TLMUN 2021 (26/2/2021-28/2/2021)

Most of us are celebrating the last day of Chinese New Year, but for Katelyn is back to her Model United Nations (MUN) after four months of break. The first MUN of the year is Taylor’s Lakeside Model United Nations 2021 (TLMUN). I’m playing the delegate of the UK under the World Health Assembly. We have two topics to choose from which is the vaccine for covid-19 and the effects of bioterrorism. As always on the first day, we go through the ground rules and getting to know each other. 

On the second day, before we head into formal debate, we have to vote on which topic should be discussed in council. As expected, the first topic on covid-19 vaccines has the most votes. Also, it is related to us because the vaccines are a hot topic these days. In Malaysia, we have received the vaccines on 24 Feb 2021 (Wednesday) and received the vaccines from China recently. 

To make sure our Internet connection is running smoothly, the chairs did a mic test on each of the delegate. When it comes to me, I got into character which made Amalia, my co-chair to crack up. After some formal debates, we head into an unmoderated caucus. At one point, I almost lose composure, while the delegate of North Korea, on the other end wondering whether I would blow up anytime. Don’t worry, I am fine! 

Even though, our brain cells are totally worn out on the second day, the delegate of the US insists us to join immediately after the meeting because we are writing a draft resolution that is going to present on the third and final day of the conference. Being in a blur, I didn’t know what did I put in the draft resolution, but my points are there. 

On the third day, I overslept by 12 minutes of the first session of the day despite doing the best to wake up by 8am. To back up some points, always stick to the policy of the country that we are representing. The delegate of Malaysia bashes that I should check my foreign policies, I did during the general speakers list session. For the first time in my MUN experience, the resolution passes! I did expect some juicy debates after handing in the resolution, but it didn’t happen which is good news! 

As per MUN tradition, we have a superlative award in our council. Two hours of rest and it’s the closing ceremony. I didn’t expect to win a verbal commendation alongside the delegates of North Korea and Malaysia. China wins the Best Delegate award with the delegate of Japan bags the Honourable Mention, and USA wins the Highest Commendation, the delegate of Namibia takes home Best Position Paper. 

Thank you TLMUN team and a huge thank you to my chair, co-chair and rapporteur Pumudika, Amalina and Theo, as well as each and every delegate in the World Health Assembly council. This is Kar Marn, delegate of the UK from the World Health Assembly, signing off! 

农历新年2021：心连心新希望，元气满满Moo Moo Da (12/2/2021)

农历新年来到人间了！往年会早起身，但是今年会较轻松，可以睡到自然醒。第一时间是向身在雪兰莪的父母通过电话送上祝福。一向传统的爸爸不忘提醒新年要起身，只好拖着沉重的身子准备新年的到来。

洗刷后，换上开运颜色—— 黄色的裙子迎接金牛年。每逢的初一十五会吃素，今天也不例外。我们向外公外婆拜年，由于只有两个孩子（大舅和阿姨）和一个孙（我），今年的敬茶仪式显得简略些。“文儿，到你啦！家里唯一的牛。” 阿姨说。我向外公外婆拜年，“希望你可以得到理想的工作。” 外婆说。

平时在这时候我们会到马六甲文化街的青云亭祈福，可是政府拟定的安全作业，只好在家里向神明祈福希望一切可以早日过去，恢复以前的日常生活。正当在听新年歌时候，小舅舅视讯。“小舅舅！” 小舅舅说：“文儿，是你啊！阿姨呢？” 我说: “阿姨在外面，怎么啦？” 小舅舅说：“听说你出新年翻唱MV？” 我说：“是啊！” 正当把拍好的照片上传到各个社交平台，大舅唤我：“文儿，出来。跟你妈咪他们线上拜年。” 我们全家人都同时隔空拜年，有感受浓浓的新年气氛！

小舅舅通过他的手机拍一张 “全家福” 。陈家隔空拜年，正式大功告成！今年的农历新年，大家就地过年，无法回乡过年，把健康摆第一最重要。等到疫情结束后，大团圆也不迟啊！心连心最重要。

