Food & Fun Fair - 13th March

The FFF is an exellent opportunity to fund raise for CAS projects. SO, we exploited it (: To raise funds for the Cancer Hospital Project we sold yellow awareness hair ribbons and bracelets for Rs. 50/- each. We also painted a yellow sun, the Hope for Kids logo, with face paint for Rs. 50/- The face paint was more of an awareness raising idea as the sun is a common feature we found in all of the kids' drawings. They always always draw a sun. Maybe it's a symbol of hope for them. I walked around the whole time selling the ribbons and I was very tired, especially since it was very hot and the SGA ran out of drinks! We raised approximately Rs. 6000/- (:

Developing Diplomatic Relations (:

Colombo Operated Model United Nations Conference March 5th – 7th 2010


Day 1 | Committee 3

The opening ceremony really set the mood for this year’s conference with the address by the representative from the IOM and the anti-trafficking videos that were played. The atmosphere of my committee was very serious and focused but it was not intimidating, as in the practice debates, because I had got to know more people and I knew they were role playing. I was excited and well prepared. I spoke a few times during the first day but I couldn't really talk much since we the topic under discussion was 'Assessing and addressing the treatment of women’s rights in the founding of the family, its sustenance and its dissolution' and Nigeria follows Shari'a law which was constantly under attack. Also, the Penal Code of Nigeria states that 'a man can beat a woman up as long as it does not result in grievous harm'. Not very female-friendly, now is that? Even though I didn't talk that much I learnt a lot about the extent of the problem and how it can be addressed. I also learnt the importance of working efficiently within a limited amount of time as we had to submit a resolution in 45 minutes. 


Day 2 | Committee 3 


The topic for the second day, after we had finished debating the resolutions from the previous day, was 'Addressing the vulnerability of refugees to human trafficking'. I had researched this topic quite well and was able to make a speech on the speakers' list as well as talk during moderated caucus and ask several POI's (Point of Information). Talking in front of everyone was really scary but I stood up to the challenge. I was kind of threatened by the Secretary General and the Head of Finance and was forced to talk. After the first time I got behind the podium, my fear seemed to disappear and I gained confidence the more I spoke. I felt more at ease on the second day since I had got to know people better.Unfortunately, we had to rush the discussion as we were running out of time. 

Day 3 | General Assembly 


The conference on the third day was held at The Water's Edge. It was very formal, the girls were in sarees, and the food was really good. I think the GA was a bit of a failure since while one committee is in session the other committees have nothing to do and are bored. Com 2 dealt with economic policies and sitting through their session was torture. I think Com 3 is the most interesting since it is the Human Rights committee and it is easy to relate to and be actively engaged in. Also it is way too many people and frequently the people at the back are not recognized at all. The chairs introduced an 'emergence topic' for all committees to debate and it was a situation where there was a conflict between China and Taiwan which escalated into a near nuclear catastrophe. Yes, their idea was World War III. I really got ridiculous towards the end and I gave a very impassioned speech about what I felt. I was so proud of myself because I spoke twice in the GA in front of aall those people and I made some good points. Aand the best part was when I got a not from the President of GA, Yohan, saying that he was very proud of what I have achieved and that I have improved a lot (: It was really tiring though and at the end of it I was really exhausted. I can only imagine how exhausted the organising committee would have been. 


After it was all over, I wished I could do it all over again. 
CO-MUN 2010 was an awesome experince (: