By: Lakin Krisko
During the simulation, I played the role of one of the members from the delegation from Gilbia. I considered myself to be the ideas person. I came up with a majority of the negotiation ideas and who we needed to talk to and befriend. Even though I personally wasn’t as vocal during the big group discussions, I was super vocal and persevering when negotiating with groups individually. I feel that I also played the mediator in my group. Some of the ideas my other group mates came up with had possible drastic consequences. I would see these future issues and help change and find a a way for it to work with less consequences. I was in full support of peace in Budan, but I also kept our country, Gilbia, the main focus and acted on its behalf.
When the simulation first started, I didn’t feel prepared at all. My group and I were still trying to figure out where we stood in the situation and what exactly was going on. We were afraid to say anything at first because we were afraid to mess up our country and ruin any chances we had at saving it. However, my group adapted fast, once the simulation got going, and overall accomplished what we wanted. Our main goal was to keep Gilbia from collapsing economically and find a way to peacefully deal with the refugees entering our country. The summit ended up falling in our favor. The refugees were split between the countries, and we were still getting support from groups ike ARM and UNHCR to help with the refugees and our overall economy. I think the reason why we accomplished what we wanted was due to our ties with the U.S., ARM, and the UNHCR because having those allies backing you up and supporting you goes a long way.
I loved this simulation! I thought it was super fun to be incharge of your own group/country and speak on its behalf. It was also super cool to see everyone so passionate and intense about their beliefs and what they’ll do for their group/country. I really enjoyed collaborating and solving issues with all my classmates.
One thing I think my group and I struggled with was writing our ideas down. I had tons of different ideas and potential laws to be added to the resolution, but I just couldn’t form my words and make them sound formal. I also think my group and I struggled with speaking up. We didn’t participate as much as we wanted to in the big group meeting and could have easily gotten pushed around. However, we really didn’t have to say much because our allies and groups had our backs and supported the delegation of Gilbia.
I personally don’t think anything could have changed. I like the simulation how it was. Although, I will say that I wish we were allowed to use violet actions especially when the tension between Budan and the other countries grew. But at the same time, I understand why we didn’t. We needed to learn how to work things out peacefully instead of resorting to violence which would cause issues, tragedy, and potentially more problems.
The main objective I learned from this simulation was to have and make allies. If the U.S., UNHCR, ARM, and Malil, we’re not on our side, Gilbia would have collapsed and been in ruins. Gilbia thrived and remained a strong country because we had people supporting us and backing up our ideas and views. We had strong supporters on our side which overall, I think, led to our success in the simulation.