Every year the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) hosts a MUN conference with its member schools and invites other schools to be honorary members. This year the conference was planned to be hosted by the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL).  Every year the American International School (AISD) is invited to send 10 delegates to be a part of the conference. 8 delegates and 2 chairs were chosen to travel to Malaysia and represent the school’s MUN team. I was lucky to have been a part of the 10.

Two months before the conference we received word of the countries we to represent and which committee we would be in. I was chosen to represent Syria in SPECPOL  After finding out my delegation I got to work right away.  A lot of topics that would be debated mainly pertained to Syria. For the next two months, I researched and prepared for the big conference. I felt prepared for the conference.

 

Day 1.

We arrived at ISKL at 6:30 in the morning and we sat in the theater waiting for the opening ceremony to begin. By 8:30 the opening ceremony was over and we went to our committee rooms. As I walked in there were two rows tables set up. I saw a placard with Syria written on it. I sat there and introduced myself to the delegates next to me. Soon the chairs called the house to order and we started our opening speeches. I gave my opening speech, and while I did stutter and stumble a bit I was still decently happy with the execution.

Afterward, we were given time to lobby. A group formed around me asking to make a resolution on the topic the pertains Syria. I said yes and we got to work. While we did work hard on the resolution we also spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each other. I met people from many different schools and even found that we had mutual friends.

When it came time to represent our resolution, I heavily supported it making for speeches for the resolution and against speeches for any amendments. I even requested for the rights to reply, which was something I’ve never done before. Ultimately our resolution was passed and we moved onto a new resolution. The rest of the day wasn’t as intense as the topic was didn’t greatly impact Syria in however I still participated and made sure Syria’s voice was heard.

Around 5 PM the first day was over and we all went back to the hotel we were staying in.

 

Day 2.

We got to school a little later because we didn’t have the ceremony however, the debates started right away. The debates today were more intense and I did struggle to keep up however I did try my best to defend Syria. Most of the resolutions debated today were on topics that pertained to Syria so I had to be sharp. I tried to maintain diplomacy but it was very difficult at times when delegates were attacking Syria.

I manage to get through the day even though it was very stressful. Towards the end of the, all the delegates in SPECPOL were tired and we started messing about and making irrelevant POIs just to pass the time. Soon it was the end of the day, we were all sad since it was our last time being in these committees since the next day was general assembly.

 

Day 3.

Today was general assembly, which meant that all the delegations came today in one room and we debate a few of the resolutions that were passed in each committee. I sat with my delegation and we got to work right away. We made speeches and POIs.  After debating the first resolution, the lights suddenly turned off and alarms blared. This was the sign of the iconic IASAS event. Crisis is  a hypothetical situation is created by the secretariat and delegations join together and create resolutions combating the issue at hand. The crisis is often the highlight of many people’s conferences as it is a lot of fun and it becomes very tense over light subjects..

This time the situation was that War erupted in the Middle east and our job as delegates was to “Bring peace to the Middle East”. The delegation of Syria collaborated with many middle eastern countries to create a resolution that was ultimately passed. I had a lot of fun at  general assembly. I met a lot of people and heard a lot of people’s opinions. I realized that my opinions are not the only valid ones.

 

Overall this conference really pushed me to be more confident in my public speaking abilities and to not let what other people think of me. I made many friends and memories that I will never forget.