R) Malak Beydoun. Rabeeha Abdurehim and Ayah Farsi at the DAHMUN conference's awards ceremony in Jeddah, Thursday. (SG photos by Hirah Azhar) They range between 16 and 18 years of age but their ambition, drive and thoughts have already rendered their ages irrelevamt. At a time when the outlandish behavior of teenagers is cited as an ever-growing cause for concern around the world, the “best delegate” winners at the Model United Nations conference at Dar Al-Hekma (DAHMUN) this year displayed one common trait: an almost precocious sense of awareness of world affairs. “I loved how we had to represent the views of our countries, not our personal views,” remarked Malak Beydoun, a 16-year-old student from Al-Hamraa Girls' School who represented Algeria and won the award in the Human Rights Council (HRC). A 17-year-old student at Jeddah Knowledge International School, Ayah Farsi, won the award in the Security Council (SC) after representing Venezuela. She feels the same kind of passion for debate. “I can't really say I agree with Venezuela's opinions on the situation, but one thing that drove me to argue and fight was the genuinely growing concern over the civilians in Libya,” she remarked. DAHMUN officers, who both organized the event and chaired the different sessions, were equally amazed by the delegates. “I was inspired to see 16-year-olds discussing topics that a typical 16-year-old would not be interested to engage in,” commented Nadine Mojadidi, DAHMUN's Secretary General. “It shows you how events that have taken place in the Middle East have really hit home for these girls.” “They have proven that we shouldn't lose hope in the generations to come,” observed Layan Al-Khouli, an 18-year-old sophomore at Dar Al-Hekma, who was the chair of the HRC. “They are trying to participate in the present so that one day they can take control of the future.” Her co-chair, the 20-year-old Assistant Secretary General of DAHMUN, Rawaa Abdulkarim said: “Looking at Malak Beydoun in HRC committee, had me wishing to go back to my highschool days just to give MUN a try then.” “What was even more impressive is that there were a lot of girls who had solid, rigid opinions that they've preserved about current world events,” observed Nour AlKathiri, DAHMUN's Correspondence Secretary. Future leaders Rabeeha Abdurehim, an 18-year-old student of the International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ), represented Qatar in the General Assembly and won the award for the “best delegate”. As an aspiring journalist, she is “very interested” in politics. She was awed by the whole MUN experience. “I have never experienced a situation where young people speak and debate about a subject that is usually regarded as ‘boring'. I never thought politics would be so interesting!” Rabeeha confessed that she probably had to spend more time researching the various rules and regulations than the actual conflicts. “I decided to learn with the flow and was quick to grasp the concepts and learn from my mistakes. Basically I learned by doing and wasn't scared of making mistakes,” she said. She will miss the “atmosphere of mutual understanding, friendliness and love” the organizers managed to create in the sessions but is glad that the conference boosted her knowledge of world affairs. “Most of my teachers are shocked when they hear us discussing Gaddafi or Osama Bin Laden or Obama's policies!” she laughed. Ayah has previously attended MUN conferences but stated that DAHMUN 2011 has been the best so far. “From the start of the conference I was reassured, Venezuela was anything but neutral on the situation. It was quite overwhelming at times, and at one point during the last day of the conference, I was attacked by opposing countries and couldn't even finish my sentence. Personally, I was impressed at the tactic they used, it worked! But I pulled myself together and said what I had to say,” she noted. Ayah was born in Washington and grew up there before moving to Jeddah when she was 10 years old. “When I found out Venezuela's stance on the no-fly zone, I started to panic a little at first...I looked up international relations and knew what I had coming for me when I saw that I wasn't the best friend to the US!” she laughed. She is pleased about the reaction to her award. “My mom made the news article her BBM picture, and she's been carrying the newspaper around showing it to everyone! she said. “I was actually extremely happy when my English teacher told me how proud she was; coming from her, it meant a lot.” Her outlook towards the world has shifted a bit as a result of this experience. “Before, it was just anger and frustration, but being part of the Security Council in particular showed me that it was my line of thinking that needed adjustment. All that anger wasn't going to get anyone anywhere. The conference brought on so many personal realizations; I can't even begin to list them all. I was ignorant walking into that forum, compared to when I had walked right out of it,” she explained. Ayah's thoughts are mirrored by Malak, who told Saudi Gazette that the conference “exceeded” her expectations. “When hearing about things, I usually feel like they're over rated, but the conference exceeded my expectations. There were both hilarious and educational moments. I spent the next three days after the conference trying to stop speaking in third person!” she laughed. The experience was a definite eye-opener for her. “I used to say ‘I don't do politics'. I'm definitely more involved now,” she stated. Oiling the DAHMUN machine Most delegates remarked that they had no words to express how inspirational and helpful the DAHMUN officers had been. “They've set the path for young women all over the country to get involved. With all that is happening in our world, this generation is the promise for our future,” remarked Ayah. Faiza Rizvi chaired the SC sessions and as one of the society's “old hands”, she has witnessed the initiative's journey. “I can never forget the day when MUN was introduced to me in my first year of college by Dr.Chaman while I was taking a course with her in one of her classes,” she said. “I was one of the first students to join MUN, back in 2007, was elected as the Vice President in my second year at MUN and the journey since then has been more than amazing! She added that the selection of the best delegate in each committee was also a challenge. “The most important factor for me was the level of confidence of the delegate, the depth of their research and their level of understanding of the topic. Moreover, correctly following the rules of MUN was also important,” she explained. Many DAHMUN officers could relate to what most delegates were experiencing during the sessions, because they've been in the same position not too long ago. The HRC's co-chair, Layan Al-Khouli, for example, said that her first MUN experience was when she was only 13 years old. “I participated in the BonaMUN held in Amsterdam when I was only 13,” she said. “My middle school, Jeddah Private School, was the first Saudi school to participate in an international MUN conference and that was back in 2006.” For many of these young women, the highlight of this initiative is to see girls – not unlike themselves – become more confident, focused and involved in world governance. “For me, the real joy and inspiration comes from positively changing the lives of young people and transforming them into articulate, well-rounded and hopefully active members of their community,” said Shaima Alhaj, co-chair of this year's General Assembly (she is a founder of the club and last year's Secretary General). “We've been personally asked by our dean to start planning for our next conference as of today!” remarked Nadine. “We're hoping to go national next year. We're aiming to invite schools who have MUN clubs in other cities in Saudi Arabia. We've already contacted schools in Dhahran and Riyadh and hence, extra planning and hard work awaits us! We're also planning on coaching schools in Jeddah to set up their own MUN clubs.” Ayah summed the entire experience superbly by highlighting the sheer novelty of the initiative. “It's completely new to our society, and yet it's gotten the attention of so many people,” she said. “And it's like a ripple effect. Last year's conference was held for almost half the delegates participating this year, it's only going to grow larger InshaAllah.”