祝大家心连心希望，元气满满Moo Moo哒！

送给大家这首《年盼》。

今年是第二个牛年

The Star R. AGE: #StandTogether SEA (3/2/2021-5/2/2021)

#StandTogether Kindness Leaders are back! This time we are going bigger than ever! We are heading to the region of Southeast Asia. Yes, we go that right! Southeast Asia how amazing is that? Before we go into more details of the event, allow me to refresh the memory. Launched in 2017, #StandTogether kindness campaign is to encourage students to practice empathy and kindness to combat school bullying - which is a social issue in Malaysia. With its success, national kindness week was declared by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Malaysia that on the first week of April, students will have to practice empathy and kindness in their schools for the whole week. 

Slowly, Malaysians are encouraged to take part in the kindness challenge too. We have a kindness chatbot on WhatsApp and each day we are required to complete the kindness challenge. It's difficult at first, slowly we will feel great about ourselves when complete the challenge by the end of the week. In 2019, I was lucky to attend a Kindness Concert and got to meet our #StandTogether celebrity ambassadors, especially UNICEF Malaysia's national ambassador, Kak Lisa Surihani. 

Last year, the kindness challenge has moved to online. There is a bit of challenge because we are stuck at home most of the time and we are encouraged to send our kindness stories. Throughout the year, kindness workshops were conducted virtually all over Malaysia. Now, we are heading bigger than ever, let's go to the SEA region! 

The first day, kindness leaders from all over Southeast Asia have joined the kindness revolution, including our friends from China. Same as the previous workshops that Malaysians kindness attended, we are broken up into breakout rooms for each section - types of bullying, the storytelling (with action cards) and gratitude notes. At one point, our Bahasa Malaysia was put to the test for the easiness for our Indonesian counterparts. After that, we have a special celebrity appearance from Choi Siwon - singer of the Korean boyband, Super Junior and UNICEF ambassador for the East Asia region. 

The second day, my fellow kindness leaders volunteers are broken up to assist kindness leaders. Oscar and I are assigned to China. Each country has to present the Kindness Workshop blueprint after that. I have three preferences - Malaysia, China and the Philippines. We hope that every kindness leader will bring the workshop back to their home countries and conduct them. For us Malaysians kindness leaders at the conference, we have a WhatsApp group chat - Tadika Mesra (Friendly Kindergarten). 

The third and final day, we have panellist of people ranging from the medical field and law firm on how they see corporal punishment towards a child and how can we break the cycle. During the Q & A session, I ask Dr Goh and Dr Farrah on how to include people with special needs in schools and communities. What we need is the equipment to make the community an inclusive environment. 

My favourite part of the panel discussion is the students' point of view on corporal punishment, it triggered the memory of me being embarrassed in front of the class, especially in primary school. Especially when we are in a Malaysian Chinese primary school, the possibility of being caned in front of the class is super high. 

Next, we are broken into groups and it's back to our host countries. Each question is given 5 to 10 minutes of discussion on what is the ideal relationship between a student and a teacher. We think our positions as teachers and students at the same time, how should we practice kindness and empathy in both positions. We are back to the main room when the discussion is done. Ismail Izzani - youth advocate for UNICEF Malaysia makes an appearance with a special performance. 

To end the conference on a sweet note, the #StandTogether team and their partners recorded a congratulatory video to encourage kindness leaders that this is the beginning of the kindness journey and hope to bring it back to our respective countries. Three days of kindness leaders conference has come to an end. 

Thank you to the R. AGE team and to my fellow kindness leaders we will meet again! 

The Star R. AGE Zoom Party with UNICEF Malaysia (14/12/2020)

 The final Zoom party of the year with #StandTogether kindness campaign by R. AGE is here! After a week meeting Selangor royalty - Tengku Zatasah, the princess of Selangor and Arwind Kumar, it's the moment that everyone is waiting for meeting the people from UNICEF Malaysia! I'm on my way up from Melaka to Selangor for a short stay, and it's a bumpy ride. "Katelyn, I hope you are not driving," Ian is concerned about my safety, "I'm fine, I'm in the backseat of the car for now," I say. 

