UNAOC Diary

Flags in front of Nusa Dua conference hall

The United Nation Alliance of Civilization – Youth Global Forum and Event was the reason I gladly ecstatically left my work for a week at the end of last August. I applied for the forum in the last June, trying not to put a high hope because I knew there would be thousands of other applicants. But against all odds, I was chosen to be one of the 100 youth out of 3.000-ish applicants from all around the world, to attend the UNAOC Global Forum 2014 in Nusa Dua, Bali. The night I found the email in my inbox, I couldn’t sleep. My eyes were open-wide thinking… Everything! Thoughts like: Who are those 99 other successful applicants? What are we going to do there? What am I specifically going to do there? What will I be wearing for each day each occasion? Who will be my roommate(s)? Do they have a list? Who’s also coming from West Sumatera? Indonesia? Will I be presenting anything? Oh God… Please no. But if yes, perhaps I’ll just sing and dance, and many many more. I was excited, ecstatic, surprised, and nervous at the same time. 

27 August 2014

Gas prices was crazy and causing mad traffic so my car had to take different route into the jungle to get to the airport. Fortunately I arrived at the airport just in time before my flight departed.

First time flying Garuda and I gotta say, it was super nice :)

Previous night, I stayed up late to make sure that I have everything I (thought I would) need for the occasion. A week prior to this day, I already wrote a list. I can’t recall what time I went to sleep but it was super late, which made me…woke up late. Obviously. But my flight was not until noon so Alhamdulillah no morning rush. I flew Garuda Indonesia for the first time! Thank you, thank you Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesian Republic. It was such an awesome treat. 

Mercure Hotel's awesome pool area

The plane landed in Bali almost Isya time. I met several participants in the airport, got to know each other and already felt excited to start tomorrow. On the way, I saw a welcoming message on a huge ad board from Mr. President and our First Lady. Arriving at the hotel, I directly checked in and got a roommate in 338. Her name was Elisha Bano, a really sweet girl from Fiji Island. We talked about a lot and I instantly felt glad I had this chatty person as my roommate. I normally don’t talk a lot, so it is easier for me to listen and respond. :-p

28 August 2014

Morning briefing

Woke up at 5 am. Chop chop chop! I went down to the first floor for breakfast. Mercure Hotel did a splendid job on the menu. I sat with two guys from Jakarta and one hijabi girl from Makassar. Then finally I got to meet Isabelle, the sweet lady behind every email and notice prior to our arrival at the event. I was chosen as the first note-taker for educational small group discussion, so after the short briefing, all the facilitators, note-takers and time trackers had to get more instructions on how to do our job well. 

My small group discussion with Ana of Ukarine as the note-taker and Andrea of Peru as our facilitator. I had Muhammad Fadhun beside me as the second note-taker.

Opening ceremony

Nusa Dua hall: note-taking time… I was overwhelmed by so many brilliant and complex ideas the participants offered. I was supposed to take every single idea into a good sentence, which will be summarized into two youth recommendations by the second note-taker. Based on my experience, because there are not only Indonesians but also many foreigners in the room, the hardest accent for me to comprehend was Indian. Honestly, I loved the accent since I befriended with good Indians since 2010 and talked several times with them, but also honestly, they tend to talk in a speed that English second speaker like me find hard to understand. I tried my best, and there we had two youth recommendations ready to be proposed to the UN. Hopefully they would listen to us and consider our voices. 

Attendance checking by the committee

Welcomed by a Balinese dance. It always, always makes me happy everytime I see dancers who perform with big smile on their face :)

Escorted by hundreds of Balinese ladies. They are really beautiful indeed.

Dancing lesson time

Interesting snack box

After Zuhr and lunch (a lightning-speed one) where I could only eat few bites and left a plate half full. I’m sorry, delicious food. Our agenda for that noon was to visit Taman Ayun, Badung. At the gate, we were welcomed by an interesting Balinese dance performed by men. From the gate to all destinations at the Taman, hundreds of beautiful Balinese women were standing smiling as we walked pass by. After the dance, we gathered at an open hall where a man told us a bit about the Taman, its history, and turned out it was one of the world’s heritages! The visit continued to the inside part of the Taman, where we were provided several small areas presenting different Bali cultures: Subak (agricultural system), dance, painting, and carving. We learned a little bit of this and that. It was super interesting and fun afternoon. We had photo session afterwards before leaving the Taman and getting back to the conference venue. 

Something I do when I got extremely sleepy: taking random pictures

Back at Nusa Dua conference hall, I got a light headache. But knowing we would be meeting UN Secretary General, High Representative of United Nation Alliance of Civilization and Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs in person, my headache was puff… gone. The speeches were inspiring and moving, and my favorite had always been Mr. Marty Natalegawa. 

