Sarees & Speeches – Final COMUN Conference 2024🗣️

Day #1 – Narnia 

March 1st – 3rd, the day had finally arrived; COMUN’s 30th session. The first day, March 1st, was a Friday. So, unfortunately (excitingly) I got to miss school in order to attend the opening ceremony and do MUN related work throughout the day.

We were advised to wear sarees, a national piece of Sri Lankan clothing. Since we had to be in school early in the morning (7:00 am), and I live in town (it takes a while to get to school), I was not even considering trying to drape a saree that early in the morning. I’ve never done it before and I was not going to learn when I’m half asleep. But it was okay since my friend Aadhya had told me the day before she could just drape it for me. She was not able to do it. So, as I was in the school bathroom and my saree falling off, I was getting a bit stressed. No one was in school at the time and I could not come up with a solution. Until one of the cleaning ladies came into the bathroom, and stopped and observed the mess of a saree I had on. We innocently smiled at her and asked her if she could help us. It was really cute because it seemed like she was so ready for the task. I was saved. She beautifully draped the saree on me and I felt like a princess. I also wore heels, which made me feel so professional. I had my usually messy curly hair, in a slicked bun and really felt like I was about to sign some contract. Also, to the cleaning lady who helped me out, thank you, you were my savior, so, thank you so so much.  

After being a little behind on schedule, we made our way to the auditorium, and let me tell you one thing I learned from this experience: 

1. 1. Never run in heels 
   2. Never run in a saree 

I almost tripped, multiple times. Not fun. But, better late than never, I guess; at last Vicky and I (head of media, she also got her saree draped by one of the cleaning ladies) arrived in the auditorium.

The opening ceremony was an amazing experience, it was done and organized so well and really felt like I was sitting at the UN headquarters in New York. In order to honor everybody’s hard work, the opening ceremony ended with each Exco member being called up on stage to receive their gavel and a moment of appreciation. 

I have a short story for you. The day before the conference Aura, the secretary general had asked me how to pronounce my last name, so that they could call me up on stage the next morning. I have 2 last names, one from my dad and one from my mum. I told Aura that it might just be easier to use one of them, “Nanla”.  It isn’t very hard to pronounce, the 2nd “n” is silent so it’s like “Nala” – like the lion from Disney’s The Lion King. So, it would just be Nayara Nala. Easy. Right? So, when it was finally my turn, I just heard the woman go, “and please welcome our Deputy Head of Community Service, Nayara Narnia”. Yes, Narnia, like the Chronicles of Narnia; the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. I had to control every single thought in my body in order to not burst out laughing. I closed my eyes before going on stage because I was not about to laugh in front of 300 people. It was quite a funny moment. I really thought I was making it easier with the whole Nayara Nala, but, clearly not. 

Anyways, I got a bit side tracked here. On the first day nothing much happened. As working in the community service section, I don’t have much to do concerning the actual conference. So I just sat there, caught up on school work and helped out the Exco here and there. I didn’t even have to be present on the second day, as again, my job does not exactly concern the actual conference. 

Final Day – Speeches, Sweat & Stress 

So, this was a very … interesting day. I was told I had to be at the Taj – a stunning venue for COMUN’s 30th session and final day – at 7:30 am. Now if there is one thing you should know about me, is that I don’t like getting up early on the WEEKEND. I do it the whole week, so I need my 8-10h on the weekend! It’s what fuels me through the week. But, duty called, I guess.

They needed me to be there at 7:30 to take Exco pictures. I was there at 7:30. I had to wear a saree again, and I could not find anyone who was able to do it, until Aura told me her mum could do it for me. She then did it – so a big big thank you to her. I don’t want to bore you, so all you really need to know about my morning is that we did not end up taking the Exco pictures and I went home at 9 o’clock. I was not needed and I had a ton of work to complete. I was told to be back at the Taj at 1pm to take photos. However, everyone was so busy, the pictures were not taken.

I brought my laptop, and decided to stay at the Taj, from where I was doing my homework. Avi, head of community service, and I had to prepare a speech for the closing ceremony later in the evening. If you really want to listen to the speech, press this link and watch from 1:04:00 –  1:08:40. Or here is the link to the script. The speech summarizes our community service project for this year’s conference, it also encourages people to donate. This year’s community service project was in collaboration with SLMUN, the largest Model United Nations conference in Sri Lanka. This was the first time I’ve ever spoken in front of so many people; at least 300. I was really nervous, but I think it went pretty alright. Up until that point, we had not gone to deliver our donations yet, we were more encouraging people to continue donating. Soon, I will do a post on all the amazing donations we received, and on the trip to Puttalam we ended up going to. 

Overall, the final ceremony was quite long, but I was very grateful for the experience and everything I learned these couple days. I have a newfound respect for everybody in the Exco, who have had to juggle the immense workload of organizing this conference, but also school work, social lives and sports. I’m very happy and thankful for this experience, but, in the nicest way possible, I am happy it is over. 

Now, onto my real COMUN work, Avi, Vicky and I will be going on this Community Service Trip to deliver all the donations in Puttalam on April 7th, 2024. 

If you would like to look at the official COMUN website, press here!