UNAOC 6th Global Forum: in a nutshell
Sometimes life takes you to place you least expect.
You least expect to be 1 lucky youth out of 3000 from the World over.
You least expect to be the only one from the South Pacific islands.
You least expect people to not know anything about your country.
You least expect to become such good friends with so many people in just 48 - 96 hours.
You least expect to almost flights.
You least expect that you will have to run through not just your domestic airport but through a large international airport as well.
You least expect to hear that the travel agent has your name wrong on the system and you might not be able to fly.
You least expect to have the time of life and get home safely.
You least expect to miss everyone you just met (no matter how annoying they were).
I least expected to leave a mark at such a huge global forum. But I did.
At least 100 youth now know where Fiji is!!
in a nut shell!!
2 bags. a passport.
Excitement in my stomach.
expectations in my mind and a phone fully charged :-)
Day 1: 26th August (Tuesday)
left home at 5am!!!
I encountered some level of difficulty at each airport on my way to and back from Bali. this was the first time I ever traveled alone, therefore it was an experience of a life time.
The first night in Bali was quiet. I was quiet, almost 20 hours of just traveling, I was ready to hit the sack.
Day 2: 27th August (Wednesday)
The next morning I saw for the first time how beautiful Bali was. It was a place I wanted to get lost in. The sunrise I saw outside my window. mind you for someone who slept around midnight and was awake by 4.30am I was geared to explore this beautiful place!!
I am a morning person! I can wake early if I have things to do and I love breakfast!! The breakfast at the Amaroosa Hotel was mouth watering and satisfying to the stomach. Another four participants turned up and we began chatting about our countries and the anticipation of this forum.
We were transferred to Mercure Bali nusa Dua and our rooms were shared here for the remainder of the forum. Upon check in my roomie had not arrived. Being new in the area and very hungry we managed to find one of the local participants who accompanied us to Bali Collection for some sight seeing and food. Once again the food was yum!!
I finally managed to change my USD to Rupees and mind you $100USD fetched me $1M rupees!! Jackpot! We walked around after eating and went to the beach for a while (private beach for the hotel).
When we got back to the hotel we met a few other participants that were just checking in. We went up to our rooms and got ready for the evening briefing that would take place at 7pm. I walked down (my room mate was still not here) and got directions for the conference room. Surprise Surprise! I was the first one in the conference room. Collected my 'kit' and tshirt :-) The briefing was short and simple. A few of us joined the story telling group whereby we have the opportunity of note taking during the breakout sessions and our notes are used in the final report :-)
Day 3: 28th August 2014 (Thursday)
The first day of the forum was the Youth conference where we were divided into four groups and we discussed each of these four topics: 1) Education 2) Media 3) Migration and 4)Employment/Entrepreneurship. I was in group 4. the discussions were great. It was interesting to hear the struggles of the other countries and the recommendations we as youth came up with.
After lunch we visited the Pura Tamun ayun temple and it is a model for Agriculture - impressive. they are working towards sustainability and employment. The tour was great. we tried some local rice dishes, saw some local dancing and heard some local music. I was in the painting group painted a egg (made of wood).
from the field trip we rushed back to the Nusa Dua Convention Center to finalize our recommendations from the morning and have the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon come for the closing of our Youth conference.
Day 4: 29th August 2014 (Friday)
The second day for us here was the first day of the UNAOC 6th Global Forum, Bali it all began with the opening ceremony and after morning tea break two of our Youths presented the recommendations to the room.
We than moved out to the various breakout sessions. The first session I got was on Inter-religion and cross cultural education. The main discussion was on the inclusion of religion and cross-cultural studies in our school curriculum to increase religious tolerance.
The second session I attended was on impact of social media. This session was of particular interest to me as I use social media a lot. the discussions were on:
You least expect to be 1 lucky youth out of 3000 from the World over.
You least expect to be the only one from the South Pacific islands.
You least expect people to not know anything about your country.
You least expect to become such good friends with so many people in just 48 - 96 hours.
You least expect to almost flights.
You least expect that you will have to run through not just your domestic airport but through a large international airport as well.
You least expect to hear that the travel agent has your name wrong on the system and you might not be able to fly.
