Bali COP13 Youth Delegate Hezel from Masbate, Philippines

Hezel’s Reflections: Children and Climate Change

Hezel Tis 15 years old from Masbate, an island province in the Philippines. She is in third year secondary school and a leader of a local children’s association, the Paraiso (Paradise) Active Youth/Children’s Organization. She is the youngest of 5 siblings, her mother is an elementary school teacher and her father, a utility worker in the same elementary school.

Hezel is participating at the UNFCCC COP13 in Bali this week, and is sharing her views with us of the negotiations taking place:

6 Dec. 2007

This is the first formal day for everyone. It is a great opportunity that I am able to participate in this conference. We are all happy getting to know each other. I am happy that I was able to tell everyone, especially in the media interview, the situation of children in our village and what I will do in the conference. Even though I am shy and cannot speak English well, I was able to share with everyone the views and opinions of Filipino children about climate change. The first side event I attended is Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific. From this, I remembered the situation of farmers in our province. There is failure of crops due to climate change and many children are not able to go to school because they have to work because their parents’ income is not enough. I got very tired attending the side event: Fighting for our Future, because it finished late at night. But I am very interested in this side event because I saw how children can participate in doing something about global warming and climate change and that children need to have a voice in the fight against global warming and climate change.

7 Dec. 2007

I woke up late because I was very tired from what we did yesterday. I am happy because we had a good sharing of ideas in Mr. Tom Tanner and Mr. Tom Mitchell’s place. It is a like a big family in one house. I am glad Thomas, Hannah, Eni and I had a good conversation on the effects of climate change to children in each of our countries. We prepared and practiced for interviewing other people.

We had an expensive lunch which according to Ms. Vera is equivalent to one month’s budget for food of many poor people.

We attended the Plenary Session about the Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2007. According IPCC, people are certified involved in climate change. It says that in year 1993 to 2003 the sea level rose by 3.1 meters per year. And the effect of this is: increased global cyclone, ground instability and many natural systems are affected. The causes of climate change are: solar change, volcanic eruption, greenhouse gas, aerosols and land cover. I also learned that Philippines is likely to have a runoff due to increase in high latitudes.

I was able to interview three people. First one is working on solar generation. I interviewed Abb and Ivy of Greenpeace from Philippines and Indonesia. Ivy said that children should have a voice in this conference because we are the owners of the future. The second interview is with Shira Yoffe of United States Agency for Information and Development. She said that they do a lot of activities like reducing pollution and lots of programs on educating people to be more able to adapt to climate change. The third interview is with Caroline of Convention on Biological Diversity. She said that there is more rain and many compounds flooded because of climate change. Their government tries to have many programs; they build more stronger houses so that houses are not affected by typhoon. I also tried to interview someone from China but he said, “No, no I am busy.”

I had a chance to interview the authors of the Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2007 but I know they are busy and that there are many people who would like to interview them. It would a good opportunity to interview them.

For me it is not difficult to interview people because in our village I had interviewed some of our government officials. But it is very challenging for me because it is my first time to interview people from other countries.

8 Dec. 2007
Saturday

We had a meeting and reflection session on what happened the past days. I’m happy that I am not shy to speak. I shared with our group what I learned from my interviews.

The activities are very tiring. Back home I sleep at eight in the evening and wake up at four in the morning. Here, I sleep late in the evening and wake up before eight in the morning that is why I am always sleepy.

After our meeting we had lunch at Lucky Duck Food Organic restaurant before going to Conrad Hotel for the Climate Change Film Festival. Balinese food is very delicious!

We practiced for the conference while waiting for the film festival to begin. We prepared all possible questions that will be asked and our answers to these. Good that we practiced or else I will not be able to talk (joke!). I am happy when others say that I am doing well more so when they say what I still need to do.

After the practice we proceeded to the Climate Change Film Festival. Thomas showed the video he made about climate change. Tom Mitchell asked the four of us to sit in front of the audience. He told the audience that they have to ask questions as preparation for our press conference. I was a little nervous because we were suddenly asked to be in a press conference-like situation. But this helped me a lot because now I am less nervous about the press conference.

After Thomas’ film showing we watched another video about disaster risk reduction. It is nice to see a film with puppets talking about what to do to prevent disasters during floods and landslides. What I saw in this video is the same as what our organization is doing in my village. I remembered my fellow members in our children’s organization and wondered about what they are doing there now.

