, asking for that link.

 

He pointed me towards the direction of his colleague, Aleksandra Ruminska who coordinates Movendi International’s work with members, who in turn, sent me a very elaborative email about what I am going to sign up for!

I decided to wait until tomorrow, when I was fully alert to work on this entirely!

 

The next day, in the afternoon as I was running errands in town

I was sitted in the parking lot somewhere and remembered this very enticing task I had carried on from the previous day.

It was time….I clicked it and it worked perfectly!

 

Unto the sign-up sheet now

I responded to a number of pre-set questions and one very good item I loved…. ”Why do you want to join the Sober Youth Tribe?”

Questions like this usually have me playing around with so many words and very little conciseness.

Not this time round, though!

 

I was so ready for this ooonnneeeeee….

I cannot exactly recall what I typed in there

But I can remember the passion and conciseness I had in me, that time!

And I couldn’t wait any longer for a response back from the team at Movendi!

 

Call me crazy and all

But I had a different feeling about this one…not good and not bad.

JUST DIFFERENT!

 

The email I was waiting for impatiently came in and found me very fffiiinnneeeee

I HAD BEEN AMONG THE SELECTED 40 APPLICANTS from all over the world, to be part of the Sober Youth Tribe!

That felt so good and new to me…I am so used to running away from such an activity!

 

 

With those congs came the announcement of our first meeting.

And it would be on October, the 12th of 2021…online in a “Dragon’s Den Pitch”. (Wonder what that is? So did I)

That was a good weekend, I must say!

 

Tuesday the 12th came and my mind was hyper-focused on this meeting than anything else!

3PM came and I was all set and off, we were into the meeting.

Of all the faces I saw that day, there was only one I was familiar with, from somewhere….

This face belonged to a person we came to be told, was a Rockefeller!

She would be the one person we would listen to, narrate the issues she has with the alcohol industry and thereafter, come up with viable solutions on how we can solve them…consequently, “exposing the unethical practices of the alcohol industry!”

 

For that to happen as smoothly as possible, we were split up into groups of 4 or 5

Upon which we were supposed to come up with project ideas that we would present to the “jury”.

Initially, we were told that the best idea would win and be implemented; what we had not been told yet was that there was a money prize to it.

What better motivation, right?

 

I landed and ended up in group 5

That had me and Isaac from Uganda as well as Elvira, Mook and Sanatan from Kenya, Thailand and Bangladesh respectively!

 

 

To help us formulate these ideas, we relied on a “puzzle-board” that had a number of cards that could be moved from one position to another indicating a pattern of what could become an idea or not.

Every card was labelled in a particular way with a particular colour scheme and description.

To formulate an idea, you had to “play” or interchange these changes only in the “bottom-up” or “up-bottom” way of movement as you best thought of an idea that came out of that pattern.

 

I managed to write down my pack of ideas, just as I had been instructed.

Did I do well?

I leave that to you, to be the judge.

(Remember we have a common enemy we are fighting)!

 

Back from the break-out sessions,

We had a round of crafting up our ideas…into an idea

Then, we had two more rounds of really polishing that idea for the jury!

 

Tell you what….

Our group emerged the best, according to Ms. Lucinda Rockefeller!

 

She broke to us the news that we had won a cash prize (we won’t disclose here as of now)

And was interested in meeting us, as a group to find ways of implementing our idea!

Which we should do as soon as you read this.

 

This is now really promising than I initially imagined it would be….

A tribe formed literally out of nowhere

A “Sober Youth Tribe”!

 

~ Fingers crossed! ~