By Jelle Dams, Fundraiser 2020 / 2021
It’s in the books. GrunnMUN 2021 has officially passed! I hope all the participants were satisfied with this year’s edition of the smaller of our two conferences. Although not in the format we originally planned, I think we can state that GrunnMUN 2021 was a success. And boy was it an experience.
The morning started a bit earlier for the rest of my Board members than for me. Sadly, I was stuck in my room due to illness, glued to my computer screen, ready to assist any and all of the requests made by my fellow Board members. In that sense, waiting for the opening ceremony was much like the experience all the participants had. The conference we have been working on since September was finally becoming a reality.
To be honest, I was a bit tense and slightly nervous for the opening ceremony. Technical difficulties are the biggest enemy of such a conference, so I was hoping the gods of the internet would let this one go without a hitch. Luckily, technical difficulties were not on the menu this time, and the opening ceremony passed without any real difficulties. Professor Jaap de Wilde and Dr. Nienke de Deugd both prepared meaningful and thoughtful speeches for this ocassion.
The Council: WHO
The WHO council, which was led by Adinda, Arkana and Helena, had the task of discussing health concerns in conflict areas. As the background paper mentions, a good example of such an issue would be the cholera outbreak in Yemen. As the WHO has been increasingly scrutinized for its role in the current Covid-19 pandemic, I was very interested in the discussions that would unfold in this council. There was a nice mix of first-time MUN attendees and experienced veterans, which provided a nice balance and a base for fruitful discussion.
As the debates went on, attendees became one with their roles, and discussion on everything from financial contributions to the WHO to country-specific, health-related crises, were placed in the agenda. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with the chairs in this council. Even when one of them experienced a “brain freeze” and didn’t know what to do, the other two switflty stepped in to take the lead. So chairs, well done! The delegates in my council also did a phenomenal job, passing a resolution with time to spare. Also to you, well done and I hope to see you again at TEIMUN in The Hague, or during a TEIMUN Society event.
Closing Ceremony
After fruitful discussions and a passed resolution, the closing ceremony slowly downed upon us. I was more relaxed than the first time, knowing that the aforementioned fear of technical difficulties was not grounded in reality. The final words by our Secretariat were exactly what I wanted for the conference, to end on a strong note. Congratulations to all the award winners during this year’s GrunnMUN.
I hope to see you soon.
Cheers,
Jelle
P.S. If you’re interested in doing a Board year next year, please check out our website because Board applications are open!
Featured image: @angrywording