The Experience Of A Youth Observer

As I begin this piece,I have had a whirlwind of experience, I don't know where to begin. Do I write about my experience as a youth observer,the life of a ‘NEW YORKER’ ,or my daily fun filled experience. I am still uncertain so I would try to capture bits and pieces of every part of this trip.

As a youth representative ,I did not just engage leaders I came across about the youth involvement in achieving SDGs,the use of veto,migrant and refugee crisis, I desired to find how different the model united nations sessions i had participated in was from the actual General Assembly .

I waited with keen interest to find out our county stand on various issues bothering the world. Although prior to the presidents speech, we had met at a meeting with the Ghanaian Community in New York and engaged in a brief conversation.The first lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, who is also president of OAFLA(Organization of African First Ladies Association) gave an account of how far she has come with regards to adolescent reproductive health, women’s rights , and the way forward to reach out to many more women. Right after the presidents speech, we moved to another meeting with heads of African countries whilst prior to the presidents speech The president moved right after to another bilateral meetings. After his bilateral meeting, i had the opportunity to engage him again on some of the things he stated during his speech. As the conversation was on going , the president was alerted that it was time for his next meeting and we had to move again. In case wondering, yes you read right the president had about five meetings on that very day. There was a final session for the day where individuals from different nations displayed their products, ideas hoping to catch the eye of the president. The President , the communication minister and his entourage ,my self posed some questions concerning the products and ideas displayed.

The following day, i joined a youth session in Colombia university,which was an international conference on sustainable development.as youth we shared ideas on our quota to achieving the SDGs, we also listened to some seasoned speakers on their contributions to achieving the SDGs. One of the speakers , i was enthralled with was a lady mobilizing governments, businesses and investors to support young women in science, technology and basically teaching young African girls how to ‘code’.

Ever wondered why ,New York has been dubbed unofficially as the city that never sleeps? I believe I chanced on why ,as official duties were over, I had some opportunity to go through some streets of New York. I got to times square around 10pm, there was so much lights in every corner and so many people on the move, I began to question my instincts if it was day or night. I have re dubbed it as ‘the city that never sleeps, the people always on the move’. The individuals always seem to be in a hurry, running , walking briskly to the subway station to catch a train or to wherever they seem to be going. Time is an essential factor, if you are to catch a train or a bus or meet with someone, a minute after is more than enough to miss it or the individual. To move from one subway station to catch a train , you need to swipe a metro card through a machine to give you to the access to the train. My facilitator got me a metro card, you should witness the scene of me swiping and not getting access through. Whist others went through with just one swipe, all you could hear from my end was a pi!, pi!, sound from my end as if the machine was announcing to everyone who cared to listen, she just arrived! There is so much to share ,but i would leave it here, this is an experience ,I would encourage everyone to undertake.

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