Morocco Travel Blog 2023
Published May 29, 2023 On Sunday, the first group visited Project Soar, a girl-centered activity aimed at empowering teen girls through a one-year program in order to help them understand their value, body, rights, and path. Its focus is to prevent adolescent pregnancy and child marriage, but also to encourage girls to continue their education and enter the labor market. At the center, Kawtar Ait Malek talked about their work and we got to meet the girls. Many of us were touched by their project! Afterward, we went and visited several museums: The Bahia Palace, a ruined palace that shows an example of traditional Moroccan architecture, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, a historic Islamic School and an impressive example of Moroccan architecture, and Le Jardin Secret, a beautiful garden and riad located in the souks of Marrakech. In the evening, the group was reunited and decided to have dinner at a local restaurant, where several of us enjoyed Tanjia, a traditional Marrakech dish. Then we explored the city, going through the souks to Jemaa el Fnaa, the main square, and the marketplace of Marrakesh, used by locals and tourists alike. Being in these markets, vendors will constantly call you to bring your attention to their stalls, and haggling is an expected custom when purchasing. On the way back to the hotel, we also stopped by the Koutoubia mosque, the largest mosque in Marrakech. On Monday, most of us went on a full-day trip to visit the Ouzoud Waterfalls with a guided hike and boat ride. It was an absolutely amazing and slightly wet experience, especially for some of us! We also got to see monkeys. The second half of the week was spent in Rabat to visit NGOs and the Swedish embassy in Morocco. The group split up once more as some left directly in the morning by train to stop by Casa Blanca to visit Hassan II, one of the largest mosques in the world, while others stayed to enjoy the last few hours in Marrakech before returning to Rabat in the afternoon. Written by: Chad Farrell and Ebba Tholander On our first full day back in Rabat we decided to sleep in and gather some energy after the adventures in Marrakech and Casablanca. We decided to split into halves and eventually head to the old Medina in Rabat for lunch. Spacious and beautiful sections of market stalls gave way to lovely all-white streets which led up to the city’s old keep with an amazing view of the beaches and the ocean. Rabat certainly showed us its best side! After a quick lunch, we went by bus to the Embassy of Sweden in Morocco, where Julia and Maja offered us a warm welcome. They explained their day-to-day work, and how it is to be an embassy intern in Rabat, before answering various questions from the travelers. Many of us felt inspired after this meeting! In the evening we had some free time, where some decided to head to the medina and buy some food to make dinner at the hostel. We also found an alcohol shop (!) and decided to pick up a couple of beers and a wine bottle to celebrate being back in Rabat. Everyone ate together before playing a few games, getting to know each other just a little bit more! On our second day back in Rabat, we first visited the National Human Rights Council, a national institution for the protection and promotion of human rights. After lunch, we visited the Moroccan Organisation of Human Rights, an NGO that is devoted to issues of political detention, torture, and human rights awareness. In the late afternoon, we spent some time at the beach and some of us tried surfing, which was awesome! Later in the evening we all met up and had our last dinner together in Morocco. On the last day, people walked around in the city and shopping and sat in cafés and parks before we departed from Morocco via Spain to Sweden. Written by: Alexander Skingsley and Gustaf Stövling
Lecture with Minister for Foreign Affairs
Published April 17, 2023 Last week, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billström, visited UF Uppsala for a lecture and Q&A session. The Foreign Minister outlined the current government’s goals and priorities for Sweden’s foreign policy, placing particular emphasis on the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU.The Q&A session saw a range of interesting questions and discussions being raised by UF Uppsala’s members, including Sweden’s relations to the African Union, paths toward sustainable peace in Israel/Palestine, as well as the situation in Somalia. UF Uppsala and its members would like to extend a word of thanks to the Minister for Foreign Affairs for taking the time and effort to visit us!
Lund-Sala-Holm Exchange 2023
Published April 15, 2023 This weekend, we received UPF Lund in a traditional yearly exchange where board members from both associations share experiences, participate in workshops, and have a fun time together. For the first time UF Stockholm joined the meeting and we hope their presence becomes permanent in the tradition! Thank you to everyone that came to Uppsala, to our UFS-Representative Marcus for organizing the event, and to UF Stockholm for their gift to UF Uppsala!
Lecture with Jan Eliasson
Published March 31, 2023 Yesterday Jan Eliasson shared insights in Sweden’s role in the Nordic, European, and global agendas, particularly concerning international security and sustainable development, and the importance of striving for international cooperation and dialogue especially in the presence of conflict in the international system. But he also elaborated on the role that the world plays in Sweden, social mobilization, social integration and remarked the importance of re-evaluate the course of the politization that these issues have taken in Sweden. Thank to all our members that came to the lecture to hear the inishgts of Jan Eliasson, participate in the Q&A session, and get your copy of Eliasson’s book ord och handling: ett liv i diplomatins tjänst. Below you find the gallery of pictures taken during the event, remember that if you wish to have a picture removed you need to contact pr@ufuppsala.se and state which picture to get take away from the gallery. Photography by: Alejandro Velazquez ‘alexvelb’
Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture 2023
Published February 16, 2024 A word from President Cecilia Chau on the Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture with Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. ” When Amina J Mohammed the deputy secretary general asked us, students, what we would like for her to bring back to the UN, I answered “For the world leaders to cooperate better so that we can have a more hopeful future ahead of us”. Hopefully, the world leaders can care about our future as much as Amina and we do. She also said that we need to fight for our future, and nothing comes on a silver plate, which makes me even more motivated to do my best for our future. Amina J Mohammed is a big inspiration for many of us youth people including me. Her speech, work and her achievements are a big inspiration to us women and youth people. I am beyond thankful to have had this opportunity to talk and discuss important global issues with her. This is something the younger me would never believe that I would’ve ever gotten the chance to meet someone cool and inspiring as Amina J Mohammed. I would never believe that I would get the chance to proudly present my board and the amazing work my board members do to the Deputy Secretary General of the UN. To be the president of an amazing association that focuses on spreading knowledge and awareness to young people and work with amazing people itself is an achievement. But meeting Amina J Mohammed and getting to talk to her and listen to her inspirational words makes me want to do even better. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to everyone involved that gave me this big opportunity. Thank you so much. ”
Johan Molander – En Framgångsfull Föreläsning
Published February 10, 2023 I tisdags hade UF Uppsala äran att få hålla en gästföreläsning med Johan Molander! Det blev en lyckad föreläsning, där Johan delade med sig av sina tankar på UD, Ryssland och barnkonventionen och som avslutades med en frågestund för våra medlemmar. Johan fick då besvara frågor om livet som diplomat, hur man lyckas nå en liknande framgångssaga som han själv, och hur västvärlden hade kunnat förebygga Rysslands invasion av Ukraina. Medlemmarna på föreläsningen fick höra inspirerande berättelser, tankeväckande omvärldsanalyser och personliga anekdoter från hans tjänst som diplomat. Vi vill säga ett stort, varmt tack till Johan Molander som tog sig tiden och kraften att hålla detta föredrag för våra medlemmar! Sedan vill vi även tacka våra medlemmar som kom och som bidrag med kloka reflektioner och intressanta frågor under frågestunden. Om du önskar att få ett foto borttaget meddela oss på pr@ufuppsala.se Det går även bra att meddela oss om ni önskar att spara ett foto utan vattenstämpel.
