Morgan shares his thoughts with Voice and the world.

Meet Morgan Maze, a young man from Indonesia with Down Syndrome. Morgan is one of the project participants from Let’s Speak Up an empowerment grantee within Voice in Indonesia, coordinated by Hivos South East Asia. Accompanied by his mother, Morgan attended the 2019 Inclusion Innovation Indaba in Nairobi where he met, learnt and shared with other participants from the 10 Voice focus countries. Morgan not only showed off his dancing styles but also presented a speech in French. In addition to Bahasa, Morgan speaks fluent English and French but he prefers the latter

Bonjour. Je m’appelle Morgan, j’ai 20 ans, et je vis à Jakarta en Indonésie. Mon papa est français et ma maman indonésienne.
Il y a beaucoup de choses qui m’intéressent dans la vie : je fais de la danse Hip-Hop, de la musique, de la natation, et de la gym. J’aime bien aussi lire et faire la cuisine.
Ma maman a créé un groupe de parole pour une douzaine d’adolescents trisomiques à Jakarta. Le groupe s’appelle Let’s Speak up. Nous nous entendons bien et nous sommes tous devenus amis. Nous nous réunissons une fois par semaine et c’est ma maman qui est le coach de la classe.
Nous apprenons beaucoup de choses pendant la classe. L’année dernière nous avons appris à nous présenter, à bien parler, à devenir plus confiant, et comment rencontrer des gens. Cette année nous allons apprendre comment parler au nom des jeunes qui sont trisomiques comme nous et devenir leurs représentants.
Je vous remercie et vous souhaite une bonne journée.

Good day. My name is Morgan, I am 20 years old, and I live in Jakarta, Indonesia. My dad is French and my mom is Indonesian. There are many things that interest me in life: I do Hip-Hop dancing, music, swimming, and gym. I also like reading and cooking.
My mom has started a speaking group for a dozen teenagers with Down Syndrome in Jakarta. The group is called Let’s Speak up. We get along well and we have all become friends. We meet once a week and my mom is the mentor. We learn a lot during class. Last year we learned to introduce ourselves, to speak well, to become more confident, and also how to meet people. This year we will learn how to speak on behalf of young people who have Down syndrome like us and be self-advocates.
Thank you and I wish you a good day.

During the World Down Syndrome day, independently from Voice, Morgan had the opportunity to read his speech at the UN headquarters in Geneva as part of a group of invited self-advocates. They spoke about the right to employment for people with Down syndrome as part of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) with committee members, UN representatives, and country representatives. Watch him read his speech (Minute 26:00) HERE

Voice is glad to support Let’s speak up (1 and 2), which has become a part of Morgan’s life and is thankful for the chance to share his amazing adventures.