FSMUN, an event with thousands of students across schools coming together for debate. I was the delegate of Kuwait to the UNHRC committee. It was my first time in MUN and it was a new, intriguing and challenging experience I had. I am generally not fond of debates as such but participating in MUN was something that I wanted to try atleast once and hence I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to try something new which worked out okay.
LO 2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken,developing new skills in the process
As I mentioned earlier, I am not fond of debates and thus I was hesitant to take part in this event but in the end I did. After I participated, I was not much aware about the MUN and the actual preparations I needed to do for it and therefore, I asked my friend for help which gave me a little clear idea. One of the biggest difficulty that I faced was , although I researched about the background information, the agenda and was ready with the speeches, I was not confident enough to speak during the committee sessions which was a major challenges that I faced as I was and thus I did not speak much during the committee sessions on the first day. To overcome this challenge, I did some more preparations after the event for the second day which gave me more confidence and I also got more involved in the discussions during the second day comparatively.
LO 4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
As MUN is not something you can go unprepared for, it demands preparations from the beginning. Before the first day of the MUN, I carried out research and started preparing before a week where I researched about the background information of my country, its stands, studies about the agenda of the refugee crisis and formed a speech. In addition, the committee sessions were also too rigorous, long, tiring and mentally exhausting which sometimes made me question whether I should continue on the second day but pushing through this and by prioritizing perseverance, I gave my best until the end.
LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
The topic of discussion in our committee was the refugee crisis in West Asia, which is a problem that needs to be addressed immediately and needs international collaboration too. As a part of this committee, we discussed the problems, solutions and also made resolutions upon the global issue. After discussing this issue, it made me understand how interconnectedness among countries is essential for resolving global crises. In addition, with the conversations and debate, it helped me to gain deeper understanding on how different countries have various perspectives to add on and how it affects political, social and economic aspects globally.
LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
As I was representing Kuwait, I faced a challenge because of its diplomatic relations and alliances with various countries during resolution. It has allies with both the different parties that were formed during resolutions and it was quite difficult to choose the stand considering Kuwait’s official stand in real life. It challenged me to question the ethics and choices made by Kuwait sometimes and although I was not completely agreeing with the stands of Kuwait, I had to consider its perspectives, its foreign relation policies and other aspects to make a final decision for the supporting side during resolutions.
To conclude, FSMUN was a very new and exciting experience for me. It encouraged me to get involved in public discussions, face my challenges and pushed me out of my comfort zone to participate. I also gained knowledge about international relations, the global issues that were our topic and gained insights on how diplomatic relations and collaboration is the key for solving the real world issues.
