Photo: UNICEF Eastern Caribbean
Did you know that Saturday was World Children’s Day? This has been celebrated since 1954, and is all about promoting children’s welfare and building a brighter future. This year’s theme was “A Better Future for Every Child”.
In honour of World Children’s Day, UNICEF invited everyone to meet its Youth Advocates – a select group of young people from all over the world that are taking action to find solutions to common problems, especially those that face young people.
Most Youth Ambassadors fall between the ages of about 17 and 19, but one little girl stood out in particular among this year’s list – she is just 12 years old. What’s more, she’s from right here in the Caribbean, hailing from the island of Barbados. Her name is Maria and she is passionate about the environment. She makes videos that all Caribbean kids can easily relate to.
Without further ado, we present Maria, UNICEF Youth Advocate:
When Maria Marshall saw someone littering once, it moved her to write about it. She took it a step further and made an award-winning short film titled “Little Thoughts on Big Matters”, which addresses reducing, reusing, recycling and repurposing.
Maria also has a YouTube channel of the same name and an Instagram page called “Thoughts Squad by Maria”. She continues to share informative, educational and thought-provoking content on social media. She also has a variety of interests including film, photography, music, art and going to the beach.
Maria has worked with UNICEF on several advocacy initiatives including World Children’s Day 2020 and Activate Talks. She believes that she will be able, in her own way, to fight climate change through educational content.
Ask an adult to help you go to YouTube and check out the channel “Little Thoughts on Big Matters”.
