IE090 Kaitlin and Cassidy Murray: Youth Power: Leading the Charge for a Hopeful Future (Kids Unite 4 Hope)

Our guests for this week are Kaitlin and Cassidy Murray, humanitarians, activists, speakers, and founders of the non-profit organization “Kids Unite 4 Hope”.

About Kaitlin and Cassidy

Kaitlin and Cassidy are sisters and have been traveling with their family ever since they were kids. On their travels, they’ve developed an amazing bond which is the foundation for most of the work they are doing today. They have visited over 90 countries, exploring and learning by interacting with people from different cultures and listening to their stories.

In 2015, they’ve founded a non-profit called “Kids Unite 4 Hope” as a way of reaching out and helping Syrian refugees. Through volunteering, advocacy, inspiration, and friendship they aim to transform the world and help to empower youth to harness their energy and passion to become dynamic global changemakers. Kaitlin and Cassidy have traveled and shared stories of their journey across the United States, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Egypt, England, Estonia, and Myanmar.

Over the years they’ve created numerous campaigns such as Hope 4 Refugees, Global Girls Unite, and Heal Our Planet to name a few. Their headquarters are in Athens, Greece and they’re always looking for activists and volunteers to join their cause. If you’re interested in contributing, feel free to connect with them using the links below!

Connect with Kaitlin and Cassidy:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kidsunite4hope
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidsunite4hope/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kidsunite4hope 
• Website: https://kidsunite4hope.org/

In This Episode We Canvas:

• Everyone Can Contribute to Changing the World

It’s fascinating to see how Kaitlin’s and Cassidy’s proactive attitude is directly reflected in their organization’s vision and mission. Understanding that you actually can make a difference is an amazing foundation to have if you truly want and intend to do good.

“Everyone can make a difference, no one is left out. Everyone can change the world in their own way wherever they are, through whatever cause they’re passionate about.” - Cassidy Murray

• The Advantages of Youth Activism

As we go through the stories of their humanitarian work with refugees, they provide us with both insight and examples of why youth activism is so important. The relationship that we’re establishing with our teachers shapes the education process and we’re more likely to connect with our peers because we’re joined by the things we have in common.

“We realized we ended up helping the kids more than the actual teachers that came in before us because we were so connected with the youth and because they had fun learning. And they had that emotion attached to that learning so it just stuck in their brains and they loved it!” - Cassidy Murray

• Enabling Empowered Education

The approach Kaitlin and Cassidy are using is based on empowerment. Through some amazing stories about encouraging other youths to express and go after their hopes and dreams, we learn first hand about its importance and educational value.

“They told us their story. And so we got to, almost, help them process it and they got to tell us and share their emotions with us and although it was hard sometimes I think it was also helpful because from there they could say ‘That was my past and now I’m going to build this amazing future!’... We started enabling that a bit and that was amazing! I think that’s a big part of education - it’s the empowerment!” - Kaitlin Murray

• Aspiring Towards Life-Long Learning

Kaitlin and Cassidy have traveled to over 90 countries which is a heroic achievement in itself. But the true inspiration comes from the way they acquire and absorb knowledge through interacting with people coming from different backgrounds and cultures. Their self-made curriculum is truly something to consider in our efforts to establish a practice of life-long learning.

“You don’t have to just have your standard education… You can learn your entire life and keep on learning from different people. Because there are all these opportunities to learn something more in your life.” - Cassidy Murray

• Protecting Yourself from Emotional Burnout

Humanitarian work is inspiring and fulfilling but can get quite overwhelming at times. Both Kaitlin and Cassidy have experienced dips in energy after lengthy periods of volunteering and have drawn lessons from it in order to prevent emotional burnout. It’s all about filling our cup first and their story is an absolutely perfect example.

“We went to that point where we had to step away. And so we had to take our time, just be with ourselves and we went through a lot… We weren’t giving our time taking that time to self-care and replenish our energy. So now we do that… I meditate all the time, just to clear that energy.” - Kaitlin Murray

• Breaking Stereotypes In Your Community

Working with people from other cultures is going to make you more sensitive to the potential stereotypes related to a particular group of people or culture. But the wonderful stories that we gain from multicultural settings about friendship, compassion, and love are truly the best way to dissolve these misconceptions still widely present all over the world. Kaitlin and Cassidy have recognized the need to share their stories in order to reduce cognitive biases still present in today’s society.

“We’re connecting with these people that are labeled in a wrong way and we’re the only ones, let’s say, out of our family or our friend group or our social group that know this so now we feel like we have a responsibility… A lot of that is in sharing the true stories and we’re so grateful that so many times we’ll hear people that after us telling the stories, especially about the Middle East, they’ll be like ‘Thank you so much, I had no idea!’” - Kaitlin Murray

Kaitlin’s and Cassidy’s Message of Inspired Evolution

This conversation filled me with so much hope that I cannot even put it into words! I am completely in awe of their emotional development and if you read some of these quotes out of context I bet you wouldn’t be able to fathom how young they actually are. Which only suggests we can expect an abundance of new stories! Their proactive attitude towards changing the world is breathtaking. If the world keeps gifting us people like them - we have nothing to worry about! 

“No one is unqualified when it comes to serving humanity - Kaitlin and Cassidy Murray

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