YUGA- Wednesday (Day 3)

By Wednesday of YUGA, I had definitely grown attached to the entire camp experience: my cabin, roommates and the rest of the amazing staff and campers. Okay, maybe not the entire experience. I have to admit that I am not an outdoorsy person, so it was definitely a challenge to cohabit with insects and reconcile myself with the outdoor washrooms (or restroom, as the American campers would say).  Beyond those two things, I was having a blast.

There was always engaging workshops to participate in and Wednesday was no different. Jeremy coordinated a Diversity workshop in which each person had a label stuck to their forehead. No one saw their own label, but through interaction with others, some of us were able to figure out the labels we had been saddled with. The labels ranged from teenage mother to misogynist. My forehead read “Shake my hand”. While it may seem like it could be easily revealed by seeing how others reacted to me, I actually had a hard time of it. Everyone was shaking hands with each other as a greeting. How was I supposed to realize what my label was? I asked for a hint at the last minute and someone shook my hand. Then I had my light bulb moment. Apart from being a hilarious activity, the Diversity Workshop was an insightful look at stereotypes and how they affect others. The fact that we couldn’t see our own labels showed that society or certain individuals can judge us without our knowledge. I think it was really effective, because we tried our best to get into it. For example, one person’s label was “I think women should be seen not heard”. As you can imagine, he got a very negative response. Later on, the person actually shared their own thoughts about that label and explained their opposition to sexism.

After a… delicious lunch, we all regrouped for the International Presentations. The youth and staff from Ecuador had already given their presentation on their country and Plan’s role there. Today it was time for Haiti and Canada (Cara, Corey and I) to present! Unfortunately Cara and I slept in, thus missing our chance to get some quality practice time. Thankfully we had already written up our presentation at the hotel a few days earlier and Corey had prepared our PowerPoint presentation. I was a bit nervous, because I am not the best spontaneous presenter. It turned out great, though. We got a chance to educate other youth about what the Youth Action Council does and plug planyouth.org! Also, through a quick multiple choice game, I was surprised to find that nobody could name the CN Tower. Several people knew the capital of Canada was Ottawa, though, even when a trap (Toronto) was given as a choice and the collective group was able to name many of the provinces. It just goes to show that maybe we shouldn’t take Talking to Americans at face value even if it was pretty funny.

My favourite part of the day was without a doubt the G8 workshop.  Basically we were split up into groups to represent the various countries that would be represented at a G8 conference. We had to keep in mind the agenda of the country we were representing, because that determined if we would veto a resolution and which resolutions we would try to get passed. I got to play Nicolas Sarkozy for the hour, because I was elected as speaker by my “French” group members. I had a lot of fun working with my group to come up with our three main policies (clean water, health care and monitored aid). The staff kept us amused by acting as protestors complete with posters and chanting. Certain things became very clear through this workshop. For one thing, G8 countries have more of a say in the policy making process and it struck me as unfair that many developing countries were silent. Also if more politically powerful countries oppose another government’s actions, they can prevent that country from coming to a conference, as evidenced by China being kicked out of the workshop for human rights abuses.

 That night we were treated to an international feast. Everyone helped to cook food to represent the countries of the various youth and staff attending YUGA camp. For Canada, there was—you guessed it—poutine! And who could forget the mouth-watering Haitian style plantains. Wednesday ended on a high note.