We have literally travelled half way around the world to be at this congress and I am so unimpressed with what we have arrived to.
You would imagine at a conference for 600 of the world's most incredible young people, leaders and activists from all over the globe that a few basic organisational considerations would have occurred. Things like:
- Not housing a young Muslim woman from a conservative Muslim country in the same room as a young man.
- Ensuring that meal requirements such as food allergies, Halal and vegetarian which were provided weeks before the conference, were catered for.
- Providing conference programs in the language that the conference was advertised in; English.
- Making room bookings for workshops and providing maps on where to locate them, before the workshops occur.
You know, basic things. Well, not at this conference. And to top it off, every meal, we are served food upon an assortment of styrofoam big plates, bread plates, dessert plates and soup bowls, to accompany plastic cups and cutlery. And at the end of every meal, despite the majority of people sorting their plates and plastic into various recycling groups, it all goes to the one 'general disposal' bin. The most wide-reaching and significant issues that exists world-wide are to do with the environment. Without the environment, NOTHING else CAN be a problem. And yet, at a World Youth Congress, such a fundamental inconsideration has occurred. It is practically a joke, and one that makes it very difficult to take anything the rest of the conference has on offer very seriously at all.
Disappointed to say the absolute least.
Kristiana
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