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Hello, good morning everyone, I am AntÃa.
I come from a small town in the province of Ourense
as Antonella said,
and I am here at TEDxYouth to tell you about my passion.
I am passionate about living in my village, Escuderos,
but also about doing everything in my power
to make life in society possible there.
And to revive a little all those villages in Galicia
which are almost forsaken and dead.
I think I'm the right person to be here now,
to introduce you that reality
that only a few people really know but it's there, it exists.
And what really pushes me to strike a chord in you,
and make you realize that we might be
the reality of a minority, but we do exist.
We are there, and our life is as normal as anyone's.
Well, I have decided to call my passion...
I called my passion "A reality in minority"
because I think it's a reality
that villages with less than 5,000 inhabitants
become less important,
sinking into a fourth or even a tenth level.
Well, I have some current data from Galicia,
not very encouraging, but true.
There are 1,500 uninhabited villages, the so-called ghost villages.
Nobody lives there anymore.
And another 10,000 will very likely join the aforementioned 1,500
with less than 10 inhabitants.
Well, I think we should try to avoid this,
because when we lose a village,
we also lose part of our cultural richness.
I live in a rural zone,
and I personally live this particular situation.
We are less than 50 people in the village where I come from.
and I am aware -- as all of you are --
of how necessary team work is.
Sometimes, nothing can be achieved without team work.
We, as a group, can achieve great things.
For example, our annual festivities, here is a picture of one of them.
These festivities entail the gathering of the community,
in which we work together,
but not only the 50 of us that live permanently in the village
but also outsiders who get involved and give us a bit of their work too.
I also wanted to tell you that these festivities
mark the end of a period that should be talked about
and the beginning of another that is already being discussed,
because the year isn't just divided into months and seasons,
but also in community meetings.
As a group we also carry out initiatives to bring life to rural areas
so that at least during the holidays they become lively.
Life in a community is very important.
The problem in my and in many others Galician towns is the lack of people.
With more than 7 billion people living in the world today,
and this number is increasing every day,
in rural areas, population isn't growing.
In my town we face this problem as I already told you.
I am the youngest person there, and I am 16 years old.
Then we go to people in their twenties. Aged 20 to 26, there are only 3 people
carrying out their main work activity in the area.
Then there is an enormous gap to 40-year-olds
Aged 40 to 60, there are several couples;
but the largest portion of the population
are actually the 25 people who are over 70.
With this data I've just given you, it's not that hard to imagine
a town consumed by abandonment and suffocation.
But that is why I am here today,
to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way.
It's the image that most people have, but I, living in a rural area,
have never been denied
the possibility of participating in many activities.
It's possible that you'll need help from your parents,
especially to get around because roads aren't that great,
but everything is really possible, it just requires work.
No pain, no gain, right?
Our lifestyle is structured differently
It is true that some initiatives that are presented today as innovations
have always been part of our own lifestyle.
For example, the time bank I'm showing you here.
The activities related to agriculture have always been done between neighbors
through borrowing and lending time.
This is work that requires more strength and more people
it has always been done through a time bank.
Another word I would like to emphasize is "socialize".
How significant is that word for us nowadays?
I'm sure that 98% of the people in this room
have a social network account.
But everyday we use the word "socialize" each day with lesser meaning.
We forget its true meaning, which is talking to people.
In relation to socialize, and also with social networks
I would like to bring to the table
the topics of information technology and internet access.
Unfortunately in rural zones, total internet access is still utopic.
In most of the cases the excuses are the aged population
or the lack of resources, ignoring the existence of people my age
as well as the right of the elderly
to access this kind of technology.
My grandmother, here with me in this picture,
used to be a seamstress and she still is,
because that is her passion, and she gets ideas from the internet.
There are many elderly people that take technology courses
and they take courses to advance themselves and to learn things.
Therefore, those people have the same right as all of us
to access these types of technologies.
I believe it is completely possible.
Total internet access in the rural areas,
besides helping make the population grow,
would help improve everything.
In fact, the internet is a work tool for
many of you. And it is something you use daily.
Well, the virtual union through the internet might as well help us
overcome the barriers of geographic dispersion
But there are people that think like me,
my parents chose this lifestyle for me.
And I argue that this way of living is totally possible.
These people develop initiatives, they are social entrepreneurs
in the media and in rural areas
and the initiatives we must put forward are the intergenerational associations
in which you get involved not only with people your age,
but also with people of different ages.
Because everyone is invited to share their knowledge and to learn from us.
That's where we carry out many activities, as I have told you.
Related to reading as well as theater for children and the elderly,
it's open to a wide range of ages.
Furthermore, our culture is also represented outside our community.
Another example is the theatre for the elderly,
another club in my village, and they perform one play each year.
But it faces the eternal dilemma of the lack of people.
It is a real problem, many times they can't perform the play
because they don't have enough people to perform it.
I help them every time I can but since it is for older people, it is very limited.
I have to say there is a lot of work to do.
Of course rural areas aren't closed to any type of new initiative.
Resources are there just for exploitation.
Community work is something we have to learn
and of course it is possible, I believe so,
and I invite you all, for once in your life
decide to go on vacation to a rural area, or at least go there to know it
because there are many people that don't know what it is,
and it is a reality even when it is a minority.
I can tell you how proud I feel of having grown up in my village
and I argue that living is possible, even when days appear hard,
there is always something that motivates you and tells you:
"You have to keep going, if you are the only one, at least keep going!"
And then tell you that getting in direct contact with nature
as with many different generations,
I think has made me more aware of the environment
and more tolerant to different points of view in relation to their ages.
I believe it is very important,
of course you have to show respect to be respected.
To conclude, I want to tell you,
citing an old advertising slogan:
Adopt a nice little village,
because there are a lot of wonderful places
with a lot of marvelous people waiting for you.
Thank you very much, I hope you liked it.
(Applause)