Julia Naw Founder of Youn Sone: 7 years ago, I dreamed of being a designer doing business that can help young people, just like me.
For what?
Young people in my country are looking for jobs, earning money, but the problem is that we want to work in big companies that are actually destroying our mother earth. We poor people struggle to earn money but we don’t care about the environment and we have contributed to destroying the earth without even knowing it. For example, many work in the mining industry or in companies that lack ethics. At the same time, women have fewer opportunities for education and employment. They are even more marginalized. Many migrate illegally to work and work in dangerous jobs and are even trafficked as wives and sex workers abroad.
In the search for a better life, we have also lost our culture and tradition to modernization and so-called “development” which are causing climate change.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THE POOR POORER.
How did I start Youn Sone?
I am part of an international movement known as Fondacio that aims to build a more humane and just world. The training I received at Fondacio helped me realize my dream.
This gave me the courage to start a social enterprise around sustainable fashion that can provide better livelihood opportunities for young people, especially women. I started training myself and others in basic tailoring and sewing. I work with young people and many others to create Youn Sone.
Youn Sone means colorful in Burmese language. This name shows the diversity of different cultures, ethnic groups, ages and religions and backgrounds of people to create synergy and have a meaningful life together.
Youn Sone's goal is to provide young people with the skills to become self-reliant without destroying culture, tradition and mother earth.
We seek to develop income for people by producing sustainable fashion products that we sell locally and in Europe.
Through the Youth Leadership and Development Centre, I also became a trainer for other young people in the development of income-generating projects focused on sustainable development and business.
This helps to raise awareness about the effects of climate change. Today, our youth are starting to take responsibility and become creative in finding solutions that promote Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon that can lead to Zero Poverty. In turn, they are creating new things from old things such as recycled plastics and fabrics.
I strongly believe that in order to care for the environment, I must return to my roots as an indigenous person, learning from the wisdom of indigenous peoples, where our culture and traditions live in harmony with nature.
Thus, Youn Sone products are developed with the aim of bridging the gap between rich and poor, modern and traditional, AND most importantly, people and the environment‼
Let us join hands and commit ourselves as young people to take care of our Mother Earth.
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