This week, the United Nations is meeting to look at how the status of women has changed in the 15 years since creating the Beijing Declaration, a commitment to achieve greater equality and opportunity for women. Three of the members of the Because I am a Girl Speakers’ Bureau are in New York to learn and contribute.  We’ll be following the girls as they make their voices heard in this international forum!

Today, 16-year old Amy from Toronto shares her first impressions:

The UN opening session. A girls-only workshop. A tour around the Big Apple to top it off. And a press interview! What else can a girl ask for?

And that is exactly how I felt the whole day. Today offered me an amazing chance to see the UN in action! Yes, there is a lot of jargon I don’t understand but I pride myself in knowing and getting a couple of jokes here and there. The opening session really opened up an opportunity for me to see how the people at the UN level see the problems in gender inequality and the problems girls are facing today. I definitely can’t wait to come back!

Facing the UN building, high on the 11th floor of the Church Centre, I attend the girls-only workshop. This workshop was, in a word, absolutely fantastic! The girls at the workshop have drafted an official “Girls’ Statement” to present at the end of the UN session! Each one of us got to put our opinions and inputs into the document. The discussion also stirred up some issues girls are facing today and how we can solve them.

But in between, we got to tour around the Big Apple by foot! Yes, despite the wind, the cold, and the aching feet, we all got to see the amazing landmarks in New York. Madison Avenue, the Rockefeller Building, the Fifth Avenue, MOMA, and so much more! The city is, to sum up, absolutely amazing and I will definitely come back!

And of course, the amazing, fantastic, and absolutely thrilling press interview! So there I was, sitting at the workshop and listening attentive when a cautious Siham crept up to me… and told me that, she found out this twenty minutes earlier, I have an interview with a Mandarin Torontonian newspaper in ten minutes.

Well, THAT was unexpected! Was I nervous? Scared? Shocked? Yes, yes, and absolutely yes! But at the same time, excitement was bursting from my chest! Despite the initial trepidation, I was able to take control of myself and, if I do say so myself, rocked that interview by the end! And so, my first ever press interview! (And hopefully not the last!)

Wow, what a day! But I can’t wait for the next! What will tomorrow bring? I don’t know, but I will welcome it with open arms.

Amy

Stay tuned for more as the girls attend sessions and meet Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon later this week.