Saturday 4 October 2014

August Period

There are many reasons why I joined the Global Faculty. I really believe in its mission, 'thinking globally, acting locally', and I was very attracted to how they put that mission into practice. What I didn't realise, is the added bonus of joining the Global Faculty, is that while lifeguards are doing patrols, and social justice members were waking up in the middle of the morning to rush off to sessions, we had a faculty trip to Bristol. 

The trip was three days long, and a time not only to meet and help new organisations, but also a chance for the faculty to bond as a year group before our first years arrived. The programme went something as follows. We set off at about 8ish from campus and embarked on a three hour plus trip to Bristol. upon arrival, we then checked into our hotel, found our rooms, etc. before gathering again to start our galavanting. The first organisation we visited was The Bristol Cable: a people's media co-operative, created, owned and produced by people in the city. It was fascinating to listen to views on popular media and the negative influences it could have on its readers. Moreover, the engaging way in which the organisers conducted the workshop meant that most of us had means to give our two cents worth as well. This of course made the workshop very interactive and assisted in allowing all the members of the faculty, both students and staff, to get to know each other that bit better. Personally, the most interesting activity we did was to carry out interviews with pedestrians on the street. We were meant to find stories on discrimination, inviting our interviewees to share personal views and experiences. This led to many different opinions being expressed, including workplace discrimination. 

The following day we went to a drop-in shelter for sex workers, called One25. They are an amazing organisation who are committed to providing assistance to  the street workers of Bristol. What is interesting about their approach is that they do not actively try convince such women to come off the streets, they believe that such a decision should be the woman's own choice. Instead, they are keen to provide everything needed in the interim to ensure such workers are protected. 


After visiting their centre, we left for the Julian Trust Night Shelter where we were to spend the rest of the day and some of the night. As it's name suggests, it is a shelter for the homeless people of Bristol and is the only such shelter that not only provides them with a hot meal and clean facilities, but the first twenty people to arrive at the shelter get a bed to sleep in for the night. We arrived sometime in the afternoon, because there was much to be done in preparation for our guests, and we were also attending a follow-up session to an earlier course that had been done by the same people who helped at the shelter. 

The course is called Alternatives to Violence Project (or AVP for short) and it is about reflecting the ways in which we react to situations. After that session, we began cooking dinner for ourselves in the kitchen since helping at the shelter meant we weren't able to get dinner for ourselves. Those that weren't busy in the kitchen busied ourselves outside of it by preparing the beds and other necessities for the night. This was a lovely time for all of us in the Global Faculty to bond and it was good fun eating the fruits of our hard labour. 

Before we knew it, our guests were arriving. My job was to serve them dinner, more specifically tea and coffee, behind the counter. It was an eye opening experience, meeting people from all walks of life. The stereotype I had for a homeless person were quickly eradicated, especially when I went to interact with our guests. Most of them were eager to engage in conversations with us and many shared their personal experiences willingly. It was fascinating to hear their stories, and as I mentioned, the reasons attributing to why they were currently homeless were so unlike what I had expected to hear. Many of their stories were heart wrenching, and it was challenging to speak to them with a face of neutrality (which we had been advised to uphold) while feeling like I was falling apart inside. This was probably my favourite experience from the whole trip, because I felt like I learnt so much from it. 

Finally, on the last day we went to another centre where we used their community kitchen. The main learning takeaway being awareness on how our global food sources are produced. With our diverse origins, we had rather fascinating conversations, especially with everyone chipping in in areas that concerned their native countries. We then finished the session with another communal kitchen session and it was great to finish the trip with a big bonding and eating session.

I feel like the trip definitely strengthened the bonds within my Faculty and it was also great getting to explore the city of Bristol, even if it was only for a few days. Also final fun fact, apparently Bananarama is considered as having origins in Bristol and so, 'Venus was her name! She's got it, ooh baby she's got it!'

Saturday 5 April 2014

Sus(tainability)Co(nference)

A contentious question we face in today’s world is the question of global warming. While some are fervent believers in what they believe could be the apocalypse-causing phenomena, others scoff at the idea that the world is facing serious environmental threats. However, climate change and its many theories are just the tip of one of the many melting icebergs that is sustainability and all it encompasses.

What is sustainability? This was a question that I kept posing to myself throughout the duration of the Sustainability Conference or SusCo as we came to know it. It was a two day long conference, held as part of our latest Diploma Period, and organized mainly by AC’s Sustainability Council, funnily enough, also known better to students as Susco and ECT (Environmental Campaign Team) or as one Susco member put it, the more radical wing of Susco.

