My experience attending the 2017 United Nations conference was unforgettable.

Attending this conference really opened my eyes beyond Bermuda and the rest of the world. This year’s topic was “Migration: Crossing the Line”. I gained a wealth of knowledge from many uplifting messages spoken from the guest speakers. The most interesting speaker that stood out to me was Mr Victor Flores.

Victor told an inspirational story of how he had to flee from his homeland El Salvador, to have a successful life. He told us how he had to wake up at 5am every morning to go to school out of his town, also he had to work and provide for his family because they suffered from poverty and they depended on him and his brother to provide for them. Furthermore, he explained to us how he had to escape because his life was in danger because gangs ran his country.

As he went on, he told us that it took him 13 days to get to Mexico to cross the border to enter into the United States of America. On his way, Victor and his brother were kidnapped, held at ransom, and locked in a room for 30 days. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Victor’s story on how he was brave enough to leave everything behind to attain a better way of life. Additionally, I even learnt that there are 244 million refugees around the world to flee from Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan. Germany is the number one hosting country to migrants and refugees. Likewise, I also learnt that there are 11.1 million illegal migrants in the US and the refugee admission has fallen in the US.

I would have to say this conference had a positive impact on me and makes me want to aid refugees in achieving a comfortable life. As I reflect, I ask myself what we can do as the upcoming generation to help end this crisis.

All in all, I recommend this conference to young people; they gain knowledge on a variety of topics and meet interesting people from all over the world that speak multiple languages.

I hope I will have another opportunity to visit the United Nations to be able to gain more knowledge on new topics and to be able to someday make my indelible mark on the world.