Hello Steemit! I'm Jennifer from Venezuela, I'm 19 years old and I'm so glad to be joining the community. I believe it's amazing to have an space to share yourself, your thoughts and maybe contributing with a positive message. I know a lot of you can relate to the anxiety of the first post, about not knowing what to write about or how to even start! I think writing is the best therapy there is. You won't know until you try.  

I believe that when it comes to knowing somebody, the titles, the goals and the accomplishments are not as important as the reasons why they did that, or why they chose that path. Once I read a phrase that said "The most interesting part of the story is always the struggle" I'm fascinated with the way people face bad times in their lives, it gives you a true vision of who they are, and suddenly you know their story so you can understand them, and not just to know.  

A CHANGING REALITY...

Back then when I was a little girl in Venezuela, the adults and older people always used to say to my cousins and me "Oh you kids have it all too easy now. When I was your age times where different, I didn't have the things you have now" and that made us feel grateful and like a priviledge generation. We could see the future just going uphill for everybody.  And then that changed really really hardly, now all we can hear is "I feel sorry for you guys, this youth generation is growing up facing situations we have never had to see before". Now they are the lucky ones.  

You know how we are all used to hear "Kids are the future. We must educate and guide them" And now, there are all this unmotivated, exhausted, drowned people talking about how the young ones have no future anymore in Venezuela, how the country is going downhill, how everyone who can is running away to other countries looking for better lives, separating families and long close friendships. Leaving everything because it feels like everything has already left.  

STARTING A NONPROFIT 

Something I can't stand, is being a person to feel sorry about. I believe in a brighter future, I accept that the struggle and tought times hitting rock bottom are part of the story of your life, but not the whole story.  And as a young person, I feel like it is my responsability to do something however I can, because even if it's little it's a lot.  

I didn't mean to start a nonprofit on purpose, but God has greater plans for us than we can think of. A year ago, I went visiting Buena Vista, a beautiful small and almost forget town near my city with some friends and my parents, and in the house where we arrived, everyone was speaking ill about the government, how dissapointed they were and how even the only public school there was it was completely abandoned... I was just listening and feeling heavy about their situation, but something made a click on me when someone said "The most difficult part of all of this is that people around here don't have much money, what they have is so  they can afford some food, barely. They cannot afford to buy books, notebooks... it's too expensive. If they buy the uniform, they won't buy the books. The town hall should give them books but no they don't"

When hearing this the only thing that came to my mind was "Well if they don't do it, we will". As soon as I got home, I made an inventary of all my old school books I had in home, they were 33 books, and then I started texting my friends telling them what I heard and what I wanted to do, they felt the spark inmediatly and along with me, started colecting books and telling everyone. After three months, 13 friends and me collected 350 books and created a Library in Buena Vista's Public School. They asked us to preach some words in the school to inspire other kids to take action too for their town, their school or their homes, and even their lives. At the end of the day the asked us if we were an organization, saying that we needed to be one, because not everybody has this kind of motivation to act. That's how JOVENES POR VENEZUELA 12.02  was born and now I'm the President. How cool is that.   

YOUTH FOR VENEZUELA 12.02 FOUNDATION 

We have been doing all kinds of activities, from visiting and recreating kids in shelter houses, donating, creating artistic murals in schools, making conferences and speaking to other young ones. We donated books and created a second library in a school here in my city, along with my college donated chairs and tables to other school... And so we are growing up, preparing ourselves... because what we do is important. People are not alone. And they can believe in us, the youth, and God, the hope and salvation. 

I choose everyday not to be an spectator of  the crisis, the hungry, the poverty, the hopeless... Yes I say that we the youth and the older ones do have a future here in Venezuela, and it consist in rebuilding our country back up again, starting with remembering that we are brothers and sisters. Theres this fact thats coming to my head all the time saying:  "how many times a person was in bed ill, unable to afford or find the medicine that needed, and their neighbour had it in their house".  

I'm sorry if it's too long, and there are soooo many things left to share. But I want to read about you, to know you too. I'll keep posting because I really liked doing this one! About Venezuela, about me and the crazy stories of unexpected projects that we made and how that changed our lives too.