Essay winners share experiences at UN General Assembly
As part of our prize for winning the 2019 and 2021 Junior Graphic National Essay Competition, Evangelin Ukoma Awa and I were to attend the 77th United Nations (UN) General Assembly with the President, this year.
I didn’t believe it until I found myself with Evangelin on September 14, at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.
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We went with two chaperons from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advisory Unit, Office of the President, Ms Huberta Afeku, and Mr Yaw Asante Amirikah.
It all seemed surreal but there we were transiting in Amsterdam and later to our destination, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, from where we were driven to our apartment, AKA Apartments at Times Square.
In New York, our first visit was to the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations office for our IDs and passes. We later went to the famous Times Square and I was really surprised at how lively the nightlife there was.
We had a portrait of us drawn by a street artist and we took a night bus tour. During the bus tour, we saw Brooklyn, a little bit of New Jersey, and one of the China Towns.
On Saturday, September 17, we attended ‘The Transforming Education Summit’ which is the current focus of the UN.
Representatives from different countries spoke about education in their countries. We met Ghana’s Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, we took a photograph which was on the front page of the Junior Graphic on the September 21— 27 edition of the paper. We also met other dignitaries such as the Director, General Administration of the Ministry of Education, Oheneyere Catherine A. Appiah-Pinkrah, and the Executive Director/Inspector-General of Schools, Dr Haggar H. Ampadu, .
On September 19, we witnessed the SDGs session at the General Assembly Hall. We saw the 2016 UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Mrs Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, and the wife of Bill Gates, Mrs Melinda Gates, from a distance. We also met and interacted with young people from other countries working towards the achievement of the SDGs goals.
In the evening, our President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo arrived from England after attending the late Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. We gathered at the Peninsula Hotel to welcome him. Later on, we made our way to the Peninsula Hotel to meet President Akufo-Addo and we thanked him for the opportunity given to us to attend the UN General Assembly.
Other places of interest visited included, the UNFPA headquarters and some other UN offices, we attended a Civil Society Youth Conversations’ Informal Dialogue on Youth Innovation, Solutions, and Impact on the Ground at the Bahai International Community Office.
We were later taken to Central Park in Manhattan and went shopping at The Mall at Bay Plaza in The Bronx.
We also took a trip to the Financial District at Brooklyn Bridge, One World Trade Centre, The Oculus (that is home to 12 train stations, dozens of retailers serving over a million people every week), and the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
We were in awe when we saw the bird-like shape of the Oculus and its magnificent interior. It was an emotional moment when we toured the 9/11 Memorial Museum where we were told about the tragedy of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
We saw footage and artifacts showing how terrible it was. We also had the opportunity to visit the New York Stock Exchange building and went shopping again afterward.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. September 24 was the last day of our trip. We left New York at around 21:22 (New York local time) and arrived in Ghana on September 25 at around 20:33 (local time).
This trip was a wonderful experience, having a view of a whole new world.
Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa (fourth left), the UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa with the 2019 and 2021 essay winners, Dr Eugene Owusu (right), Special Advisor to the President on the SDGs, Ms Huberta Afeku, Programmes Manager at the SDGs, Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko (second left), a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Mr Yaw Asante Amirikah also from the SDGs Advisory Unit.
We thank the Junior Graphic team, the President of the Republic, and the SDGs Advisory Unit for such an amazing trip.
The writer is the winner of the 2019 Junior Graphic National Essay Competition.