You least expect to have the time of life and get home safely.
You least expect to miss everyone you just met (no matter how annoying they were).
I least expected to leave a mark at such a huge global forum. But I did.
At least 100 youth now know where Fiji is!!
in a nut shell!!
2 bags. a passport.
Excitement in my stomach.
expectations in my mind and a phone fully charged :-)
Day 1: 26th August (Tuesday)
left home at 5am!!!
I encountered some level of difficulty at each airport on my way to and back from Bali. this was the first time I ever traveled alone, therefore it was an experience of a life time.
The first night in Bali was quiet. I was quiet, almost 20 hours of just traveling, I was ready to hit the sack.
Day 2: 27th August (Wednesday)
The next morning I saw for the first time how beautiful Bali was. It was a place I wanted to get lost in. The sunrise I saw outside my window. mind you for someone who slept around midnight and was awake by 4.30am I was geared to explore this beautiful place!!
I am a morning person! I can wake early if I have things to do and I love breakfast!! The breakfast at the Amaroosa Hotel was mouth watering and satisfying to the stomach. Another four participants turned up and we began chatting about our countries and the anticipation of this forum.
We were transferred to Mercure Bali nusa Dua and our rooms were shared here for the remainder of the forum. Upon check in my roomie had not arrived. Being new in the area and very hungry we managed to find one of the local participants who accompanied us to Bali Collection for some sight seeing and food. Once again the food was yum!!
I finally managed to change my USD to Rupees and mind you $100USD fetched me $1M rupees!! Jackpot! We walked around after eating and went to the beach for a while (private beach for the hotel).
When we got back to the hotel we met a few other participants that were just checking in. We went up to our rooms and got ready for the evening briefing that would take place at 7pm. I walked down (my room mate was still not here) and got directions for the conference room. Surprise Surprise! I was the first one in the conference room. Collected my 'kit' and tshirt :-) The briefing was short and simple. A few of us joined the story telling group whereby we have the opportunity of note taking during the breakout sessions and our notes are used in the final report :-)
Day 3: 28th August 2014 (Thursday)
The first day of the forum was the Youth conference where we were divided into four groups and we discussed each of these four topics: 1) Education 2) Media 3) Migration and 4)Employment/Entrepreneurship. I was in group 4. the discussions were great. It was interesting to hear the struggles of the other countries and the recommendations we as youth came up with.
After lunch we visited the Pura Tamun ayun temple and it is a model for Agriculture - impressive. they are working towards sustainability and employment. The tour was great. we tried some local rice dishes, saw some local dancing and heard some local music. I was in the painting group painted a egg (made of wood).
from the field trip we rushed back to the Nusa Dua Convention Center to finalize our recommendations from the morning and have the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon come for the closing of our Youth conference.
After the sessions we had to rush back to the hotel and get ready for our dinner meet. This was exciting as we had to wear some traditional. I had been thinking a lot about what to wear for this occasion as we were informed of this in our logistics notes a week before coming. I would have loved to bring like a grass skirt or something in tapa - but i thought a little further. Something simple. Easy to wear. Easy to carry. So I brainstormed on what is my culture? What are my traditions? I am fully Indian, I practice Islam, I wear more Western outfits (90% of the time it is jeans and top - kurti/ tshirt/ shirt etc). Now I am married to a Samoan/Chinese. I got Samoan print fabric (blue in color - my fav). Had it sewn into a Kamiz (Indian dress) with a Chinese collar style. the sleeves were fancy with some local Fijian handicraft button and the same went on the front of my dress down the collar. For bottoms I wore jeans. Very proud of my self :-) The first of herRoyal By Design collection :-)
the dinner was simply great. We returned to our hotel around midnight.
Day 4: 29th August 2014 (Friday)
The second day for us here was the first day of the UNAOC 6th Global Forum, Bali it all began with the opening ceremony and after morning tea break two of our Youths presented the recommendations to the room.
We than moved out to the various breakout sessions. The first session I got was on Inter-religion and cross cultural education. The main discussion was on the inclusion of religion and cross-cultural studies in our school curriculum to increase religious tolerance.
