"I knew he was scared as his arms locked up"

I am surrounded by the nations. Around 170 different nations represented at this UN conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The theory: "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

It's a privilege to be here as I have worked through many disasters, particularly in responding and reacting to them. Yet they keep coming and we keep reacting. Its a great time to be here amongst so many others (around 3500 people) to reflect, be inspired and see the call for global action on these matters.

Yesterday I was in a session where children were allowed to speak. They in fact made up the panel for the session.

The room: packed. People standing at the sides just to listen in.

Two girls talked us through the rules (including a form of what I can only describe as child like "jazz hands" to agree with the statements from the front) and introduced children from a host of countries including Lesotho, Japan. At the end an 11 year old disabled boy from Vietnam and his translator were asked to take the microphone.

The boy proudly dressed in a great grey suit with lovely bow tie spoke up and his words were hard to understand both as it was in Vietnamese but also as his disabilities limit his speech. The translator knew both him and every word and intent behind them.

He spoke out about the desire to be in school and the love for education. This is the number one thing. His idea: Protect our schools so we can go to them. Its been his dream to go and he was saved when the flood hit their area. the swept away much. He himself nearly went with the floods were it not for the loving arms of his mother who saved him. She carried him out whilst the waters raged. Amazing.

His mother cried from the crowd with tears of pride and joy, holding her camera as her son shared the call to protect what we have.

He received a standing ovation.

Later on I was able to meet him and the small delegation.

I asked the boy what it was like when the floods were there, how did you feel. He said "I was scared". The mum had grabbed him and pulled him out just carrying him. She wasn't a big lady as she squatted next to me saying and hand gesturing the lifting.

She concluded "I knew he was scared as his arms were locked up as I carried him". She carried him up to the second floor. She was still smiling with pride.