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Model United Nations

WATER RESOLUTION

A resolution we (chairs) helped all the delegates to write together.

Sponsors: Israel Topic: Water resources

The General Assembly,

Recognizing that some international water disputes have been long-running and are highly complex,

Alarmed by the level of water pollution in certain areas,

Approving the usage of water treatment facilities globally,

1. Calls upon nations who rely on desalination as a major water source to submit to the UN a report detailing the environmental effects of said desalination, with regards to the following criteria:

a. The report shall be written by those qualified in the field of environmental surveys (the UN would recommend Environmental Impact Test professionals);

b. The report shall be written by professionals impartial to the country of which they are surveying (they may not bear citizenship or permanent residency, or equivalent), in order to ensure a fair survey;

2. Encourages nations to re-evaluate, in a similar format to the above, the effects on other nations any dams, canals or other water-bearing structures may have had, with respect to:

a. Potential conflicts, e.g. the event of one country’s dam cutting off another’s water supply;

b. Environmental impacts of said structures;

c. Conflicts of ownership with regards to international water disputes;

3. Urges nations to fund more heavily into water management, particularly in the education sector, in forms including but not limited to:

a. Secondary/tertiary education;

b. Further promote awareness through ways such as:

i. Advertisements on television and radios

ii. Public seminars in rural areas

c. Further research;

4. Recommends nations to consider more environmentally-friendly water-based energy sources such as hydroelectric power, but only under the conditions:

a. The usage of water would not cause any international conflict – using water from a specific source would not infringe on another nation’s sovereignty;

b. These sources are thoroughly researched, and the risk of unforeseen pollution is minimized;

5. Recommends any parties involved in fresh water conflicts to meet at a neutral location, monitored by an impartial nation to discuss any disagreements,

6. Encourages the establishment of an international fresh water committee, consisting of members from states of the United Nations to monitor the depletion of fresh water, particularly in relation to groundwater with rapidly depleting and/or depleted freshwater resources;

7. Requests all member nations of the UN with little or no water scarcity to commit to an unspecified fee designated to aid other countries with water scarcity,

8. Discourages farming in arid, low precipitation regions through decreasing subsidies and implementing quotas on the uptake of water for irrigation,

9. Encourages the use of technology which can measure soil saturation levels and other essential indicators in order to prevent wasteful use of water supplies for irrigation,

10. Calls upon the UN and member states to improve sanitation in rural areas to decrease human waste in bodies of water by providing sanitary products such as but not limited to:

a. Toilets with legitimate flush supply to gutters;

b. Clean water supply using renewable resources such as rainwater harvesting;

c. Establish regulatory laws preventing industrial factories from releasing wastes into watercourses;

11. Resolves to remain actively seized on the matter.

#mun #y12term1

Postcards to Africa

YEAR 12, TERM 1

I was a little iffy about the whole Postcards to Africa activity, because I wasn’t sure how it worked, and these things, but it was hugely enjoyable. We sewed sanitary pads for underpriveleged girls in Kenya, which are reusable and environmentally-friendly. We also provided material for them to learn to make their own.

It turned out I was the only one in our little group with any experience with a sewing machine, and I found the activity extremely fun as well as actually helping people. It was a great way to unwind at the end of the day, and it is a cause I feel strongly about. The fact is that many girls miss days of school every month, because they don’t have proper sanitation and the facilities to deal with their periods, and I really do believe that education is the key to ending poverty. This is something we’ve further explored in Geography. Education is really very powerful and girls in Kenya are much less likely to be able to go to school than boys anyway, because families will often favour boys’ education. The odds are stacked against them and though this may not have been the most efficient way of helping, we did something good.

All the materials we made the pads out of were donated, including sewing machines and thread, and they were waterproofed by, of all things, a layer of shower curtain between layers of felt. I thought it was very interesting to see the resourcefulness behind the design – necessity really is the mother of invention. Different people did different things - design, sewing, cutting things out etc. I mostly helped with the sewing because I was the best at it - but it was fun to help teach the others how to use the machines.

I plan to continue with this next term, for sure.

#y12term1 #service #postcards

Fencing

YEAR 12, TERM 1

At the start of this term I thought it would be fun to try a new sport. At my previous school I was involved with basketball and football, but I decided to try fencing here at JIS.

I was a bit worried in the beginning. Almost everyone else in the class had had some experience with it before. I was moved to a different class for older students, where I was the least experienced person there. This presented a challenge.

It has pushed me past certain limits. I was not aware it was possible to sit in a cat stance for half an hour, but it is, as I found out. Also socially – being social is not one of my strengths and it is definitely something I need to work on. There were three of us from JIS and two students from ISB, and a new teacher, so in the beginning it was quite awkward. I wasn’t sure it would ever get easier, but I found out that I just need to work on being more social. That will be my big aim for the next few months. I also plan to undertake some form of fitness training, which will help my fencing, too.

