NewsHour Extra covers the conference with Global Kids and Manhattan Neighborhood Network

Online NewsHour
RealAudio: The U.S. and Israel pullout of the U.N. racism conference. (9/3/01)

Video from
Durban

Diaries from Durban

Diaries by
Annie V.

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Diaries from Durban
Annie V.
Global Kids

I don't like going to NGO (non-governmental organizations) forums because most of them are not interactive, like Global Kids (GK) workshops are. At GK workshops we express our opinions and have fun at the same time, but at the ones here we listen to one person talking for about two hours.

I am now in another meeting working on the youth declaration that we started at the Youth Summit. I don't know how to feel anymore. I don't know whether the U.N. is in the wrong when it comes to the Youth Summit (and the follow-up during the NGO Forum) or whether we, the youths, are. Nobody seems to be listening to each other.

I don't know exactly what is happening, but many people expect the declaration (whether it is a draft or a working document) to be ready now for us to discuss.

Many youths here don't understand that it takes time for something to be ready. But I noticed that many changes suggested earlier by youth representatives were not included in the declaration. That made me terribly angry. Who should I blame though?

How do I acknowledge that a higher power is doing the damage? What political motive would one have to destroy or eliminate most of the hard work that youths put into producing a declaration?

Many people say that the youths are not being listened to. I don't know about that. Maybe it's true.

Dezroy has decided to be an activist. I don't know what he is raising his voice for, but it must be something important (he'll probably end up being a leader some day.)