Academic Forum themed ‘Sparkles of Intellect: Are Sustainable Development Goals Achievable?’ took place on Sunday, 21 October at a packed JTQ auditorium. The forum began with an introduction of the guests of honour, who were Prof. Yin Jie, Prof. Zhao Ru-Jin, Ms. Ding Jinyan, and Ms. Sun Jianying along with the debate judges Ms. Dragana Ostic, Mr. Emmanuel Agyenim-Boateng and Mr. Adeleke Banwo, essay judges Ms. Blessing Danso and Mr. Emmanuel Payne and lastly the guest speaker Ms. Martha Coleman. M.C. Rodrick highlighted the role of females by coining the phrase; “Where there are women there is order, and where there is order there are women.”Gugulethu Nyathi then eloquently introduced the JEWELS event and briefed the audience on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

This was followed by Ms. Ding Jinyan (JEWELS patron representative) who officially launched the JEWELS Financial Assistance Fund. The fund will offer monetary assistance to ladies in need. Ms. Martha Coleman (Ph.D. in Finance & Economics) delivered an inspirational speech about the role of students in achieving the SDGs. In her own words, “Any knowledge gained here must be used back home. Any knowledge gained here that is kept in a box means we have failed our nations”. [And] “let’s not be selfish.

Someone is looking up to us. By simply telling someone something or showing someone how to do something we have helped our nations. It starts with the mind, the education.”Next the audience was prepared for the debating session. 7:06pm marked the boxing-match like introduction of the debaters by Munashe and Rodrick. The debate was as follows: Motion: Are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievable? For: Valerie, Mohammed, Raymond and Esther;

Against: Madeline, Rinashe, Mansuur and Sydney this was followed by Mr. Emmanuel Payne who, serving as the moderator for the evening debate, quickly outlined the rules for event. It was game on and the debaters all came out to slay. The affirmative team (Valerie) opened their argument by explaining that resources in the world are depleting therefore sustainable development is required. In contrast, the opposition team (Madeline) passionately opened their argument by explaining how corruption, natural disasters, competition and refugees make it difficult to achieve the SDGs. The affirmative team then tried to support their opening argument by using “History is the best predictor of the future” to their advantage. Mohammed showcased how the world came together once before and achieved the Millennium Goals. On the other hand, the opposition team supported their opening argument by challenging the formation of the SDGs.

Rinashe articulately explained how the SDGs were too many, too expensive, misconceived and a burden to countries that already have problems. Finally, it was time for some open warfare and both sides had their rebuttals ready. The affirmative side went on the offense. Raymond, after cleverly questioning the credibility of his opponents, highlighted how statistics are often misleading and that many natural disasters can be predicted. Furthermore, he explained the domino effect whereby achieving one goal makes it easier to achieve another. However, Mansuur locked in the win for his team when he explained theories are not facts, many of the SDGs negatively impact the environment, insufficient data and limited resources lowers the probability of achieving so many goals by 2030.

There was an entertaining 30-minute intermission during which students showcased their talents. It included a JEWELS group dance to Beyonce’s “Freedom”, a vocal rendition by a Chinese student and a flute number by another Chinese student. After this break the results were released. The opposition won 178.5-152 and Adibaku Raymond was awarded ‘Most Charismatic Speaker’. Ms Dragana Ostic briefly gave some remarks about the competition, she stated, “We don’t need to wait for the UN to tell us what needs to be done. We can achieve the goals by ourselves.”

The final section of the forum was the awarding ceremony. Awards were distributed to JEWELS Committee members, JEWELS pioneering net-ball match champions, debators and winners of the 2018 JEWELS Essay competition. The winners for the latter were; 1st – Pheona Mc Kenzie and 潘灿灿, 2nd- Roy Mbifi, 俞仁爱, Tawonga Mvula,孙涛, Abdulrazak Farrah and 姚业清. Mr. Emmanuel Payne, Ms Dragana Ostic and Mr. Adeleke Banwo and Ms. Ding Jinyan wrapped up the forum with remarks on the essay competition, recommendations for future debaters and adjudicators appreciation respectively. The JEWELS Commissioner gave the vote of thanks.The MC's eloquently closed the forum with “a goal without a plan is just a dream”. In conclusion, the 2018 JEWELS Academic Forum was a well-organized, entertaining event that definitely had some ‘Sparkles of Intellect’.