Just got home from the Final National Plain English Contest where i was one of the 8 contestants.And unfortunately i missed Melbourn :( (the first place winner will be in Melbourne for the Asia Plain English Contest) I did not win the first place with my speech " Real Angels?" (which si about volunteering).. but the problem waz not the speecj cuz i did it quite well.. the problem is the impromtu about " Money causes more than solves" blabla.. i waz kinda screwed up a bit cuz when i was crapping the mic suddenly muted.. and changed the mic and blabla..
Anyway the point is when i participate in something i wanna win. But my rule is : Try my best and not more than that. This time i feel pretty happy even though i did not win.. cuz i waz kinda flat out with the journalists and meetings after getting home from the UN conference...so i waz not well prepared but i tried my best so nothing to regret...After the contest, when the winner is annouced( her speech waz about " dreams") , some other contestants were bit negative.. they were about to cry and some even did not wanna go out to the stage to say good bye to the audience... Its ok to be competitive but this is fun too.. so i felt bad about that kinda of reaction.. not to mention that their speeches were far worse from the winners'e one.

ANywaz the only little sad thing of this all is : i MISSED MELBOURNE... nice beaches...and the other thing my frens are quite sad cuz they put too much hope on me ( i led the first place in the first and second ground before getting to this final one)...
Its weird but i feel pretty happy.. i wanted this contest to be over cuz i m pretty stressed about it( since not well prepared and rep my school and everything).. so the only thing i could think of now if i m gonna have a good sleep tonight. A REAL SLEEP!! :)
this update might be bit boring for u guys.but well i have loz of different feelings now. But i just feel like really light out.. donno how to describe it.. but its a cool feeling.. when u r under too work and thing to worry and manage , something make u feel heavy heavy..then there is a moment when u feel light out .. like flying..its so cool..
I d spend sometimes for myself.. just for myself to do something i donno yet but whatever comes up to my mind, no scheduke stuff.. just st i enjoy..some music i think..yay!! music and be lazy on my messy bed..rubbing my deep blue beanie bear's tummy..eat some snacks...and falling asleep when reading many but none to be finished newspapers, books...with the music still on...
good nite world!! :) the only bad thing is i will have to dream about Melbourne tonite.. but i m still in good mood :)

Raymond's ( TIG nick : dtlq) questions on United nations General Assembly Specil Session on children and the Children's Forum May 6 to May10 2002

<> What really came out of the Children's Forum, apart from the nice speeches?
<> I would like to hear the opinions of people who participated at this event. Do you really feel like you were listened to?
<> Could you affect the policy?

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My answers :

<> Apart from nice speeches i could see that the children's forum did inspire the child delegates a lot. There is a truth that there are some children who came to UNGASS without knowing what the conference is all about ( read my article the Bumpy Road to Special Session i just posted on TIG). I ve been interviewing loz fo kids before and after the conference, and its good to see for those who have no idea what was going on after the conference they were inspired by others and even built their own action plan to do in their countries. For those who have been activist in their countries, the children's conference is a good venue to meet the like- minded and develop furthur networking and cooperation. a lot of participants start connecting each other right after the conference to discuss about follow-up actions.

<> It is true that in a big conference like this there are a lot of ncie speeches and people wonder if children's voices are really heard.Some child delegates did show some dissapointments that vew few of their comments are included into the final outcome of the conference. However, we should not forget that the children in many countries have been participating in giving commments, reviews on the final documents since last year when it is still at reviewed at national level. For example : in vietnam we even hold a national children's conference to work on the document and our dieas were presented to the president and included in Vietnam's drafting to the GA session. So to be fair, the outcome of the children's foruma nd UNGASS does include a lot of children's voices and participation. Also we should consider the fact that this is the first time in history the children could address to the GA and the first time there is a special session just on children issues.

Even there are some blurbs that only 2 children could address to GA on behalf of 340 children. That is not enough.
but well i think it is good for the start isnt it? At least 2 children are better than zero.

All in all, the children's participation and children's forum is NOT just a decoration for a big event of the UN. The children did work and there work did count!

Apart from nice speeches this big and important conference gives a good oppertunity to get to know more people around the world who are working on common goals,develop a lot of connections and linkages. For the children, at conference like that,a very interesting thing to is they make a lot of new friends and some love !


<> Do i feel like i was listened to ?
YEs i do.I personally was quite "talktive" at the conference It is not easy for Unicef and NGos to get 340 kids from all part of the world together at the same time the world leaders gather. But they did do their best to make it happen to have the children speak out and be listened.
Most of the children at conference feel that they are listened to.
However there were some proplem as well. Some kids feel they did not have enough chances to speak because there was some translation problems and the ones who speak exxelent English often have better chances to speak and presented.So there were few kids who were not listened too. Hopefully in the next conferences this kind of problem will be tackle so that every child can fully participate.

the other interesting thing is there have been a lot of youth journalists at the conference. So messages from the child delgates were brocastm dilivered to millions people in the world quite truthfully from young people's perspectives.
So the kids were listened to and listened to in RIGHT way which is quite important as well.

<> Could we effect the policy?
Me personally i think i did. In Vietnam i ve been involved in quite some work with the minitry of youth and children and we did see some of our influence appear in policy. As you may know each country at UNGASS has a National Action PLan on Children. In Vietnam the children have been helping government to build it.
Also at the conference i met some youth who involve in Youth Council, youth advisory boards in their countries and they do have chances to lobby,give opinions on several policies of the governments.
However that is not something common in all countries. IN many countries the children are still very lack of participation in decision making and policy shaping. So at the Children's Forum we tried to talk a lot to advocate for children's participation in decision making by talking to NGOS, heads of states and on Media.
There have been some closed meeting called INtergenerational Dialogues between elected children from regions and head of delegations to the UN (president,vice president, ministers blabla). The children took this oppertunity to lobby the governments alot. I was chosen to be in the Intergenerational Dialogues with Asian heads of States where i asked them about Building National youth Advisory Board in Asian countries and establish the Asian youth Foundation. They did not give answer at first but then we urged them to give an answer and they said YES! Well its is just words but everything was put on media like a committement they made to the children.
However to make the YES of governments to children's participation and affect on policy really happen , one week at the Children's forum and UNGASS is not enough. It requires much more time, energy ,determination of the children to keep lobbying their governments after coming home.Its is a long term revolution for a real change.

<> One of the thing i like of the conference is that the children are inspired and have different ideas after the conference. Some think they will start lobbying their gorvernments, networking on global scale. There are others who think they will create a positive change not by doing something big but start locally with low-budget child-led projects. At the workshop i hosted called " Planning Sucessful youth-led projects to implement 10 impartives of UNGASS" there have been a lot of nice and practical proposals.
While the adults are busy with " nice speeches" it is awesome to see how they children are interested in "follow uo actions" from local and grasroot levels as many of them believe " big movement starts within each individual"

Well i myself really break down with heaps of interviews these days But its good cuz when i speak on TV,radio and they write about my activities at UNGASS on magazine, a lot of children will know what was happening and get involved with me in lobbying government on children and youth 's participation.