He is someone who believes in providing a voice for youths and working for the betterment of the society.
Rocky Kumar, 26, is an energetic and dedicated youth volunteer whose every waking hour is spent helping Service For Peace Fiji.
It's the Fiji branch of an international non-profit body that aims to bring diverse groups of youths together promoting peace, youth advocacy and greater understanding amongst different communities.
"My job at Youth Federation for World Peace (a registered NGO that looks at the urgent concerns of youths of Fiji regarding peace) is to co-ordinate all youth programs that they may have," Rockey says.
"Service for Peace is the crowning jewel of our programs because it involves youth membership, service projects, workshops, training, activities and many more things. I am responsible for co-ordinating and running this program according to international requirements, and looking at issues that our youth members raise in our fortnightly meetings."
Though he has information technology qualifications -- with an IT diploma from Box Hill Institute TAFE in Australia -- Rocky says he prefers working for youth betterment here. "I chose to be in this field of work because I love working with youths for one, and I get to help so many people of my country," says the young man who was born and bred in Suva. He has been a youth member of Service for Peace since late 2007, but didn't start working on full-time until September last year.
Rocky's passion for helping people was given a boost when he worked for the Fiji Council for Social Services -- a job he held prior to joining SFP Fiji.
He says FCOSS executive director Hassan Khan was his pillar of strength. As a youth volunteer, Rocky's top priority is to address the urgent social needs of youths.
"The most exciting thing to see is how much energy these youths have for our country," he says.
"It really drives me that extra mile, and also the power they have to do things and change things, especially when it comes to the barriers issue.
"I feel many adults fail to address the issues affecting youths and in some cases don't want to understand. Many parents are not willing or prepared to accept change, and it is something we are working on at the moment."
Youngest in a family of three boys, Rocky feels that despite the abundance of technology, youths of today don't have much socialising skills.
"I mean they have so many things like computers, video games and all. Youths don't seem to be getting out at all.
"It's even hard for many youths to make friends in different groups, classes. Even neighbours don't seem to know each other," he says.
"In the last 8 months I have made 147 new memberships and for the first time since SFP was introduced to Fiji we have had a mass Service for Peace Project in April, for which more than 100 youths volunteered."
Rocky is planning social work programs for implementation at University of the South Pacific next year. He is actively involved in many volunteer programs including Greenpeace, the Second Division of St Johns Ambulance Fiji, FCOSS, Youth Inc. Fiji, Youth Ambassador for Peace Universal Peace Federation and Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
His motto is to live for the sake of others. "Show your family, your community, your country, how brilliant the youth of today are and take the initiative to end discrimination and destroy barriers that have made us work alone in some distance from each other," he says. "Let's unite. Let's co-me together and show the world how peaceful and united the world can be."
