July 3

 

   I thought that no other day could equally match the possibly once in a lifetime opportunity to dine at the terrace of the WTO headquarters. However, the visit to the UN office today came pretty close regarding the level of specialty. Although there were planned tours inside the UN for regular tourists, I received a UN staff badge to look around freely with my host without any restrictions and no charge. As I looked over the closed gate where the broken chair was looming over on the other side and a bunch of tourists taking pictures, I felt really special to have the rare chance to be in an area that was restricted to tourists. Then I thought about all the other teenagers who also dreamed of working at such international organizations but never have a chance to visit the places like I did. I was really thankful because I wanted to contribute and work as a globalized person just as much as other students at my age wanted as well, but I could actually visit all these special places that no other people had the chance of visiting.

   Although I had a staff badge on, I felt out of place again because of my informal attires and so my host advised me to just take off the badge and follow him around so that other people would not question my presence. After strolling around the building, we came across the UN Postal Office and I decided to send a little postcard to myself as a souvenir. Because things were so expensive in Geneva, I did not buy any souvenirs but I thought the postcard was worth every cent. I imagined myself in the future reading this postcard as an employee at one of these international organizations and laughed at the very thought of it.

   It was already lunchtime as I finished writing up my postcard and we headed to the UN cafeteria. The cafeteria looked similar to the one in WTO except that it overflowed with people. After looking around for a seat for two, we finally took a seat outside the cafeteria where the overview of Geneva lay in the distance. Then my host told me to look around and observe the ethnicities of these staff members. I knew where he was going with this. This was a thought that struck me ever since the beginning of my trip that many of these people who worked at these organizations were mostly Caucasians. Not to criticize the lack diversity in these organizations, but there were surprisingly few Asians or other non-white people. My host told me that when applying for a job here, these organizations actually support non-white ethnicities to promote a little more diversity in a globalizing world. As Asian countries have been developing tremendously over the past decades, it became clear that a few select leading countries did not control this world anymore. As I mentioned in my introductory to this blog, the world is becoming a place where every countries are dependent and affected by each other. Therefore, I wanted to become a leader just like Mr. Kim who any young teenager can look up to and contribute to the global world.

   After lunch, my host left me right outside the UN office and headed to his own meeting. For the rest of the time, I wandered around the places near the UN like the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Luckily, they were having a little session explaining the role of UNHCR in the world and its origins. As the name suggests, UNHCR is UN’s specialized agency that helps refugees find a permanent home/country to stay in outside their home country. With the constant turmoil in the Middle East and in Africa, refugees are in constant demand for urgent help from the UNHCR. As a result, many of its offices are located where most turmoil occurs and these branches serve to provide temporary lodging for refugees. However, the UNHCR’s mission is not to become a sole dependent factor that everybody can rely on but an aiding organization that can provide only temporary support and to relocate refugees where they can feed for themselves. Although UNHCR has a very noble cause to advocate world peace in a way, I also thought that it would be the busiest and one of the most stressful organizations. The truth of the matter is that political turmoil will never go away and refugees will continue to exist regardless of UNHCR’s efforts.