Umar Kankiya - UK Youth Parliament and Newham Youth Parliament
(Diary Extracts)

Day 3
Up at 7:15am this morning, I seem to have shaken off the jetlag which is cool. As per usual the day starts with breakfast and then between 8:45 and 11 we had the first joint siting (this is where everyone from all action groups come together for a plenary session) to listen to an invited speaker.
The first speaker was a guy called James who spoke quite well although he didn’t seem to be able to stick to the point and I become lost during his speech a few times. The second speaker was a guy called Patrick who was at the first OIYP in 2000 and his action plan was to create a African Youth Parliament which is not in action with over 160 delegates form over 4o different African Countries, this fantastic achievement cheered me right up.
The final speaker, a woman called Linda Kelly gave a slightly negative speech which highlighted 7 points about who to evaluate your work. It was about what to do to make sure that your action plan works in practice. But by the end of the speech everything she had said seemed so negative, it was a bit of a downer and made me feel like I should go and pack my bags now and go home.
Following the joint sitting we went into our action groups in which we discussed the morning process and people viewing different opinions about the last session. I talked about how the negative nature of the speech and the impact it had on me. Lunch followed and then we went back into our action groups in which we did a diagram each breaking down our action plans and describing in the session how they can work
I meet this guy called Andrew from Swaziland who is trying to set up a Youth Parliament in his country, he is someone that I will hook up with and help out with though the week. We then went into our regional meetings for Europe. It was a great session with most European nations represented event the Swiss decided to turn up, It your heart out EC!!!
Dinner proceeded and then it was off to the NIDA (National Dance and Acting School) theatre in Sydney for a performance put on by Cirque cho sole, rap groups, singers from around the world, a clown and an aboriginal performance. It was fantastic night with lost of color, excitement. It was a wicked night to be had watching people form around the world put on a fantastic show for us. (The free Champaign was a bonus too!!)
Following hat we headed back to St Joseph’s and went off to bed
Until tomorrow
Peace out

Umar
6.7.2004