#y12term1 #action #fencing

Model United Nations

YEAR 12, TERM 1

It has been a very busy term, but a hugely enjoyable one. I ran for Secretary General in MUN, along with three others, and I was made deputy, back in Week 3 (15th September ‘14). I have chaired some of our sessions, and alongside another deputy-SG we planned out the meetings for three weeks, as some people were going on a THIMUN trip to Singapore. On those days I didn’t chair I represented the Russian Federation, which was very interesting.

We did this collaboratively – we thought of a topic, and then content for our sessions. The first session we planned was on water management. There were only around 8 of us there that session (Nov 17th), so we had some fun with it, and decided we’d try to write a resolution. We split the delegates up into random groups of three, and each wrote two clauses for our resolution. James D (who I chaired with) went and made sure everyone was on the right track, and I wrote some clauses for it. I will upload it when I find it.

We spent the next session, when everyone was back from the Singapore trip, debate the resolution we wrote. There were some amendments made, but it passed by a majority.

We thought that the splitting-people-up thing had gone so well that we’d try it again, so in our next session we did a little research on climate change and then wrote a resolution for it in that manner. We debated it, too, and it passed. (1 Dec.)

We also planned the superlatives, which I ended up in charge of. Superlatives are funny titles we give to each other, affectionately, and they are awarded with a certificate. We (Lemuel, James D and I) came up with 16 titles – including “Most Likely To Start World War III” and “Most Controversial Delegate”. I take care of the voting – everyone who was present at our last meeting voted, and I sent round an email with the titles in for people to vote for. I count the votes. I created the News Quiz, and presented it.

Next week we’ll be presenting our superlatives, and having a small party, with food and the like.

Some of the things we discussed were quite controversial topics – like Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine. It was strange for me to represent Russia in this issue, especially as I very much disagreed with Russia’s actions in the Ukraine. It was a challenge to represent Russia, morally speaking; I am used to representing countries I disagree with, but going up there and defending the shooting of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was something I felt wasn’t right. It was very strange, and I did a lot of thinking on whether it was morally OK for me to argue so strongly for something quite so horrible. I concluded that it was, because if we don’t look at things from new perspectives, we don’t learn.

I learned some things about planning activites – you can’t plan out everything too strictly, or it just won’t work. You have to be adaptable when you’re chairing – a topic that you might find extremely interesting and useful might not be good for everyone else. Chairing was a new challenge – I’d had a little experience with it previously, but not much, and I felt it turned out well. It was confusing in the beginning, because JIS uses a slightly different system to the one I’m used to, but it worked out just fine. I attended every MUN session and I have the register to prove it. It was fun to plan the sessions and I will post the superlatives, which are still ongoing, when they’re finished. We discussed a huge variety of issues – from gender inequality to ex-Soviet states.

#y12term1 #creativity #mun

Norway in the 1800′s

Main features of the industrial revolution and the importance it had for economic development and social conditions in the Norwegian society.

Modern Norway:

In the 1800′s, Norway had an industrial revolution, where the country was integrated into the developing part of the world economy. Norway was dominated by primary industries (fish, potatoes, corn) and self-sufficient households (they milked cows) During the 1800s. This means that Norway became a modern industrial society with economic growth.

The industrial revolution began when new spin and vevmaskiner was used to meet the demand for cheap clothes for the rapidly growing population. Industrial society brought overcrowded cities with many environmental problems, poor hygienic conditions and long hard work in factories.

The middle class and working class was growing strongly and this meant that many workers were in more stable positions in society. Norway was hit hard after the Napoleonic wars, and it occurred after an economic crisis. Norway had to act as an independent state.

Economy:

The timber industry had been one of the most important export industries in Norway, England imposed a high import tariff that made Norwegian timber owners fall bankrupt, leading to the economic upper class in Norway to dissolve. However, the timber industry regained its popularity and exported to the Netherlands and France.

Because of the struggle in the timber industry, led to the decline in the Norwegian shipping industry. Many of the ships were owned by large timber owners, and disappeared when they went bankrupt.

Politics:

It was an intense political battle in 1870 and 1880 years between officials and the (new groups) Parliament is a principle that says a government must have a majority in parliament for their policies. The parliamentary principle had his breakthrough in 1884.

#y12term1

Hedda Gabler - Performance Evaluation

Wednesday 15th of October 2015

I felt very established in Aunt Juju’s character, and I felt I worked well with the space, managing to balance out the proxemics. I felt I articulated most of my phrases and my diction came through. I also found myself, by having an audience present, I wasn’t obsessively thinking about what my characters’ thoughts should be, but instead, they started to come naturally. I also managed to stutter on a line, however I felt I fixed it whilst staying in character, not losing my sense of focus and sustaining the energy and character development throughout.

