Last fall David Riveros Garcia attended two anti-corruption conferences in Brazil. He facilitated and led sessions on anti-corruption, met the vice president of the World Bank, and advocated his own organization, Youth Change Reaction.
David Riveros Garcia, a junior at Morningside College, has a bit more on his plate than most college students.
David, a native of Paraguay, is an activist who fights against corruption and teaches others how to do the same. When he was 17, he led a major demonstration against administrative corruption in his high school. Leading about 3,000 students, David stood up against Paraguay’s Ministry of Education. It was a huge deal, to say the least. David said he was defamed by the media, persecuted by political parties, and even had death threats made against him. However, from that experience he was noticed by influential international organizations that also sought to fight corruption and injustice around the world.
After graduation, David was named a youth ambassador by the U.S. Embassy, and was made a Global Changemaker by the British Council. From there, the British Council sent him to a multitude of conferences around the world. He attended the World Economic Forum, an extremely prestigious conference where he met the former president of Colombia, the current president of Mexico, and the founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab. He became one of the founders of the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (GYAC), which brought together 50 anti-corruption activists, who now have annual summits. He attended two anti-corruption conferences in Brazil in November 2012. In December, he was asked by the United Nations Development Program to lead a webinar session on anti-corruption.
Though busy traveling to conferences, David is thankful that his professors have accommodated his schedule. David said his experience at Morningside has lent itself well to his work so far. Of his time here, David said he’s learned a lot. “Most of the things I’ve learned I have applied to my work as an activist. You need knowledge to be able to inflict change.”
With a major in international affairs and a double minor in economics and world history, he would like to use what he learns in order to help his country.
“I honestly don’t know how to put it, how much I love my country and how much I want to help it,” he said, “Although I’ve got what people consider outstanding achievements, I really believe that my greatest achievement is to have made the friends I have, for nothing would have been truly possible if it was not for them and my family. “
-Carly Hanson