Dr Rashed - the representative for UNICEF Malaysia, alongside our national ambassador Kak Lisa Surihani and youth advocate Ismail Izzani are on board the party! I'm really star-struck to see Dr Rashed virtually, hopefully, to see him physically in person. What does it take for us to be a kindness leader in big organisations such as UNICEF, Dr Rashed says: "Your kindness and empathy have to empower others," which is true! If we don't take that first step of kindness and empathy, how are we gonna empower the people around us? 

I have reached my destination, still attending the Zoom party in the car. As it was mentioned earlier, a bumpy ride along the way, it's hard for me to type the questions out. Luckily, during the second half of the party time, manage to settle down with a proper table and chair. I wanted to ask the questions, unfortunately, it's the end of the party. It's okay, at least got to meet the three important people from UNICEF Malaysia. 

"I hope Katelyn is fine because she was in the car all the way," says Kak Lisa before leaving the call, I told her that I'm on a short cuti-cuti Malaysia with my parents and younger sibling for a week in Selangor. "Oh, that's good!" she says. We did ask the R. AGE team on how to get into UNICEF Malaysia's initiatives. "Joining the kindness campaign is part of UNICEF Malaysia's work because they are collaborating with us," says Ian. 

Thank you R. AGE team for the final party of the year! I'm going to continue to spread kindness and empathy around me. Hope there is a physical event next year! Kindness leaders, remember to always have courage and be kind. 

The Star R. AGE Stand Together Zoom Party with Arwind Kumar and Tengku Zatasah (7/12/2020)

 After meeting national gymnast Farah Ann and MMA fighter Ann Osman at my first Zoom party. This time it's with Tengku Zatasah Idris - the Princess of Selangor and Arwind Kumar, better known as Mak Cik Roastmah. Logging into the Zoom party, kindness leaders are taking their places to wait for the party to start. To get in the Christmas season, a red hairband is a perfect accessory to get into the festive season. 

When Ian announces the arrival of our first guest - Tengku Zatasah, the kindness leaders are so star struck. It's every girl's dream to meet a real-life princess! Arwind hops on after that and without further ado, let the party begin! As with my first zoom party, a simple breathing exercise is conducted for everyone to relax. 

The real fun is playing one of my favourite games is Would You Rather? One part of the question is would you rather seek advice from our friends or parents? This is a tough question. I choose neither because I would always go to my grandparents whenever I needed advice. I would go to my friends, especially my seniors in high school and university, and my peers who would understand the challenges that I'm going through. As for the past and future self, I choose my past because I would tell the Katelyn in the past to not do this and would regret for the rest of her life. If I could, I would tell my three-year-old self is to not let my parents to not proceed with the physiotherapy therapy treatment, it was a nightmare for a couple of years. 

Tengku Zatasah shares about her experience while she was studying in the UK, it was a painful experience. It reminds me of the times in high school where I would be left behind during PJ (physical education) in class due to my Cerebral Palsy because the teacher would give me the reason that they didn't want to be responsible if anything happens to me. Can we just include all students no matter they are disabled or not? We need more empathy and kindness, be more inclusive. 

Arwind also shares his experiences on how did the MCR impersonation come up, it did receive a lot of backlashes but slowly people are accepting as it progresses, some might not. Not all people can accept when we want to come up with something. During my first year in university, I wanted to raise awareness of mental health among my course mates but I ended up in the wrong place. Luckily, I have Model United Nations (MUN) acts as a platform to voice out the causes I'm championing. 

During the Q & A session, I ask Tengku Zatasah and Arwind how they use their popularity to spread kindness and empathy around them? They said we don't need a title or being popular to spread kindness and empathy, we could do it by starting from ourselves, people will tend to follow after that if we take that baby step. A group photo is taken at the end of the party. Thank you #StandTogether team for organising and can't wait for the next and final #StandTogether Zoom party. 

What would you do to spread kindness and empathy around you? 

