Four pupils from Kingswood College travelled to Egypt to attend the Junior International Model United Nations Conference and Debate hosted by the American University in Cairo recently.
Four pupils from Kingswood College travelled to Egypt to attend the Junior International Model United Nations Conference and Debate hosted by the American University in Cairo recently.
Kingswood was one of only two schools from sub-Saharan Africa to attend along with a number of international schools from Egypt and the Middle East.
The first three days were spent in training sessions to teach pupils how United Nations debates work, and then followed two days in a mock-up of an actual UN sitting where a number of international issues were debated, among others, nuclear non-proliferation, peace in Sudan and UN-sponsored educational projects like the One Laptop Per Child campaign.
The four Kingswood pupils, Abigail Branford, Thandwefika Radebe, Lonah Dyani and Aidan Seymour-Butler were involved in several debates with Thandwefika being voted the best delegate of the conference for the high standard of his debating.
The pupils were accompanied by the teacher-in-charge of debating at Kingswood, Theuns Opperman. Egyptian and Middle Eastern students had very little knowledge about sub-Saharan Africa in general and South Africa in particular, so Lonah and Abigail were asked to represent South Africa in the council meetings to try and redress this issue.
Abigail said: “The challenge was immense. What began as a quiet educational process of learning the structure, purpose, process and etiquette of the UN soon turned into an exciting swarm of ideas, agendas and witty remarks. Another striking feature was the decorum of the debate. Having to address the Honourable Chair each time before speaking and passing motions, going into formal voting procedure and raising our golden placards all added to the very official atmosphere. During the suspensions and caucuses the debaters proved to be even more interesting than the debating.”
The conference was a highly motivational experience for the students. There was time for sightseeing, and the pupils were able to visit attractions around Cairo like the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, the Egyptian Museum and a papyrus centre.
They also visited the famous Khan el Khalili market, downtown Cairo and enjoyed a cruise on the Nile. Opperman said, “Cairo is a vibrant, imposing city of around 22 million people. It is growing at an enormous pace and massive construction projects abound. Traffic is challenging – there are no traffic lights to regulate all these people! The whole experience was an enriching one on many different levels for our pupils, and one we hope to repeat in future.”
Abigail Branford is from George and was announced as the Kingswood Dux Scholar for 2010 at the College Prizegiving Ceremony last week. She was not present for this having chosen to take up the Cairo experience. Thandwefika Radebe, in Grade 11, is from Pretoria, Lonah Dyani also in Grade 11, is from Dutywa, and Aidan Seymour-Butler, is in Grade 10 and is from Botswana.