I definitely felt I could have pushed my embarrassment and hurt when Hedda referred to my hat as belonging to Berthe’s. I think I definitely could have played that more, and really made that an evident moment of feeling belittled and almost ashamed, after trying very hard to impress, and in turn, being fatally turned down. I felt as though I didn’t recognise it as a key moment in the scene on Aunt Juju’s side, and didn’t play it to its full potential.

I asked an audience member what they thought, and they got the impression that the energy I brought was very light and positive. They felt I commanded the stage and brought the essence of an elderly woman who embodied nurturing qualities. They also said my diction was very clear, and the lines were all audible and well delivered, making the scene easy to understand and follow. They also liked my journey in emotion, they could really tell what was being thought internally which I feel is a great success.

One thing they mentioned, which I realised myself, was the moment of embarrassment could have definitely have been played more - as it was an open opportunity to really bring my character to life with a different emotion.

I feel I learned that to really play key moments as such, that are very important to my character development, I need to really earn the significance in the atmosphere. I need to take a moment to vocalise or physicalise the emotions, so that the moment can be shared with space and the audience to highlight the importance of it. To do this, I think a great technique to heighten those key moments is to fully understand why it is key. Personally, I felt it was important because it would have been an expression of shame and rejection, which are opposite to Aunt Juju’s objectives. Then, I would need to live it, find something I want to do and then have something negatively opposite happen instead. That way, I would feel immersed into the feeling of being let down, painfully as well.

What I enjoyed most about this experience was tapping into naturalism and trying to fully embody my character within myself. I loved playing Aunt Juju, I felt she brought something different to the table. I have a greater understanding on Stanislavsky’s work, and how I can use his methods to further improve my understanding of a character and how I can use my own personal interpretation to characterise with success.

#y12term1

Hedda Gabler - Rehearsals

Tuesday 14th of October 2015

In our rehearsal prior to our dress rehearsal, we started by working on our opening that helped route our character. The main premise of our introduction to the play, was to use a psychological gesture. We needed to distribute our energy internally and externally, and our main theme needed to be lead with yearning: what our character wants. I used the gesture of cradling a baby, and caressing the womb - to further emphasise Aunt Juju desperately wanting her nephew to have something she never had legitimately. A baby. Using the psychological gesture was incredibly beneficial to transform into our characters and let go of our real selves. It also planted our characters objectives into our minds, and recognising our characters emotional motives.

The general feedback I got was that I needed to "new-mint" the words, to manipulate my voice so that the words I spoke sounded as if they've just been spoken for the first time; as they've only been heard by the audience for the first time. Jack encouraged that we needed to earn the silences, take time when using articulation in the voice, and make sure to persist in pronunciation and diction. Another priority is to resist going back on the line to sustain the ease and fluency, and avoiding creating wooden moments. What Jack observed was that we were picking up on each other's queues, which made the overall scene very captivating to watch, as there was a steady flow. My character work was now very much entertaining the energy in the room and keeping the ambience positive, which I believe is Aunt Juju's thesis.

#y12term1

Hedda Gabler - Rehearsals

Tuesday 6th of October 2015

We started today's session with character work. We were asked to think of a gesture in relation to our character, in association with a feeling. I chose to sniff the flowers I brought for the new couple, that reminded me of blossoming life. This was very important for my characters development as Aunt Juju’s prominent intentions is for her nephew and his new bride to live a happily married life with children. I can use this further for future characters to ensure I have an idea as what can be paired internally and externally, to share it with the the world of the play and the world of the theatre.

After running through the performance as a whole and our own individual scenes, Jack had a few comments for us overall and comments on our own individual performances.

Overall:

Earn your beat changes, really feel the thoughts the characters would feel and the journey they’re going on internally. We need to consider the thoughts behind the words, as what is being said and unsaid in comparison with each other is important.

Prioritise and really feel the characters “moments”, and cherish them. My moment I feel for Aunt Juju would be her line “I feel safe now”. It’s a moment of her nostalgia and when she really sits down and expresses her emotion.

Think about our voices, in the time of the 1800′s we really need to put thought into the way we speak and deliver lines: each syllable is routed and well performed.

Individual:

As it’s the first scene, I must ensure that I keep the ambience of it positive and uplifting, with of course a few moments of drops in the mood, but the overall atmosphere should remain spirited.

The sense of excitement and nervousness must come across externally as well as internally, possibly fussing around with the space, noticing another bouquet of flowers, questioning the layout of the room etc.

The subtext of the majority of my lines is wanting a baby in the picture, so I should make that obvious yet subtle so that the audience can understand clearly my characters objective.

#y12term1