Meet HIAMUN 2017’s Deputy Secretary General, Mabrouk El-Kawass, an active high school senior with a sense of responsibility towards striving to make this world a better place. This is exactly what Mabrouk, and the rest of HIAMUN’s team, aspire to achieve every HIAMUN conference.
His constant effort to grow and improve as much as possible, through HIAMUN and otherwise, comes clear in this interview, which will hopefully get you an insight into what’s behind this year’s theme, what’s to look forward to, and more.
Mabrouk El-Kawass, Hayah’s Model United Nations Deputy Secretary General, 2017
HIAMUN has become one of the very reputable conferences in Egypt. What traditions has it developed over the years and how would you characterize it?
HIAMUN has always been known for its traditions of teamwork and support from all of the members. All the committees work together as a family. Aside from that, we usually have our chocolate fountain, and our remarkable opening and closing ceremony videos. There’s also the character of the year. These are things that we do regularly and we feel happy that we keep on repeating them year after year.
How would you describe this year's theme, “Kaleidoscopic"?
This theme is extremely special, because it covers different aspects of the aims of MUN. It shows how the same issue can be viewed from different angles, depending on the way we interpret the image in front of us. Our conclusions will be different. It's also a matter of diversity in our views and how something really simple can present something beautiful.
MUN has been known to change one's perspective about important events for a long time. Would you say that choosing a theme such as Kaleidoscopic would help to introduce this mindset to the new delegates?
Of course it would help to do so, as it would help them to look at the important events from a different point of view and a different perspective that will show them a remarkable outcome, thus changing their mindsets.
One of the great merits of HIAMUN is its continual evolvement and evolving for the better. What are the most significant changes in this year's conference and what can we expect?
There have been many changes in the conference this year, some of which have been already applied and others in the planning process. This year, we’ve added younger chairs from our school as to give a chance to the young talented MUN students, and we also added a third chair in our General Assembly forums to enable the chairs to give more attention to the delegates and to divide the work between them. Also, this year, for the first time, we have opened the door for some schools to participate in our academic committee by sending us students to take the role of chairs in our forums. We are also planning further logistical changes.
Get to Know Mabrouk!
How would you describe yourself in one word?
Passionate.
If you were a superhero, what power would you choose to have? Why?
I’d fly, to visit all the places I want to see for free.