The second session I attended was on impact of social media. This session was of particular interest to me as I use social media a lot. the discussions were on:
- Indonesia using social media heavily for political campaign.
- Arab springs (Egypt)
- Turkeys has the 4th highest number of face-book users
- The rise in social media consumption in Malaysia
I was surprised at the low turn out of the participants to this session.
After the sessions we had a small meeting regarding our note taking and when we returned to the hotel we had to rush as there was another dinner event tonight. This was a cultural dinner night with all the other UN delegations. To be honest I was so tired at this point and just wanted to sleep. but hey it is not everyday we get to be blessed with such an opportunity. So it was "iCanDoThis" mantra all along!! Got into my jeans and black Kurti and we made our way down to the Nusa Dua Convention center. The dinner was splendid. I tell you Bali, Indonesia has extremely amazing food. The evening concluded with us having the opportunity to take photos with some of the wonderful people who entertained us though the evening. Some of the local celebrities.
Day 5: 30th August (Saturday)
The final day and my morning began gloriously!!! I was awake by 5ish am.Having the opportunity to be a note taker at the Gender breakout session was simply a privilege on its own. and it was topped off with having the opportunity to meet the panelists before the session began. At this point i was able to share a little about the declaration made by the Fiji Young Women's Forum and the booklet developed by them called 'My Guide to voting" - and I must say I have definitely left a good impression about the passionate work of the young women in Fiji.
By the end of their session they had talked about the issues of women int heir own countries and suggested some recommendations. They also acknowledged myself and Kavindya (Sri Lanka rep) as young women actively using social media to advocate. This, I must say, was a proud moment for us!! Thank you to all on the panel.
Our session started and ended late so by the time we found the lunch area it was almost time for closing ceremony. We ate and went to the media room to complete our reports and hand them over.
After this it was time to head back to the hotel. We made plans with some of the locals for dinner, shopping and karaoke. Managed to squeeze an hour at a small market and spent the evening enjoying the night life :-) and returned around 1am.
Day 6: 31st August (Sunday)
The journey back home. I packed my belongings and was dropped off at the airport. Riska from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is such a sweet lady. The wait at the airport was long!! And I hadn't slept in over 24 hours so that was that. The flight from Bali to Hongkong wasn't very interesting, maybe because I was feeling sick. More running at the airport to get my bags and check in for my flight home. While I love how big and amazing the hongkong airport is I was tired and had very short time to get from my check in counter to the boarding gate. By the time I reached the boarding gate I was so hungry, sleepy and tired. (no I haven't slept since I woke up on Saturday). In all the rush and hunger I was so happy to see a familiar face!!! My ELFie 5 friend BETTY BARKHA . She has just completed her Masters in Sociology/Psychology in India. The little chat with her was good. The flight was full but I had two empty seats next to me.
PS: It was the new Fiji Airways airbus 330. The flight was very cold (AC) and I was feeling uneasy. Feeling feverish and developing a bad cough. At this point I just wanted to sleep in my own bed with own pillows and blankets. The food on the flight this time around wasn't very nice either which added to my irritation. I watched two Hindi movies and a few episodes of tv series. slept for maybe a few hours.
PS: It was the new Fiji Airways airbus 330. The flight was very cold (AC) and I was feeling uneasy. Feeling feverish and developing a bad cough. At this point I just wanted to sleep in my own bed with own pillows and blankets. The food on the flight this time around wasn't very nice either which added to my irritation. I watched two Hindi movies and a few episodes of tv series. slept for maybe a few hours.
Day 7: 1st September (Monday)
Landed in Fiji!!! The thought of getting home :-) So nice of my cousin to pick me up. had breakfast and lunch at his place. after landing in Fiji I had to wait for 7 hours before I have my final flight from Nadi to Nausori. The 30 min flight was never ending. From the airport I rushed to the university as my class was from 3-5pm. I didn't realize how much my students appreciate me they were so excited to see me. One of them ran out to help me with my bags. yeah I didn't have time to drop them home. the class went well and the students enjoyed hearing a few stories form me :-) Finally class ended and I came back home. reached home at 5pm!!
A total of 6 and half days away!!! I left with two bags and excitement. I have returned with 5 bags, a flu, new friends and an experience I will never forget.
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