This was my first public seminar / conference and have to say that it went well. It was located in a beautiful building on campus which I refer to as "Hogwarts ala Thai;" the inside was just as stunning as the outside. The topics varied and ranged from The Situation in Haiti to The Importance of the Business Sector to Conflict in Mozambique. Olja, Nancy and I spoke together about various conflicts in the field of education. Due to the major issues in bullying and the recent Anti-Bullying Law that was passed this spring by Governor Patrick in Massachusetts, I decided to speak about the importance of taking action in the schools, with parents, administration and the greater community to educate everyone about peace education. I won't bore you with the details but I was on fire!!!!
We only had 10 minutes to present (and I did stay within the given parameters of time :) The moderator is pictured on the left and Nancy (USA) and Olja (Serbia) are on the right. Thankfully, I spoke first which allowed me to thoroughly enjoy the topics of my colleagues! Even though we are in the same field, I learned so much from them as their perspectives and experiences are from a different part of the United States and the world.
Martin opened up his discussion about Violence in Argentina with a brief instrumental. It was awesome ...
Here is our guest speaker, Tuenjai Deetes and the gentleman who started the Rotary Peace Fellowship Programs - Bhichai Rattakul
A social activist for over 40 years, Tuenjai Deete spoke about the impact of the creation of dams in China to the Mekong River (the 12th longest river in the world and 7th longest in Southeast Asia) which runs through Thailand. Here is her website: http://www.ashoka.org/tunenjai
Another photo op! Here are the Fellows together with our Deputy Director, Jenn (in green) and our guest speaker Tuenjal Deetes.
After our conference, Jenn and the administrative assistances conducted graduation rehearsal which was exciting! I can't believe graduation is tomorrow night!!! After, I ran to the tailor to pick up my suits which fit perfectly and run a few last minute errands!!!
After running around, I made myself go for a night swim at the gym. It was late and hardly anyone was in the pool; my only partner companion being the full moon, which was beautiful ... It was a pleasure to admire as I did my specialty "freestyle back stroke" ;o) while recalling snippets from my Time through Thailand.
