How United Nations changed my life

by Larissa Aniceto (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find USA

Sunday night. Another common day for a university student to start her week in São Paulo, Brazil, city of residence. Studies and work combined to make a dream come true. That Sunday, December 8th, 2018, I went to the park and rode my bike. When I got home, more than in a hurry, I took the computer and applied for the UN Ambassadors program in New York, United States. A person who did not have a passport, had no visa and had never traveled to other countries. Wednesday afternoon. December 12nd, 2018, just three days later, I get the long-awaited “yes”. Me and eight other Brazilians were chosen to represent Brazilian youth and diplomacy at the 57th Commission for Social Development, one of the largest forums in the world to discuss the topic at the UN Social and Economic Council (ECOSOC). For the dream to come true, I worked for a year, saving all available resources so that I could afford the travel costs. The international scene has always enchanted me and, in addition to these experiences, I was present in Buenos Aires, on a leisure trip. I graduated in Bachelor Degree in Administration Institute Foundation (FIA), one of the best business universities in Brazil with full scholarship by a program named PROUNI (Program University for Everyone). I live far from downtown São Paulo, where I live with my mother and my uncle. My mother is unemployed and she has a mental disablement, my father is a public employee and my uncle is retired with mental disablement too. I came from a poor family and my parents did not finish high school. I am the first woman of the family to get higher education. And as I have always studied in public school, which in Brazil usually lacks quality, entering in one of the greatest universities in my country was a great victory and it happened because of my dedication and different opportunities. Because I have participated in the biggest forum to discuss social development at United Nations (UN), I was chosen with full scholarship to representing Brazil at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the same college that Nelson Mandela studied law from 1943 to 1949, in a UN simulation into UNICEF board. My choice for Business Administration course was because I always had contact with management theory and decisions I would like to connect this concept with international relations and human rights. I made a commitment to improve these services so a better quality of life. The travel to UN completely changed my life in different aspects. As I was a person with dreams and I lived the craziest experience in my life, because I have never traveled to another country, and I went to represent Brazil and I saw snow for the first time. It was really incredible! :)