#StandTogether Zoom Party with Tengku Zatasah and Arwind Kumar

SUNMUN 2020 (27/11/2020-29/11/2020)

SUNMUN 2020 is back! Online that is, it was supposed to be held in July. Due to the current pandemic that the world is facing right now, the conference is shifted online as with previous MUN conferences I had attended. I was supposed to be placed in the Dewan Rakyat - which is one of my favourite councils but due to low participation of delegates, the council is called off. I look for other councils in the list, I decide to try out the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for short. Please, do not be confused with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 

We have an ice-breaking session and later Elisa, our co-chair explains the procedure of MUN in general for the newcomers to be familiar with, we don't want to have any culture shocks. I remembered during my very first MUN in 2018 at Malaysia National Model United Nations (MUN), I have to find my way during the three-day conferences. No guidance at all, but slowly was working the way during my second conference which was SUNMUN 2018. 

The debate begins on the second day with opening speeches and discussing on the topic in hand. I have a chat with Elisa, the co-chair of the council during the break to catch up we have been up to these days. The delegate of Canada decides to team up with delegates of Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland for a bloc on drafting a working paper that would be presented later for a draft resolution. As I'm in a meeting for an upcoming SunFM podcast, the delegate of Canada and Ireland message me, and I didn't know what is going on. It's a bit of drama but it is all in good terms. If this was in a physical MUN, the drama would be even intense. 

 On the third and final day of the conference, I didn't join the first half of the conference as I'm on my weekly Sunday class. By the time I come back, the resolution is passed and we end a session early. While waiting for the online closing ceremony, the delegates mingle around and drop our respective social media handles in the chatbox for us to keep in touch. Although, no award for me on home grounds, this a way to close the final online MUN conference in 2020. Hopefully, next year in 2021, a physical MUN conference.  

The Star R. AGE Kindness Workshop (3/11/2020)

After a Zoom party with national gymnast Farah Ann and MMA fighter Ann Osman, it's time to head over for a kindness workshop and there is a special guest appearance, who is it? Let you know in a bit. It's back to the #StandTogether Kindness Workshop! Unfortunately, my computer is not kind to me today because the camera is not working but luckily my iPad is there as a backup. 

We are asked to take four pieces of A4 papers which will be used for each segment of the workshop. The first segment is drawing ourselves, the challenge is we have to use our non-dominant hand, dominant hand and one part with our eyes closed while drawing ourselves. I didn't do well with my eyes closed while drawing. Next, we are broken into groups to breakout rooms. My first group is a bit quiet because none of us spoke up, I have to be the first one to initiate the conversation, it lasted for five minutes, it's really short. 

We are back to the main room again for another activity. I participated in this game before at the Zoom party. We are given a statement while the cameras are turned off, and turn on if that statement describes us. Again, we are broken out into another breakout room to discuss the forms of bullying and which form of bullying is the most common of all. My teammates Emily, Khadijah and Mellisa agree that cyberbullying is the most common of all because we can get behind the computer to type out anything, but please don't, use it to spread kindness. 

Next, we take a third A4 paper and tear it half. One is to draw which represents "Me Also" meaning "I have been through this before", the other paper is a heart shape which represents "Love La!" meaning "You are brave" and other empathy words within. It's like social media "likes". We use it for the Storytelling and Gratitude segments. By the time we head back to the main room, Chole is telling how much she enjoys the Kindness Workshop, everyone's hearts just melted in an instant. The innocence of a child teaches us so much about empathy and kindness.  

Remember I told you about the special guest appearance? He's a #StandTogether ambassador and UNICEF Malaysia's youth ambassador, can you guess who is it! Yes! The one and only Ismail Izzani! He shared his experiences about kindness in his life, especially his English teacher, Teacher Gina, who constantly believed in him. That reminded me of some of my teachers in high school as well. 

There is a Q & A session from the kindness advocates. Being a singer, Ismail sang a few lines of Bidadari (Angel) for us. At the end of the workshop, a group photo is taken and that wraps up the English version of the kindness workshop. Now, I'm officially a kindness advocate! Thank you #StandTogether team for organising the workshop and made some amazing friends too! 

Have courage and be kind.