February 29-March 1, 2012 - MUN

For two days, my school held a Model United Nations (MUN) where we are each given a country and required to represent our assigned country. I got the Czech Republic, and I had to research all the policies of their government and what stance the Czech Republic would take on certain issues. Here is a picture of my friend, Danielle, and me.

This is Hayley, Danielle, and me.

My school invited a few nearby schools to participate, so we were joined by the British school next door and a few other Saudi schools.  Here I am waiting to speak at the podium.

Since I go to an American International school, it was interesting to see all the kids that go to real Saudi schools, which were segregated by gender, of course. Like, for example, some of the girls that go to an all-girls school wore hijabs, but would periodically take their whole scarf off to adjust their hair or fix their scarf. That seemed kind of contradictory, but I guess it was because the girls were forced to wear hijabs, so they didn’t care if they took them off once in a while since it wasn’t important to them.

Since it was a model United Nations conference, we, the delegates, were expected to use proper parliamentary procedure, and refer to each other as “delegate” when speaking to each other or asking questions about governmental policies.  Each representative was required to stand in front of the entire audience and speak on behalf of their assigned country considering a controversial topic. Here I am speaking.

As each speaker walked up to the podium, delivered their speech, and returned to their seats, they were met with warm applause. However, everything didn't turn out quite as orderly as expected. When the delegate of Israel (an Arab herself) stepped up to the podium, she was met with boos and hisses laced with hatred for the country she was randomly chosen to represent. The audience was comprised mostly of Arabs who had been taught that Jews are infidels, inferior, and somehow less than human than themselves. Since Jewish people that are born in Israel are not usually allowed to enter Saudi Arabia, these Arab kids had never met a Jew in their life, and yet they were convinced that everything Jews stand for is perverted and evil and that the only good Jew is a dead Jew. I was appalled. I had thought that at an international school, at a Model United Nations conference, these kids could put aside their hatred in the interest of propriety. But these Arab kids were jeering at a girl simply because of an ancestral argument.

Besides the many heated debates involving Israel, I had a fun time, learned a lot, and got free Krispy Kreme donuts.  So that was good.

- Jordan -