My Trip to the Inspired Me To Advocate for Change, Support Youth

12 March 2018

Hassan traveled to the United Nations as part of a URI program to connect young adult interfaith leaders to the UN and each other. Hassan is a part of the Tri City Interfaith Council, a Cooperation Circle member of the United Religions Initiative.

2018 World Interfaith Harmony Week UN Trip

Hassan is part of the Tri City Interfaith Council and a co-founder of a high school interfaith group in Fremont, California. Click on the yellow left and right arrows below to see Hassan's photos and reflections on the trip!

My Trip to the UN by Hassan Khawaja
Trip participants in Time Square
Trip participants in Time Square 2
Hassan on UN podium
Hassan with Rico
I will use my exposure to the United Nations, and other members from different URI Cooperation Circles, in order to share my experiences with my Cooperation Circle and Interfaith for Youth Council.  I  plan on giving a presentation on my trip to the United Nations at the next International Day of Peace and sharing all the valuable information and experiences I encountered and absorbed. I will especially emphasize the fact that youth matter in the community.  After attending the panels in the United Nations
I learned a lot about everyone on the first day and we bonded by walking around New York and visiting Times Square, the M&M store and eating an Indian Dinner (Rico’s first time). What I also learned was how cold the weather in New York was relative to the weather in California. I was really surprised while getting to know the others and their backgrounds and how we all have such very different upbringings and yet all ended up very like-minded.
This was the the day in which we did the most. I don’t think I have ever done so many activities in one day. I felt very honored to be able to enter the United Nations and even get my own ground pass. I still have my ground pass and show it to my friends all the time! I felt very humbled to have been able to meet and talk with the URI UN representatives. I felt as if they passed down a lot of wisdom in the short amount of time we had together. I definitely brought back some of that wisdom with me home. We a
This was out last day in New York and I was actually pretty shocked that time had flew by so fast. It felt as if I had just landed the day before, but it was already time to go. We woke up early and attended a Panel Discussion in which I felt was the most relevant to me since it was talking about how the youth are the ones who should be the ones more involved and active since we are the ones who will really be making the impact on society. We also had a inside tour led by Sari which was really eye opening a
Hassan Slideshow 2

Follow these links to read reflections from trip participants Rico and Anjaana