Letter from the Founders

Dear all, 

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Youth Online Universal Model United Nations (YOUMUN): a conference created to inspire you to follow your dreams.  

 In a pandemic-ridden world, it is understandable that we, students, sometimes find ourselves in a position where giving up on working hard to accomplish our goals comes out as the most appealing idea. Sensibly, we know it is not! With the hardships faced throughout this period of online classes, we found a facet of ourselves which we were not necessarily familiar with before: one that seeks resilience and strength in times of adversity. Perhaps as a means of enduring the present, we delved ourselves into memories of a time when our reality was undoubted; when we took tomorrow for granted. However, we soon realized that we could not escape the present; we had to face it, no matter how harsh it seemed. 
  
Therefore, YOUMUN was founded to encourage you to believe in yourself, despite all hardships you may encounter when striving to keep hold of your education. At the heart of our aims is the endeavour to convince you that you are capable of being the change you want to see in the world and that the greatest abyss between where you stand and where you wish to be is the story you tell yourself of why you cannot achieve them. 
  
As a need-blind event, the conference seeks to provide a more egalitarian educational experience for high school students from all the six inhabited continents in the world. By featuring a weekend of prolific and reasoned debate, lectures by specialists, workshops and much more, YOUMUN fosters youth protagonism, contributing to pupils' positive character development and giving rise to more empathetic and discerning leaders of tomorrow. We wish to make you believe that you can be the change you want to see in the world.  On the reverse approach, YOUMUN also seeks to demonstrate that being a fair leader is not actually about your personal interests, and instead, the well-being of the people you serve in that position. 
    
​In all, we hope you can make the most from this experience, by exploring the world of diplomacy, meeting people from diverse backgrounds, and creating cherished memories. See you all in August!

All the best, 
​
​Giovana Rabello           &             Julia Bettes
Secretary-General              Chief Operations Officer

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