MUN awsomeness

I was in Tirana this week for the Model United Nations conference. Three days long, 15 schools, 150 students- it's a big deal! I'm really proud of the 7 girls that I brought to the conference. They have worked really hard for the past four months learning all about issues like global warming and human trafficking and the position of Burkina Faso (that's a small country in West Africa). Most of them did not have any idea how to do research on the Internet and I think they all had never heard of Burkina Faso before! They represented themselves, their school, Peshkopi, and Burkina Faso very well.

I'm really glad that I participated in this project. MUN was one of the best parts of my high school experience and I love that I was able to share this with some great kids. The best part has maybe been when one of my girls told me that she is now much more interested in politics and that maybe she would like to try to be a diplomat! She is a super intelligent, sharp girl and I can totally see her as the next Albanian ambassador to . . . someplace!

My big role in the conference (besides calming my girls down) was to design the "crisis situation" that we introduced on the last day. We decided to have one big event that would be dealt with in all three of the councils (Security Council, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council) and after much deliberation with the other volunteers (our big chance to debate), we decided on the not very likely (but theoretically plausible) major flood of the Nile River. Was it caused by global warming? Thousands of refugees! The kids did a great job of handling the situation and really impressed me with their collaboration. Also I need to give a big shout out to all the other PCVs for helping out with the crisis (not to mention all the other great things that they did at the conference and before).

The conference wasn't perfect, but I know that my kids learned a lot, I learned a lot and I'm already thinking about how we can make it even better next year . . .

PS- my computer cord arrived in the mail just hours before I was supposed to leave for Tirana. I literally was jumping up and down in the post office I was so excited. I think I'll bring the post office ladies some candy next week to show my appreciation for always dealing my crazy self . . .