You’ll forgive our Grade 10 students if they were a bit startled as they reached the top of the escalator inside the Qatar National Convention Center: standing in the middle of the main area is a 10-meter high spider, a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. It includes a sac of 26 marble eggs and its ribs are made of bronze. Welcome to Doha.
Beneath this arachnid mingled hundreds of students, all participants in the Model United Nations conference. All told, over two thousand students are taking part; ten are ours.
MUN is structured like the real UN and students were assigned to specific committees in which to debate real-world issues and develop written resolutions addressing these issues. It would be a great understatement to say that Grade 10 was a nervous bunch as we pulled up to the convention center at 7:00 this morning.
Soon the whole thing was underway and I’m thrilled to report that our students had a fabulous day. Giving speeches, taking part in debate, contributing to resolutions; our students did the work of the UN and did it with a lot of enthusiasm. We received compliments on their performance. They represented ABIS proudly.
The day ended with the opening ceremony, in which our ambassador, Trisha, carried in the Panamanian flag. The very nice affair was punctuated by a speech and performance by Emanuel Jal, a former child soldier from Sudan who is now a peace advocate and hip hop star. It was truly inspirational.
Tomorrow students are back in the committee rooms for debate and amendments to their resolutions.
This album has more photos of day. I’ll keep it up to date as the days progress.