believe it or not, this year marks my first time being registered to vote, and will be casting my ballot

You might think I was lazy or disinterested in politics.. but let’s talk the barriers that young people face to voting ⬇️

#NRVD #GiveAnX

For me, growing up was really tough.

I grew up in a domestic violence household.

Politics wasn’t discussed around the dinner table because we didn’t even have a dinner table!

I wasn’t engaged in politics because I was in survival mode and my thoughts were “am I safe today?”

The environment I was victim and captive to completely consumed my energy and degraded my mental and physical well being.

I didn’t know my rights as a child, knowing that I should be free from harm, let alone what democracy or active citizenship was.

It was only when I became estranged and had the support of #YouthWork that I started to understand my rights and what happened growing up was wrong..

Finally I started to advocate for my rights and campaign on issues that matter to me and other young people.