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I'm a 50 something daughter, sister, wife, aunt, mother and friend. I have a husband and a son with my parents living in my basement. Keeping it together through menopause, the teenage years and the golden years. I hope you visit often.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

United Nations, Lite

The other day I was able to experience a middle school United Nations. Jakes school participated for the first time, along with about 7 other schools. There were approximately 200 kids. The topic that they had to work on was world hunger. Before meeting, the group that volunteered was broken into smaller groups. Then each was assigned a country and they had to research what that countries needs were, and how they could help. Then at the UN meeting, they all came together and started talking. It was really fun to see. These kids were grades 6-8. First they had to learn how to work with the delegates of their own group (country), then they had to work with other countries and try and get them to see their side of the issue. After all the meetings, there would be a proposal and the whole United Nations would vote on it. There seemed to be a lot of canals being dug. Never mind that some of them weren't really near water, or that they would have to run through several countries to get where the water was needed. There was also a lot of trading extra cash. These kids haven't had that big dose of reality yet. Why would a country object to having a canal run through it, just to get water to a neighbor in need? Why would a country object to giving another country money to buy food, seed, farm equipment and much needed clean water? If everything that they had come up with would actually work, it truly would indeed be a great accomplishment. It's harder to explain a country to a child when they haven't seen it in person. They don't live in an area with no running water, dirt floors, and people starving.   I would love to see a student US conference. It would be interesting what these kids would come up with to fight hunger in our own country. Do they know that some kids in their own city don't have breakfast or dinner? Do they realize there are kids in their own school that wouldn't have lunch if it wasn't paid for by the government? There is certainly a need all over the world to fight hunger. I just wish that we would start with our own country. Soon there will be food drives for the food banks, pantries and free store. If you see a good sale, stock up and drop if off. Every little bit helps! Take care!

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