By Sulaiman Sulaimankhil, Co-founder of HELA
_________________________________________________________________________________
History has been made! Five young Afghans delegates (three girls and two boys) along with their two MUN directors got the chance to take part in one of the largest and most prestigious Model UN conference in the world. There were a lot of obstacles to overcome including securing financial support, visas, and preparing the resolutions and opening speeches, but those challenges were met head on by an eager and enthusiastic delegation from Kabul and in the end the group found tremendous success.
Ishadulhaq Siddiqi sounded very proud when asked questions about the experience. “I had the privilege of representing Denmark at The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) in the Netherlands this past January. It was an honor to attend the conference for the duration of seven days where my greatest achievement was being selected as our country’s Ambassador”, he said. He continued, “This experience was important to me considering my aim is to bring positive change into Afghan society. This 50th Anniversary THIMUN conference helped me develop leadership through the planning, debating, public speaking, negotiation, organizing and execution of my team and through the relationship I developed with other delegates in the General Assembly. As the Ambassador I also had the opportunity to meet His Royal Highness the King of the Netherlands before he spoke during the Opening Ceremonies”.
Negina Shinwari commented “Attending THIMUN in The Netherlands was a huge experience in my life because it was my first time traveling to Europe and second time traveling abroad, because I have also traveled to Qatar for THIMUN Qatar 2016.” Among the highlights of the trip Shinwari added, “one of the best part of our journey was going out with our friends from the John Burroughs School (JBS) in the US and Taipei American School (TAS) of Taiwan, because it shows strong support for our young program and a good relationship and globalization. We can say that there are no barriers of language, ethnicity, and religion for any person because we believe that we are all the citizen of the world”. Shinwari was particularly impressed with the workshop that was conducted in collaboration with JBS and TAS the day before the conference started. She said it helped her gain confidence in speaking in front of a global community and really helped her strengthen her resolution and opening speech.
For Valy Siddiqi the conference was a life affirming experience. “I am a new person”, he said. “I have changed lots of my opinions, yet still I am who I was before I came. I will always try to make others view my country as the great country that it is. So many dreams have come true for me through MUN. There is no doubt that this dream of mine towards my country will come true, too. I believe in myself, I believe in our new generation and I believe in HELA that things will change in a positive way soon enough in Afghanistan”.
At the end it is very essential to thank all those who made this possible, first of all the THIMUN Foundation and all its Board members and conference management had a significant contribution and they helped HELA very much in making this experience possible. A big shout-out to the hard work of our advisors, Miss Lisa Martin, Mr. Robin De Zeeuw, and Mr. Andrew Newman for all their support for HELA.
More history to be made? You bet. HELA is working on the first ever MUN international conference that will continue to give opportunities and leadership skills to young women and young men in Afghanistan.