First, I love the many cultures, kinship and commonalities that one feels in international spaces. The colorful clothing of India and Africa is beautiful. I felt a kinship with the two Canadians who shared the power of conscience with me and a beautiful children's story called "Be the Spark". A new friendship was formed as a woman from an interfaith organization and I collaborated on a service project we plan to do together. I look forward to contacting a woman from Kenya, and a woman who lived twenty minutes down the road from me in Alpine who is interested in Big Ocean Women.
Secondly, I love informative and insightful workshops. One workshop focused on the research that shows that having a father in the home is the best indicator of child wellbeing on every measurable indicator. Another workshop focused on the power of maternal bonding in the wellbeing of children. We learned from a woman in Senegal about the need to protect women and children from harmful cultural practices. Other topics included climate change, LGBTQ, discussion tables, and much, much, much more. I love learning about challenges and solutions in an international arena.
Finally, I learned about the power of we the people - what I witnessed about creating solutions with local resources.
- Over five hundred thousand meal kits for children were put together by volunteers in our community - Latter-day Saint Charities partnering with Feeding Children Everywhere (FCE), JustServe, the United Nations, and American Airlines. There were more volunteers for the meal kits than there were attendees at the conference! Service is a vital community resource.
- When asked how to finance projects, one panel expert said, "Give ten per cent of your raw food to finance the cause." That is doable for most people and comes directly from the people. This is a bright alternative solution to the more common idea that the money must come from business partnerships and is always outside ourselves.
- When an international speaker was told she could not come the day before the conference, a group found a venue outside the Salt Palace for her to share her important message. Sadly, many pro-life and pro-family groups, approved by the UN committee were later vetoed by Mayor Biskupski.
- Alternate documents were created for the two UN documents. Two documents were prepared to be UN models for the world to follow with the SLC stamp on it.
- 1) Youth Climate Compact original here:
- 2) Outcome Statement original here
A courageous, local SLC youth group created an alternate for the Youth Climate Compact because they felt their voices were marginalized. Another group created an alternate document for the Outcome Statement that can be found and signed here: https://unfamilyrightscaucus.org/. Over 75 nations have signed it. You are invited to sign as well.
The language in the UN documents is ambiguous and open to interpretation that could exclude groups, marginalize family and other concerns. It has troubling terms like "robust monitoring mechanisms" and "transformative initiatives," without negotiated interpretation. The alternate outcome document is created with negotiated, consensus, UN language, in part which means the words and their meanings have been agreed upon by national delegates in previous UN conferences. It resonates to me wherever you can create and act on something personally, in your family and community that is more powerful than global action and control. It also is reasonable to me that when you negotiate the interpretation of the language in a document then you can seek consensus and support. In contrast, the two UN documents with SLC name received input, but were not negotiated. Accepted by acclamation meant there was applause, not agreement. I marveled at the grass root efforts of individuals and groups to be inclusive of family and contribute in meaningful and civil dialogue.
The language in the UN documents is ambiguous and open to interpretation that could exclude groups, marginalize family and other concerns. It has troubling terms like "robust monitoring mechanisms" and "transformative initiatives," without negotiated interpretation. The alternate outcome document is created with negotiated, consensus, UN language, in part which means the words and their meanings have been agreed upon by national delegates in previous UN conferences. It resonates to me wherever you can create and act on something personally, in your family and community that is more powerful than global action and control. It also is reasonable to me that when you negotiate the interpretation of the language in a document then you can seek consensus and support. In contrast, the two UN documents with SLC name received input, but were not negotiated. Accepted by acclamation meant there was applause, not agreement. I marveled at the grass root efforts of individuals and groups to be inclusive of family and contribute in meaningful and civil dialogue.
Three days of looking at documents and hearing discussions on how to build civil societies and sustainable communities leads me to recognize it begins with family. A child's first community and lessons on civility are in the home. These families and homes are the building blocks of communities, nations and the world. International space is a wonderful place to share concerns, resources, discuss solutions and network in ways that protect our most important global resource - the Family.
