Abigail's Diary: Friday 3 May, 2002

On Friday, I had a wonderful day! I had a great chance to interact with other people. After arriving at the airport, I looked around with bright eyes and a big smile. I was hoping that when other people saw me, I could just bring out a glow in their faces. But I was quite frustrated! Maybe they were all exhausted because of the long flight. But I almost forgot - this special person, an elderly Asian man I saw in the distance, smiled back at me and waved his hand a little and said, "Hi." He was great. Maybe he should join the UN Special Session or the Children's Forum. I really saw the child in him.

On with my journey. People from UNICEF and the Philippines Permanent Mission welcomed all of us from the Philippines delegation after we got our baggage. Although it was my first time meeting them, they were warm and friendly. We had just finished a heavy breakfast on the plane, so we weren't hungry yet, but by the time we'd checked into the Helmsley Hotel in Manhattan, we felt the need to eat. To help our body clocks adjust, we walked along 42nd Street to Fifth Avenue. We saw Times Square, Toys 'R' Us, the Empire State Building and people, people, people. I had been given a camera to take pictures of anything I like, so I ran around looking for interesting subjects. It's fun taking pictures. When we got tired, we tried to find a place to eat. We had intended to dine at a Chinese noodle shop, but it was so expensive that we settled for cheeseburgers and French fries.

On Saturday, we met at UNICEF for a briefing on the Children's Forum, with other children from the East Asia and Pacific region. Everybody was really warm and polite, and they updated us on what happened at the session on Friday that I missed. One thing that came up was that, although adults may claim to know about children, we are the real experts on children's issues. We need to be totally, totally involved with policy-making. As someone said at the meeting, "We [children] are the power of the world." Children are more than half of the world's population, and, even though we live in different places, if we shouted at the tops of our voices, we could really be heard, and that's so great to think about.

After the session, we had a quick lunch in a diner and went to get our identity passes for the UN, and then we were free for the rest of the day.

In New York, I've already noticed, people walk down the street and don't look at each other as much as they do in my own country, where we often stop to say "Hi." I want to see sights like Ground Zero and the Empire State Building, but I also really want to meet people who live here and talk to them. I hope I have a chance to do this.

UNICEF supports the right of every child to be heard, and therefore provides this opportunity for children to voice their views and impressions of the United Nations Special Session on Children. The report above reflects the opinions of an individual child delegate to the Special Session and does not represent the policies or positions of UNICEF.