Maria Crona – Personal på vift

11 augusti, 201411 augusti, 2014

Final day and Roleplay – Day 7

At 9.00 am we started the Roleplay. 10 countries were supposed to ad new admendments to a new protocol to the Refugee Convention from 1951 (1967). All the country groups had worked so hard, some of them long after midnight. The day was long and intense and everyone made an effort to contribute to the debate.

Nathan from JMU in the States representing Germany is trying to find an alley with Julia from Malmö University who is representing USA.

My countrygroup made great effort with their suggestions of amendments but it was hard to represent a developed country when the majority of the country was developing country. But I think everyone learned alot from the roleplay.

Finally we had reach the goal and everyone was reliefed and happy. At a small cermony all students were given a diploma and than we all met up at the Mermaid Café for a final dinner toghter.

It feels emotional to say goodbye to everyone and I will bring back home new friendship from all around the world and also with lots of thoughts and new ideas about myself as a Global Citizen. I strongly recommend both students and staff to take the chance and go to Hiroshima next year. It´s a great experience!

Tomorrow Konomi, one of my students, will guide me and two other students in her hometown Kyoto before I go back home to Malmö.

9 augusti, 20149 augusti, 2014

Countrygroup work with Tyfoon coming in -day 4 and 5

Friday and Saturday has been very busy day for all of us, both with engaging workshops run by some of the other facilitators and of course one of the most important parts; the students preparation towards the roleplay on Sunday. First they have to do a presentation of the country they represent in only eight minutes. We are representing Germany. We have ten countries in total. In the afternoon there will be a big debate about new amendments to the protocol. My group has been very ambitious and working hard both to get to know Germany better and to understand Germanys pointview of the Refugee policy.

Late in the afternoon despite the warm and humid air all the students are trying to find alleys so there was lot of activity going on at the same time. Here you can se Nathan from USA, Koma and Shinya from Japan.

During Saturday there has been a lot of warings about weather change and that the Tyfoon is coming in. So far I’ve seen some heavy rain and a bit wind but being a swede it hasn’t impressed me at all so far. But the Campus was quiet in the afternoon .

After hard working days some of the staffmembers are trying to find out what to eat for dinner so last night Lorry from JMU USA, Anthony from Flinders (Australia) and I tried a Korean restaurant. We hade a lovely dinner though we had a hard time to make ourself understood.

7 augusti, 20147 augusti, 2014

Time to work – day 4

Today we spent the whole day at the University of Hiroshima. In the morning there was a keynote lecture about the Japanese Perspective in the Turbulent and Globalized world. At lunchtime some japanese students tried to teach us how to play Kendama – a japaneese traditional game. It was a lot of fun and a good way for the studentgroup to get closer to eachother.

In the afternoon I attended one of four workshops. This was about Causes of Displacement in the 21st Century. And it was a great lecture held of Dr Savo Heleta who himself sufferd from displacement in Bosnia as a child. He pointed out the question that the student will have to discuss the coming days: Who is a refugee? The UN convention relating to the status of Refugees from 1951 (1967) is outdated. More than 42 million people are currently displaced worldwide but not everyone of them recieve refugee status according to the convention.

The student are vey motivated and despite langugebarriers they seems to get along very well. I have a good feeling about the outcome on Sunday when we will have the Roleplay.

www.mylifeasarefugee.com

7 augusti, 20147 augusti, 2014

Peace Memorial Cermony and visit to Miyajima Island – Day 3

Yesterday we had even an earlier start. Our bus was leaving the hotel at 5.50 so everyone had to get up at 05.00 am. The rain poured down and there was warings about a tyfoon. Luckily most of us had got a raincoat the day before. When we arrived to Hiroshima Memorial Park there was already alot of people. The cermony started at 08.00 and lasted for an hour. There was a minute of silence in memory of the victims in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I´m glad the student got to the museum the day before because with that in mind the memorial cermony gave more inpact. After the cermony the countrygroup should do something together to get to know eachother more. My group decided to go to Miyajima Island, a place of historic interest outside the city with a famous Shrine. They asked me to come along.

Suddenly the rain stopped and the sun finally came out and we had a lovely day at the Island. Coming home was a nightmare though, due to the heavy rain earlier that day, the trainsystem didn’t work properly. We had to experience cramed trains with people continuosly trying to get on. I fell into bed early and finaly got a really good night sleep since I arrived in Japan.

5 augusti, 20147 augusti, 2014

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Okonomyaki – Day 2

It has been an intense day! The humidity still is very high and it’s really hot. Today we had an early start at 7:00 am. Went for a two hour busdrive to reach the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum moved me a lot. It´s just near the centerpoint were the atomic bom blast at 8.15 aug 6th in 1945. There was an objective description of the Japaneese history also before world war II.

In an instant, the city was almost entirely destroyed and 140 000 people lost there lives due to the bomb

How can mankind develop atomic bombs? And why is there still many countries who are in possesion of atomic weapon?
Mrs Keiko Ogura made a deep impression being an eyewitness and exposed to the atomic bomb when she was 8 years old. We met her in the afternoon and student asked many questions.

Then of course I met my studentgroup of 10 students from Japan, USA, Indonesia, Spain and Vietnamn. Togehter we went to have lunch in a typical restaurant in Hiroshima and had a great dish called OKONOMYAKI. We discussed what everyone excperienced at the museeum and started to make plans for how the group should prepare themself for the final UN Roleplay.

Tomorrow we will have an even earlier start. Bus leave at 5.50 and we will attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony