JOMUN XII Reflection 9 - 16 - 14

JOMUN XII Reflection 9 – 16 – 14

            On Tuesday, September 16, 2014 JOMUN XII Press Team met afterschool in the Teaching and Learning 1 center. We continued to write up articles to use for the upcoming conference. I focused on “How To JOMUN” which consisted of methods of note taking and lobbying for the delegates to prepare for the conference; and “All About Johannesburg” sites and travel for the visiting schools. Some of the recommended places to explore were: gold reef city, an amusement park; rose bank market, a colorful cultural arts and crafts market; and the lion park, where the visitors’ can have hands on interaction with the lions and take part in the safari.

In addition, Raquel Wilson and I worked collaboratively to edit and revise the JOMUN XII Conference Guide and Booklet. I, as part of the press team, edited page 11 on “JOMUN XII Forum Room Allocation,” to direct the participating delegates to their appropriate committee room. In addition, I steadily revised page 14 “JOMUN XII Officers” to include the correct presidents and deputy chairs to each committee room. Then, the Press team transferred the revised JOMUN XII Conference Guide and Booklet to Ms. Slattery. She then organized to have it printed. From there, Secretariat would distribute them to all participating delegates on Thursday, September 25, 2014.

Furthermore, I created a list of nearby South African schools with both their email addresses and telephone numbers to forward to Secretariat to contact and invite to the JOMUN XII Conference.

My observation during the preparation for JOMUN XII Conference as a whole was a well-organized team of students with a passion for international relationships. They were driven and hard working with a mission for success. With this being my second year of participating in Model United Nations, I came forth with more knowledge and expertise and I could definitely see improvement and confidence in all of the involved students. One particular learning moment that I particularly experienced during this conference was how important preparing several related articles before the conference saved time and was very productive. I openly accepted opportunities and challenges that directly affected the Press Team. My actions and attitudes were positive, productive, and organized, which reflected on the team as a whole. As far as my own limitations, I don’t feel I had any since I’ve had prior experience in Johannesburg Model United Nations.

My learning experience from JOMUN XI can be applied to JOMUN XII as it keeps in consistency with the ethical obligation to observe implications in Africa to finding solutions to 21^st century challenges. Moreover, this engages me in issues of global importance that I can relate to through living in South Africa and personally eye witnessing many disparities and challenges. New knowledge that I’ve learned throughout the conference is that Africa is a mineral rich continent yet ridden with despair. Simply the profits are not put back into African countries. Which leads to multiple other problems such as: the rights of prisoners, a technological divide, and the freedom of information. Changes that could have been made are recruiting more press members. While the press team was discussing ideas a bit of conflict arose, but was transfigured into constructive criticism. My future goal is to travel abroad to work with exotic animals. My commitment and perseverance to international relations will enhance my character and communication skills with people from all over the world.