Maria Kirmani, Grade 12
MUWCI
At MUWCI, we refer to our school clubs as “trivenis” and “Global Affairs “ is a triveni that I personally immediately wanted to be a part of. Our triveni essentially holds bi-monthly sessions on topics/news/conflicts of both global and international significance as well as on national and local level issues.
Getting to educate others about topics of immense importance that essentially shape the world we live in, while also getting to learn, research and look at these issues from different perspectives seemed like an amazing avenue to dedicate my time towards.
Every single Global Affairs session we conduct teaches me something about the world and about the lives of my fellow students from different corners of the world and leaves me with new knowledge and important lessons that will benefit me throughout my life. Meeting twice to plan a session before it actually happens, dealing with all the logistics, coming up with a structure, brainstorming ideas to make the session interesting, dividing work, taking on roles, making informative presentations, making fact and cheat sheets about different topics are all things that I was expected to do as a member of the triveni, taught me a lot about being active and engaged in things as well as taking initiative to lead.
I facilitated one of the global affairs sessions on "Leaks: whether or not they're ethical?" and the experience challenged me to get out of my comfort zone in a lot of ways, as even though I'm someone who enjoys public speaking, facilitating a session for a room full of teenagers at 8 in the morning taught me a lot about being quick on my feet, how to make engagement and awareness fun, moderating discussions effectively and being confident in the things I say.
In my opinion, perhaps, one of the most prominent sessions we had during my time in the triveni was The Ad Hoc session on Ukraine; it was almost as if we called an emergency Global Affairs meeting.
It was 9pm at the school's football field, and honestly, as much as I believe we as a UWC community care about world issues and what's going on around us, I still didn't expect such a large number of people to show up on such short notice, but I was proven wrong, and I'm glad I was. I'm proud of our community for proving me wrong. Being in a room with people who had, for the most part, no immediate implications in their lives as a result of this, coming together and speaking so strongly and passionately about it was a captivating experience.
We don't have a Ukrainian in our batch or the second-year batch, but what struck me as significant was that all of the teachers and second-year students in that session kept recalling and discussing "Maks," a Ukrainian who attended MUWCI and was in the batch above our second-year students. Listening to these people express their feelings about something that happened so swiftly, about something so painful, in a way that, despite their differing perspectives, echoed empathy throughout the discussion.
This session, in my opinion, represented the heart and soul of what Global Affairs is intended to give as a triveni; it demonstrated that we, as a community, need and should care. There are a lot of people in the world who turn a blind eye to things or don't worry about them too much since they don't affect them. Everyone can have empathy, but it is only when we take responsibility for our own education that we are able to grow our conscience and possibly make a difference in the lives of others, and if not, in our own.
Getting to educate others about topics of immense importance that essentially shape the world we live in, while also getting to learn, research and look at these issues from different perspectives seemed like an amazing avenue to dedicate my time towards.
Every single Global Affairs session we conduct teaches me something about the world and about the lives of my fellow students from different corners of the world and leaves me with new knowledge and important lessons that will benefit me throughout my life. Meeting twice to plan a session before it actually happens, dealing with all the logistics, coming up with a structure, brainstorming ideas to make the session interesting, dividing work, taking on roles, making informative presentations, making fact and cheat sheets about different topics are all things that I was expected to do as a member of the triveni, taught me a lot about being active and engaged in things as well as taking initiative to lead.
I facilitated one of the global affairs sessions on "Leaks: whether or not they're ethical?" and the experience challenged me to get out of my comfort zone in a lot of ways, as even though I'm someone who enjoys public speaking, facilitating a session for a room full of teenagers at 8 in the morning taught me a lot about being quick on my feet, how to make engagement and awareness fun, moderating discussions effectively and being confident in the things I say.
In my opinion, perhaps, one of the most prominent sessions we had during my time in the triveni was The Ad Hoc session on Ukraine; it was almost as if we called an emergency Global Affairs meeting.
It was 9pm at the school's football field, and honestly, as much as I believe we as a UWC community care about world issues and what's going on around us, I still didn't expect such a large number of people to show up on such short notice, but I was proven wrong, and I'm glad I was. I'm proud of our community for proving me wrong. Being in a room with people who had, for the most part, no immediate implications in their lives as a result of this, coming together and speaking so strongly and passionately about it was a captivating experience.
We don't have a Ukrainian in our batch or the second-year batch, but what struck me as significant was that all of the teachers and second-year students in that session kept recalling and discussing "Maks," a Ukrainian who attended MUWCI and was in the batch above our second-year students. Listening to these people express their feelings about something that happened so swiftly, about something so painful, in a way that, despite their differing perspectives, echoed empathy throughout the discussion.
This session, in my opinion, represented the heart and soul of what Global Affairs is intended to give as a triveni; it demonstrated that we, as a community, need and should care. There are a lot of people in the world who turn a blind eye to things or don't worry about them too much since they don't affect them. Everyone can have empathy, but it is only when we take responsibility for our own education that we are able to grow our conscience and possibly make a difference in the lives of others, and if not, in our own.
www.unitedworldwide.co