Gabriella Carballo to join gathering of Asian youth leaders in Bali

CEBU, Philippines — After passing on the Miss Mandaue crown early this month, Gabriella Ceniza Carballo is set to broaden her horizons as she signed up for Asia World Model United Nations (AWMUN) III. Soon, people might not only remember her as the first Miss Mandaue winner to push through with an advocacy project, but she just might go down in the books as a diplomat as well.

Taking to the next level her interest in White House-inspired TV shows and her aspirations of wearing power suits, Gabbi has taken on the task of representing the Philippines at AWMUN III, a gathering that facilitates young leaders from all over Asia, providing them with a platform to share their perspective on world issues and on certain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With the theme “The Implementations of World’s Agenda 2030,” AWMUN III will be held in Bali, Indonesia on November 13-16. It will present 21 councils with four committee sessions. Gabbi has been accepted to be one of the 2,000 targeted delegates.

“Now that Miss Mandaue is over and I have more time on my hands, I bounced at the opportunity to take bigger steps towards making a difference,” Gabbi told The FREEMAN.

Gabbi feels uncomfortable when she isn’t occupied with anything, which is why she always finds new things to do. Joining Model UN is a way to further improve and motivate herself in making a change.

The 20-year-old will be in her final year as a nursing student at Cebu Doctors’ University when school opens in July. She already knows how she’s going to spend the semestral break: posing solutions and targeting developmental goals for 2030 in a mock UN discussion through AWMUN III in Bali. It says a lot about how far into the future Gabbi likes to think.

“Sometimes I think that many of us remain stagnant despite our beliefs because we think that our lone voice can’t achieve anything. I think this event would be a great reminder for me that I am not actually alone, and hinder me from becoming apathetic to our world’s issues. After all, our generation is the next one to take over, and we need to be ready for that responsibility,” she said of the self-funded undertaking.

A student council president during her school days in Florida, and a member of the COMELEC in high school after moving to the Philippines at 14, it’s safe to say that Gabbi enjoys leadership roles.

Her Miss Mandaue 2018 reign furthered her interest, and it helped that her relatives were on the same page, often suggesting that she would do well as a diplomat.

Gabbi, who initiated the Green Wave project which taught children about proper waste management and segregation, believes that her Miss Mandaue experience will come in handy as she tries her hand at international relations.

“The biggest lesson I learned from Miss Mandaue was that no matter how big a crowd may be or how daunting a vision may seem, anything is possible as long as you work for it with your entire heart and aren’t afraid to speak up,” she said.

“As a generally shy person, I’m sure I might be a bit timid at first when I arrive. But I’m planning to constantly remind myself that I’m surrounded by some of Asia’s most powerful members of the youth who want the best for the world and therefore, we’ll all be there to listen to each other.”

After seeing the AWMUN ad online, Gabbi was drawn to the event when she learned that youth from all over Asia with the same goal as she does will be joining. She thought being in their company would inspire her to “take steps towards fighting for the change our world needs.”

Apart from the diplomatic dinner, council discussions, and city tour, Gabbi looks forward to meeting the other delegates the most.

“I feel so blessed to get to meet people from all walks of life and backgrounds and the fact that I’m going to be alongside them is already such an honor. One thing I wish I did more was travel, so it’s insane that I’ll be going to Bali to do something as empowering as this!”

As a student nurse, she saw the importance of environmental sanitation and proper waste management. She also wishes more people vaccinated their children.

Among the SDGs in Model UN she’d like to take part in are Good Health and Well-Being, Clean Water and Sanitation, and Climate Action since they encompass her main causes of good healthcare and environmental protection.

Beyond those goals, she would like to stress the importance of healthcare and educating people about health issues regardless if they’re in dire need of treatment or not.

“Through my work as a student nurse in the communities, I’ve learned that many individuals in the Philippines do not visit physicians for routine check-ups or even worse, people simply deal with their health problems symptomatically with over-the-counter medications which, if taken long term, may also have negative effects on the body,” she pointed out.

“This goes hand-in-hand with the statistic that our country has the fastest growing rate of HIV in the Asia Pacific. The common denominator between these two things is that there is such a lack of education on many aspects regarding healthcare and our ability to disseminate information on health issues. And I believe we need to make people, other than medical practitioners, aware of preventive measures and the potential severity of illnesses through well-channeled mediums. It would be wonderful to try and create attainable solutions with other delegates to get more points of view.”

As they participate in mock UN discussions, delegates get to give speeches and share their insights on certain topics. Gabbi, who is still waiting to hear back about her assigned organization but is looking forward to be in UNICEF, WHO, and UN Women, is studying up on her targeted SDGs.

“I’ve been watching videos of UN parliamentary procedure and of past AWMUNs. I have also read up a lot on my SDGs of focus and how the Philippines has contributed to these goals,” she said.

“I still have a lot more to study on which I’ll be doing from now until November. There are awards for Best Delegate, Most Outstanding Delegate, Honorable Mention, Best Position Paper, etc as well. It’d be so nice to get any of them.”

Upon announcing her participation in AWMUN III on her social media, Gabbi also encouraged her friends to join the event. Charyzah Esparrago and Frances Pino, Top 6 finishers in last year’s Miss Mandaue, made it in as well.

“I know it feels like the world’s problems are the adults’ jobs but soon enough, we will all be adults too, with the responsibility to make our world a place that the next generation would be willing to fight for. Just think about it: the better we make our world today, the better the lives of our children, and so on.”

Gabbi said people have a tendency to overlook situations unless they are directly affected.

“We have to be proactive rather than reactive. Preventive rather than curative. Statistics show that these SDGs could actually be achieved by 2030, as long as everyone really makes an effort to make change. One voice may seem small, but when you use that voice to rally other voices together, we could be limitless.”