Distinguished Guests, Faculty Advisors, Delegates, Chairs, Keynote Speaker Mr. Feisal Hussein, Khun Varnnee Ross, Mr. John Wood, Dr. James Leung, Mr. Rich Melamed,
Good Morning and Salam Alaikum.
My name is Ali Bahrami and I am the Vice-President of Concordian International School’s High School Student Government and President of Concordian’s MUN club. It is an honor for me to be with you today at the opening ceremony of one of Thailand’s most prestigious MUNs. Today, I am going to tell you my life story, one that I have never publicized before.
I was born on 9/11/1996 in Afghanistan, at the worst time under the worst government in the world, the Taliban. A severe drought had just hit the region and the Taliban had sanctioned our area. My chances of remaining alive, without food and in the middle of a war, was close to zero.
However, I made it to my 5th birthday, 9/11/2001. Of course, as you know, this is the day when 19 terrorists blew up the World Trade Center in New York City. That incident changed the fate of my country, the world and my own personal narrative forever.
A month later, the Coalition Forces led by the United States saved Afghanistan and toppled the extremist government. That night, we celebrated. International aid poured into the country. The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) supplied us these blue notebooks and pens and I began learning the alphabets of peace, tolerance and success.
As my education was insufficient, my father decided to move to Pakistan so that my sisters and I would be able to get a modern education. The education was unlike the Taliban’s, when I learned numbers by counting with Ak47s, Stinger Missiles and hand grenades. We became refugees. I learned English, a language which later became my bridge to international education.
In August 2014, I applied to Concordian International School to study the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. The school could have just ignored my application. Who wants to enrol an Afghan kid. Too much of a risk. However, they did, thanks to Khun Varnnee and Dr. James for taking this huge risk.
I came to Thailand on 09/09/2014 and my life has changed dramatically since then. Members of nearly all major religions study and teach in this school and we all get along pretty well. It is evident by the fact that my history and economics teachers are both Jewish. Rest assured, they are still alive. Surprisingly, they have not built an illegal settlement in my room either! Therefore, I believe that people of all religions, ideologies or ethnic backgrounds can coexist in the real world as well.
In short, I am barely 19 and I have seen climate change, terrorism, asylum, tolerance, diplomacy, the effectiveness of the UN and many other real world issues firsthand. However, my story is a rather fortunate one.
Thousands of kids are dying in Africa. Thousands of others are being radicalized under the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. They are learning math like I did, counting M-16s. Climate change is threatening our existence. But we are human beings and we have the power to think. The power to use our minds. The power to shape public opinion. The power to make our communities stronger. The power to make our world better and more peaceful.
You are here this weekend to discuss and debate, to listen to each other, to find solutions and to draft resolutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. But perhaps even more importantly, you are here to build the diplomacy of the future with a strong base of mutual understanding and tolerance.
In the end, I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets of Baghdad again, that music will play in the restaurants of Damascus again, and that kites will fly in the skies of Kabul again. And I believe that conferences like this will take us a step closer towards those dreams.
My name is Ali Bahrami and I am the Vice-President of Concordian International School’s High School Student Government and President of Concordian’s MUN club. It is an honor for me to be with you today at the opening ceremony of one of Thailand’s most prestigious MUNs. Today, I am going to tell you my life story, one that I have never publicized before.
I was born on 9/11/1996 in Afghanistan, at the worst time under the worst government in the world, the Taliban. A severe drought had just hit the region and the Taliban had sanctioned our area. My chances of remaining alive, without food and in the middle of a war, was close to zero.
However, I made it to my 5th birthday, 9/11/2001. Of course, as you know, this is the day when 19 terrorists blew up the World Trade Center in New York City. That incident changed the fate of my country, the world and my own personal narrative forever.
A month later, the Coalition Forces led by the United States saved Afghanistan and toppled the extremist government. That night, we celebrated. International aid poured into the country. The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) supplied us these blue notebooks and pens and I began learning the alphabets of peace, tolerance and success.
As my education was insufficient, my father decided to move to Pakistan so that my sisters and I would be able to get a modern education. The education was unlike the Taliban’s, when I learned numbers by counting with Ak47s, Stinger Missiles and hand grenades. We became refugees. I learned English, a language which later became my bridge to international education.
In August 2014, I applied to Concordian International School to study the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. The school could have just ignored my application. Who wants to enrol an Afghan kid. Too much of a risk. However, they did, thanks to Khun Varnnee and Dr. James for taking this huge risk.
I came to Thailand on 09/09/2014 and my life has changed dramatically since then. Members of nearly all major religions study and teach in this school and we all get along pretty well. It is evident by the fact that my history and economics teachers are both Jewish. Rest assured, they are still alive. Surprisingly, they have not built an illegal settlement in my room either! Therefore, I believe that people of all religions, ideologies or ethnic backgrounds can coexist in the real world as well.
In short, I am barely 19 and I have seen climate change, terrorism, asylum, tolerance, diplomacy, the effectiveness of the UN and many other real world issues firsthand. However, my story is a rather fortunate one.
Thousands of kids are dying in Africa. Thousands of others are being radicalized under the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. They are learning math like I did, counting M-16s. Climate change is threatening our existence. But we are human beings and we have the power to think. The power to use our minds. The power to shape public opinion. The power to make our communities stronger. The power to make our world better and more peaceful.
You are here this weekend to discuss and debate, to listen to each other, to find solutions and to draft resolutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. But perhaps even more importantly, you are here to build the diplomacy of the future with a strong base of mutual understanding and tolerance.
In the end, I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets of Baghdad again, that music will play in the restaurants of Damascus again, and that kites will fly in the skies of Kabul again. And I believe that conferences like this will take us a step closer towards those dreams.