We went back to Goodway Hotel to prepare for the dinner meeting of NGOs and Philippine Government Delegation. The meeting was held in Jimbaran overlooking the sea. I had an opportunity to talk to government officials in the Philippine delegation especially to Mrs. Bernarditas Muller. She is the chief negotiator for financing of the Group of 77 (G77), these are developing and least developed countries that are affected by climate change. The meeting ended around 12 midnight. Although I am tired I am not so sleepy because it is nice to hear what NGOs and government are talking about the environment.







10 Dec. 2007
Monday

Yehey!!! This is the day I am waiting for. I cannot explain what I feel. All of us woke up early and had an early breakfast.

We had another preparatory meeting for the actual press conference. Everyone was very busy; everyone was nervous, restless and going to the toilet. We reviewed the possible questions to be asked and our answers. I am happy that Ate Hope suggested the question, what will I do if I am in the government. It was one of the questions asked during the press conference.

I was not so nervous during the press conference since there were not so many people. I am happy that while questions were being asked I am able to think of my answers right away. At last I was able to tell everyone about the situation of children in our community. This is my first experience being questioned by so many people many of them from the media. I am so happy… it is only in my dreams that I see myself being on television but now I can proudly say, Filipinos are a Great People! I am proud of myself because my mother said in her text message, “Congrats for a job well done.”

After the press conference many people continued asking questions outside of the conference room. Tom Mitchell said BBC will interview me at two in the afternoon and I immediately sent a text message to my parents. I could not believe that BBC World and BBC Radio want to interview me.

We had lunch in one of the restaurants in Bali Collection after all the interviews. I was disappointed because our order of food took a long time and I was not able to eat well and enjoy my meal. Ate Hope and I ate our lunch hurriedly because of the BBC interviews.

The BBC interviews went well. Their questions are similar to the questions in the press conference. The interview with BBC World Radio was longer than the interview with BBC World TV. I liked better the interview with BBC Radio because it was held under a shady tree unlike the TV interview which was held under the very hot sun. I was very tired after the interview so we went back to the hotel to rest. It was almost dinner time when I woke up, just in time for the dinner with IDS staff in Jimbaran.

During dinner Hanna and I became closer because we had a chance to talk and play in the beach together with Eni and Thomas. We were all so happy, waiting for the waves to come then running far back to shore to avoid getting wet. All of us got wet in the end. It was fun to see Thomas so scared of getting wet.

I am sad that Thomas and Lucy are going home tomorrow and our big family here will be incomplete. We had a farewell session with Thomas and Lucy. I admire Thomas he is like an older brother and the team leader of the under-18 delegates.




11 Dec. 2007
Tuesday

I started writing in my journal as soon as I woke up but did not finish because Ate Hope and I had to eat breakfast but I did not enjoy my meal because I had a toothache.

We started working on my blog after breakfast. It took us a long time to write the blog because I am trying to remember what happened the past days. While Ate Hope was writing and translating my blog I went back to my journal. I still did not finish my journal.

We had lunch again at the Bali Collection but not in the same restaurant we went to yesterday. Can you imagine, Hannah saw a crawling creature in her food yesterday (WooOhh!) So we decided to eat in another restaurant.

I am happy because Tom Tanner and Tom Mitchell were with us during our lunch. I went back to my journal right after I finished eating. While others were still eating Tom Mitchell said UNICEF is inviting me to their press conference. I did not give an answer because I want to know more information about their press conference before I make a decision. After lunch we went to the UNICEF booth in BICC to hear people from UNICEF explain about the press conference.

I did not like how the lady from UNICEF described the Filipinos. There are many other words that can describe Filipinos other than being “domestic workers”. This is the main reason why I did not want to join their press conference.

We went next to the IDS booth to talk about attending the European Union side event. We again prepared questions for our interview this time with Anders Wijkman. There was lots of food in the European Union side event. We ate first before entering the session room. The food was very delicious!

I did not understand anything in the side event because I was so sleepy. We decided to go out and rest while waiting for the session to finish before our interview with Anders Wijkman. It was good talking to Anders. Even though he is a foreigner, he does not speak fast.

After the interview, we had a debriefing session. We talked about our happiest moment and saddest moment during the conference. For me the happiest moment was during the actual press conference. The saddest moment was sleeping past eight in the evening because this is not good for children. After the debriefing, we said goodbye to Tom Tanner since this is our last day with him. I told him, “Goodbye Grandpa!”

We went straight to Angsa Putih Restaurant for the farewell dinner with Plan Indonesia-Gobogan. I cried because one of the performers had a scary mask. There was picture taking after the performance together with the scary man. I joined the picture taking and approached the man with the scary mask. I touched the mask so that next time will not be scared anymore.