- The Guardian, Tuesday 12 June 2007
How can you make a difference to global politics if you're only 14? Win a place at the Junior 8 (J8) summit held in parallel with the G8 summit, of course. A group of eight British students, from Sir John Lawes school in Hertfordshire and Aylesbury high school in Buckinghamshire, spent last week in Germany, discussing HIV/Aids, economic development in Africa and climate change - and firing questions at Angela Merkel.
Ellen McCloy Smith, 14, found it an eye-opening experience: "It was really interesting meeting Angela Merkel - it's the first time I've come that close to a politician. There were questions about education, climate change and the other main issues. Most of the time we were reassured by her answers, but sometimes the meaning got lost a bit in translation."
Abbie Banczyk-Sturgeon, 14, is particularly interested in what the G8 leaders are going to do about education. In March, her team flew to Africa to make a film with four Kenyan students about the importance of education to the people of Kibera, the second largest slum in the world. "We made a short video about education and why it is so important to people there. We went to the school and spoke to other students," she says, "and some of what we saw was quite shocking. There was a six-year-old girl with Aids, which was very upsetting. But it also showed us that we have so much compared with them. It's made us a lot more grateful for what we've got."
The J8 summit, organised by Unicef and Morgan Stanley and now in its fourth year, brings together 64 children aged 13 to 17 from the eight summit countries, to mirror the G8. Ellen McCloy Smith reckons ensuring children are represented is essential. "We will inherit the world from these leaders, so it's really important that we have a say in what happens, and that our suggestions are listened to," she says. "We also live in this world and we think it should be looked after so that everybody can enjoy it."
And Abbie Banczyk-Sturgeon remains positive that change is possible. "From what I've seen, Angela Merkel was very interested," she says, "and if all the leaders listen as much as she did then hopefully we will get quite a good result."