It took my breath away :-p

Networking time :)

All the participants went back to the hotel for quick rest and preparation for… Youth Event dinner! We had it at Taman Bhagawan, Tanjung Benoa. MasyaAllah… The dinner was absolutely one of the most memorable I will remember. I was put at table 8, together with friends from Senegal, Egypt, Peru, Cambodia and of course Indonesians. The menu was super delight. We tricked our Senegal friend to eat spicy sauce and he chocked and coughed for quite a while, we’re sorry Francois buddy :-p. There were also art performances by the committee and participants. After the dinner, we were invited to the stage to have some fun. It was a perfect dinner to end the hectic day. 

29 August 2014

Security check 

Turns out I wasn't the only one who fell asleep :-p

Our one and only Pak SBY :)

The previous day was exhausting but we didn’t lose our enthusiasm. Woke up at 5 and had a short debate session with roommate about who’s going to shower first. Got ready, had the yummy breakfast of Mercure hotel, then headed to conference venue at Nusa Dua hotel. There were opening session, speeches by H.E. R. M. Marty M. Natalegawa (Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia), H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser (United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations), H.E. John W. Ashe (President of the 68th United Nations General Assembly), H.E. Ban Ki-moon (United Nations Secretary-General), Representative of Spain and Turkey, and before the end of his role as President, I got the privilege again to meet H.E. Susilo BambangYudhoyono (President of the Republic of Indonesia) who delivered the most inspiring speech for the day. 

Followed by lunch and four parallel events for breakout sessions, I chose to participate in promoting harmony through inter-religious and cross-cultural education. In addition to my interest on education, I chose this discussion because there was Anies Baswedan on the speaker list. Well, Mr Anies didn’t show up and got replaced by another expert speaker who unfortunately I didn’t know his name. The other two speakers were Dr. Diego Sarrio, a PhD of Theology at Georgetown University and lectures at Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, and Samsul Maarif, a faculty member of CRCS UGM.

Max Seunik of Canada and Claudia Patricia of Spain. We had free voucher to redeem for photo session wearing traditional clothes.

You don't get dinner invitation by the UN and Indonesian Republic everyday. It was an honor, Sir :)

The day was ended by an even more spectacular Global Forum Dinner & Cultural Evening with Mr. Natalegawa and Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz. 

Me and Elisha, roomie 338. Hoping to see this lady again soon :)

30 August 2014

Oh no… The last day of the event! We gathered at Nusa Dua again for the closing session and ceremony. There was also a breakout sessions where I could not decide whether to join “the use of interreligious and intercultural approaches to advance the broader interests of mediation in conflict-affected settings” or  “the role of women in fostering understanding among cultures.” I ended up going for both which made me quite dizzy, but there were indeed highly interesting. 

Important people... Important people everywhere!

The day went quite vague. Partly because I was still tired, and there were some participants who decided to see around Bali instead of attending the sessions. And no, I didn’t join anyone because all I thought was my room 338, a.k.a. sleep. 

Third visit to Bali and still smiled everytime I saw foreign couple holding hands :)

Looking good, K! :)

In the evening, I went souvenir hunting with a Sri Lankan friend, Kavindya. The stores at street market mostly had closed, so we tried an option offered by Mercure staff: Bali Collection. We got picked up by a shuttle. What I had in mind was just a huge store full of affordable souvenirs to bring back home, but all I found was an open area of expensive stuff. I ended up buying nothing but water and snack, but the night was fun because this new friend was very chatty with a lot of interesting stories to tell, which reminded me of my roommate (because I didn’t know where she went that night). 

31 August 2014

I woke up to my missing roommate. I called the receptionist and turned out she’s already gone at 2 a.m. I got unmotivated a bit, but hoped she’d land safely in Fiji. I went downstairs for breakfast where I met K, the Sri Lankan friend I went shopping with last night, who invited me for morning rush shopping outside the hotel. Absolutely I said yes since I hadn’t bought anything for family and friends. I spent more than 500K for the souvenirs, quite a lot more than I predicted. Going back to the hotel, I started packing my stuff. The shuttle picked us up at 12.00 p.m. to the airport. I chatted with UNAOC friends during the trip to the airport, while waiting for check in and departure, but I ended up alone from CGK to PDG for I was the only participant from West Sumatera. Touched down at BIM Padang around 7 p.m. to a special friend who picked me up all the way from Padang Panjang (thank you, Bang Toni :) ). Arrived home at 22.00 after dinner and J-Co, plus some traffic problems on the way. 

And that’s how my UNAOC forum journey went. Days afterwards, I was busy confirming and sending friend requests and read my new friends’ status and updates. They were amazing and important people. I am super glad and feeling blessed for the opportunity to know them. For now, my big homework is to think about how to foster Unity in Diversity discussion in my society and conduct related events. Hopefully soon I could manage time to do this.