UQ student crosses borders

At just 17 years of age, UQ Engineering student and 2007 Australian Muslim of the Year, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, already has an impressive list of achievements to her name.

Leader of the Queensland Youth Parliament, a member of the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland and the United Nations Youth Association, and Deputy Chair of the Queensland Youth Council, the determined young student is no stranger to involvement in public affairs.

But despite her ongoing involvement in a range of high-profile organisations and causes, it is one of her newest roles that has Miss Abdel-Magied most excited about making a difference.

In 2007, Miss Abdel-Magied founded Youth Without Borders, an advocacy group that strives to empower youth to work together for the implementation of positive change within their communities.

"Youth Without Borders is a group I initiated in September last year as a result of attending the Asia Pacific Cities Summit," Miss Abdel-Magied said.

"It has a number of objectives, however the main ones revolve around collaborating with different groups in order to create bigger change -- 'project based collaboration'"

The major focus for Youth Without Borders at the moment is launching the Indonesian Mobile Library project.

"Basically, one of our members told us that in her city of Depok, in greater Jakarta, they don't have a public library, and the city has around 1 million people," Miss Abdel-Magied said.

"So we have gotten in contact with the Embassy there who put us in contact with the Centre for Indonesian reform, and they are linking with a number of other organisations."

Originally from Sudan, Miss Abdel-Magied has long had a passion for social issues.

"I remember at a young age always being indignant when I saw social injustices occurring on the news, and could not understand why nothing was being done to correct these issues," she said.

"I have this tendency to feel others' hardship, whether it be physical, mental, social or psychological, I just cannot stand anyone else being in a disadvantaged or unfavorable position.

"So whenever I see someone in that situation, I do anything I can in my power to rectify that."

Further information on Youth Without Borders can be found at its website, youthwithoutborders.com.au.

Media: Miss Abdel-Magied (president@youthwithoutborders.com.au) or Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au)