The joy of having British tea, British cookies, and British cheese in Astana…!
“It is so amazing to have British tea, British cookies, British cheese in Astana, and that too with the British ambassador at her home. It was like a dream come true,” said Danil Akramov, a third-year student at the Faculty of Economics of the Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University (KATRU) in Astana.
Danil was among the 21 KATRU students invited to the residence of the British Ambassador to Kazakhstan for “Afternoon Tea with the Ambassador”.
Ambassador Kathy Leach invited the participants of a unique event:
“Kazakhstan Student Dialogue: Nurturing SDG Solutions” which was held at KATRU on Tuesday, 28 November with the support of the British Embassy the UNDP, and the FAO.
On Wednesday, December 13, the Ambassador invited the student participants of the event to her residence for ‘Afternoon Tea”. The student loved the invite. They reached the Ambassador’s apartment located on the 30th floor of a newly built building in one of Astana city’s modern districts.
Students used the opportunity to take pictures and film the city from the balcony of the ambassador’s apartment. Ambassador Leach who speaks fluent Russian talked to each student. Students shared their plans, thoughts, and opinions with Kathy Leach in a very friendly, frank, and open way.
Ambassador Leach is an untiring and proactive diplomat who enjoys working with young people for good causes such as protecting the environment.
One example of Ambassador Leach’s enthusiasm for creating awareness and information about the challenge of climate change among the youth was when she decided to personally mentor a team of KATRU student researchers who worked on a research project around one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ambassador Leach gave a question to her students’ team, ‘Ecosystem Renaissance’, and personally mentored their research work for one month. The other two student teams ‘Food Fighters’ and ‘Guardians of Nature’ were mentored by the officials of the UNDP, and FAO.