First MUN Experiences...

        On 26th August we had our first electives session. I chose MUN as my elective since I find the MUN a really fun, educational and stimulating activity and I’ve been waiting to do it for soO long! And also because I hope to work in the UN; socio-political issues interest me a lot and my aim is to work with underprivileged children regarding their welfare and rights. I started thinking in the direction of social work after listening to a talk by a colleague on Child Soldiers in Sri Lanka. The horrendous pictures of little children holding guns with ammunition adorning their scant, scarred bodies affected me a great deal. It’s my personal conviction that no child should ever handle a gun.


                   In the first session we introduced ourselves to each other and then we had to discuss one of several current issues. I chose global warming since I knew enough general information about the topic not to make a fool of myself and I drew on an example of the effects of global warming, the situation in Siberia, which we touched upon in Environmental Systems. We had to research on marginalized people on the country we had been assigned. Mine was Myanmar. Shock and incredulity were my constant companions as I found out about the situation of human trafficking in Myanmar and the government’s vested interest in it. This was a topic I was unaware of and it opened me to the cruel realities of the world, taking away my rather naïve, unexplored perception that the problems of the world were limited to hunger and war.

              In the second session we had to present our work. A very experienced MUN delegate, Yohan, came in to talk to us and guide us in preparation for the conference next year, the students new to MUN that is, since there is a majority of people who haven’t done MUN.

                       We had a debate which I found personally challenging since I’m not used to the ‘MUN jargon’, all their rather fancy, and elaborate expressions which indicate respect and ensure a diplomatic exchange which is precise leaving little room for ambiguity. It was challenging for everyone but we had very positive feedback from which encouraged me. I was a bit tense, scared and unsure of how to speak since I had to talk positively of the government’s efforts when in fact they themselves were involved in this issue! The personal feedback I received was that I wasn’t passionate and involved enough in my speech, which doesn’t really worry me that much since I know I have the capacity to be really passionate and convincing.