Day 1 by Miriam Otieno
Friday, 27 February 2009
It has been a very interesting day for me as I realized my body is able to adjust to my first experience of winter! Having been raised under the African sun and lived there for the entire 24 years of my life, I wasn’t sure I could survive another day! But I did, so I realise that change is not as bad as one might perceive. Our delegation to the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a team of eight WAGGGS representatives. There are young delegates from Kenya (Sheila Wangui and myself), Zambia (Blessings Misozi) and Brazil (Vanessa Fiuza). Nomusa Lauren Taylor-Dube from Canada will join us tomorrow. We are young leaders acting as the voice of girls from our countries and around the world.
This Friday has been marked with varied activities. In the morning, we were able to go to the United Nations Headquarters and register for the CSW forum. It was interesting to note the beautiful historic theme of the building, which comprised of a river design which has no end. At the centre is the pendulum that measures the movement of the earth which only exists in two places in the world. This architecture brings out the beauty of the building.
Three of the youth delegates participated in the IWHC training on advocacy.
We were able to visit the GSUSA offices and were given a warm reception by Adwoa Aidoo, who is the Global Advocacy Manager. In the conference room we saw an impressive display of thematic posters that had messages from the Girl Scouts, highlighting their interests and needs. To us it indicated the voices of the girls in action.
In the evening we had a meeting with the entire team from WAGGGS and we were briefed on the preparations for the meetings and presentations at the CSW.
Your comments
Jewel Hills - 5 March 2009 - 10.33PM (GMT)
It is great to read about the experience that the WAGGGS' delegation ishaving at the United Nations Conference. Your description of our visit reminded me of my visti to the UN headquarters. I visited the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland while I was at the Helen Storrow International Young Leaders' Seminar in 2006. It was an marvellous experience. I wish the delegation all the best for the rest of your stay!
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