The United Nations offices have been present in the beautiful city of Vienna for 40 years this year and to mark the occasion they held an open house day last Sunday.
I love Vienna and actually visited UNIS Vienna two times before, but this was the first open day event I’ve attended. They opened their doors from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on a Sunday and around 3000 people visited.
It wasn’t a tour-like event (although you could take a tour if you wanted), but people had the chance to wander around the open parts of the building where the event was held.
All the UN organizations present in Vienna represented themselves with a stand, with a whole lot of learning materials to hand out, and some kind and helpful staff ready to answer questions. They even thought about children offering fun activities for all ages.
I collected some materials on the topics that interest me most, but I haven’t really had the chance yet to go through all of them. Once I do, I plan to share what I learned here on the blog.
Here, just a quick – far from complete – recap:
The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs had very exciting stuff to show: you could try a space walk wearing a VR glass (it was a hit among small ones and bigger ones too), they even had samples of the “food” astronauts eat in space (not for taste, of course), and readily informed us about all the areas the organization operates in.
Did you know there was a sample of the Moon on display in UN Vienna? I actually did, but I never had so much time to spend inspecting it before.
Have you ever wondered what the inside of a tent in a UN refugee camp looked like? They let you check it out at the event. Cue: it’s not nearly spacious or comfortable enough for whole families to live in it for years.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is actually one of my favorite topics. I became a faithful follower of the UN’s work after attending a seminar on the predecessors of the SDGs, the Millenial Development Goals (MDGs).
Here, some highlights of the event from UN Vienna:
3000 people came to the #UNVienna Open House Day last Sunday and found out about the work of the UN. #FlashbackFriday Saying thank you with this video. 👇 pic.twitter.com/BIbaxGsrMZ
For me, it was an afternoon very well spent. Huge thanks to all the staff of the organizations and the Vienna International Centre for making it happen!
Have you been there? Or have you visited UN Vienna before? Let me know in the comments!
