One Sunday night at a Young Ambassadors for Opportunity meeting, five participants were invited to go to New York and speak to members of the United Nations with other teenagers from around the world. Sophomore Riva Akolawala was one of those five.

“Obviously I wanted to take the opportunity,” Akolawala said.

Young Ambassadors for Opportunity is a program funded by UNICEF, an organization that provides humanitarian care and assistance to children around the world.

Two days after the invitation, Akolawala said she found herself at the U.N. headquarters in New York, where she had a conference call with the Pope, went on a tour of the building and interviewed two delegates. The Young Ambassadors asked the delegates about the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, specifically about equal rights between girls and boys, education in rural areas and other daily struggles in third world countries.

“Even though we didn’t all speak the same language, it was really cool because everyone was smiling, and we could all communicate,” said Akolawala. “[The experience] has made me more aware of what I want to do and who I want to be.”

At a “cocktail party” with the teenagers and delegates, Akolawala said she spoke to Marfoh Mariam Kornya Samai from Sierra Leone, whose town was destroyed by a flash flood.

According to Akolawala, her conversation with Samai exposed her to the difference between her struggles and the struggles of others in the world.

“Her hometown is destroyed,” said Akolawala. “Some people don’t have a house anymore, workplaces have been damaged, schools have been damaged and it’s hard for a town to function when they don’t have facilities.”

After the U.N. conference, Samai said she is still optimistic about her goals of working as a human rights activist and eventually becoming the U.N. Secretary-General.

“I felt like some part of my dreams and aspirations are coming through, which made me so happy, but not only happy, motivated as well,” said Samai. “I realized that who you are doesn’t matter, but what you can do [matters] because talking about an ordinary girl like me going to see all the wonderful people at the U.N. … [is] a blessing as well as an inspirational moment.”