As I mentioned above, the conference ran for two days. It started on the first day with talks from guest speakers and students to introduce the idea of sustainability and the purpose of the conference. It was then followed by student run workshops to do with the concept of ‘Roundview’ which is basically a concept to slow down and eventually reverse the damage we have done while causing minimal impact to the normal operations of current modern life. Though I thought the concept was too idealistic and in my view unrealistic, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how small permanent changes, where eventually more beneficial than making large disruptive ones. The second half of the day saw us being split into groups to attend the workshops we had chosen. I attended a workshop that shocked me because it was more about personal and positive thinking than sustainability. I guess the message was that to start taking care of the environment and others, we have to first get ourselves in order.

The second day continued with speeches made by potential Susco chairs and vice-chairs, talks and a panel discussion in the morning, followed by workshops again and my personal highlight of the whole conference, a FARMER’S MARKET. I left with a bag of loot, ranging from my dear, dear persimmons, to delicious homemade cupcakes and gluten free produce made of cheese and chickpeas.

That afternoon being the conclusion of the conference saw the final, closing speeches and concluded with the announcement of the new chair and vice-chair of the Sustainability Council. All in all, though admittedly not my favourite conference, there had been some takeaways that were interesting to mull over.
 
 
To end, not with the intention of sounding cynical, but just because it sums up reality; and sometimes the truth hurts, “I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.” - Aldo Leopold

Sunday 16 February 2014

Point of Personal Privilege

I have not yet encountered a method to better simulte the United Nations Conferences for tweens, teens and youngs adults than the Model United Nations (also more commonly abbreviated as M.U.N.). It is not only a way to introduce young minds to the United Nations, but also a great way to spread better global understanding - by getting people to do in-depthresearch on the countries they are assigned to represent. Since these sort of objectives are exactly what UWC would like to achiveve, it was no surprise our latest conference was an M.U.N. Conference.

Delegates of the Human Rights Committee 

The duration of it was not too long, it lasted only two days. I believe it was extremely sufficient and believe it or not, by the conclusion of the conference, I felt more drained than I usually did after my last code for the week. In following with real UN Conferences, there were a number of different councils that were set up to deal with specific topics.

I had signed down for the Human Rights Council which was set to debate on the topics of:
  1.  Advancing emergency response for displaced populations affected by conflict and natural disaster (Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines)
  2. Refugees, internally displaced people and the right to humanitarian aid in Syria
More of my fellow delegates... Can you spot China and Cuba?

I was assigned delegate of the United Kingdom and though this did not affect me personally, was rather pleased to know we had veto rights.

Security Council... who have VETO Rights

We were assigned the history room which is located in the castle as our venue and it was defintely a fitting classroom to be discussing the topic of the Syrian Crisis and other recent conflicts. I had thought we were going to start the deabtes on the first day with the issue of the Philippines, and so had spent my morning in the computer lab with a cup of mocha, frantically looking for information on the UK's stance on the topic. Not only did I wake up ealier than usual for this, I had also used up quite a lot of my prinitng credit (something very very dear to all AC students hearts), only to discover the chairs having believed that discussion on Syria would be more engaging, had chosen to start with the Syrian conflict first.

Security Council in the Great Hall

Luckily my previous knowledge on Syria was far more substantial than the human rights aspect of Typhoon Haiyan and so I was able to manage through. The other beneficial piece of information I had was that the UK tended to be extremely neutral when dealing with such issues. I shadowed and supported the US and whenever I did contribute, I was sure to stick to politically correct, rather morally obvious choices.

On the second day, we continued where we had left off on the first. By this time there had already been a split in the house, with countries like China, North Korea, Cuba and various other Middle Eastern countries banding together. On the other side, there were the Western powers with the UK, US, Germany, France coming together.

After more intense debate and decision making, we passed 3 clauses for a patched together resolution and moved onto the next issue. In the meantime, we survived a terrorist attack from a radical environmental group, dismissed the delegates of Spain (for taking a nap) and Cuba (for passing toxic gas). By this time I had sworn to myself not to become a politician, and soldiered on.

Environmental terrorist in action!

Sadly after the hectic and draining happenings in Syria, many people were eager and keen to pass a resolution for the Philippines so that we coulf adjourn for a break. The resolution for the Philippines was passed tragically as quickly as teh Typhoon had come and gone, and the delegates had left the room at the same speed afterwards.

Modelling the UN look

Though it was no 'working holiday', I did really enjoy my time during the conference. It was a very good chance to e exposed to a array of different views and to take a minute to reconsider why and how we made our own judgments and decisions. 

And so to conclude 'Delegates, the honourable chair would like to close the debate'.

Credits for the photos used go to those who contributed to: https://www.facebook.com/#!/UWCACUN2014