lifestyle special

Diplomats, real and role-playing, unite in Panama for Haiti relief
by the University of Louisville Panama

Representing 16 nations of the Americas and two groups of non-governmental organizations, 70 University of Louisville Panama campus students joined with real diplomats in discussing the post-earthquake future of Haiti and raising funds for Haiti relief.

"United For Haiti: The Americas' Response --- A Hemispheric Student Conference Connecting Ideas" concluded May 7th at the Wyndham Grand Veneto Hotel ballroom with what one diplomat called an "impressive list of accomplishments."

More than one hundred invited guests and members of the public, including the real diplomats who had worked with students "representing" their nations, observed the four-hour culmination of the semester's work, which was broadcast on the internet live globally by Walkabout ipTV.

The keynote speaker the Honorable Bocchit Edmond, Ambassador of Haiti in Panama, congratulated the students for keeping the focus of the public on Haiti's needs, and spoke of the "historic history of the Haitian people, who rose up from slavery to achieve independence" more than 200 years ago." He told reporters that "even attending international 'donor' conferences with powerful world leaders does not lessen the pride and emotion from seeing the impressive list of accomplishments by young people who researched and evaluated Haitian needs and respect for Haiti's sovereignty."

US Congressman Alcee Hastings of Florida, a leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, vice-chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence and representative of thousands of Haitian-American constituents, sent the students a welcoming letter in which he noted "Your great kindness in donating time, energy and most important spirit to UNICEF and the Red Cross is very laudable."

At the conference $1,100 was raised for UNICEF projects in Haiti, and in a surprise announcement, Veneto Hotel general manager Mario Palafox announced the amount would be "matched" by the hotel.

Welcoming speaker Dr. Oscar Leon, director of University of Louisville's Quality Leadership consortium in Panama, estimated that "this will bring to more than $6,000 cash, goods, and services contributed by our students during the relief and recovery phase of the crisis in Haiti."

The decision to devote the entire semester to Haitian issues, culminating with the student conference was made by Professor Mark Scheinbaum, of the department of political science.

"I thought of Holocaust chronicler Elie Weisel's comments during the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina about what we who are alive and thinking people will tell our kids and grandkids about what we did or did not do to sound the alarm around the world.

"The lesson translated easily to Haiti where I had the privilege to work on several occasions as a young reporter and graduate student. These magnificent leaders of their peers today, and leaders of the world tomorrow from the University of Louisville will never have to feel shy or embarrassed when asked about the earthquake that killed nearly a quarter of a million people. They embraced the project and took concrete actions to make a difference."

Representatives of the embassies of Haiti, Cuba, Mexico and officials of the United Nations and the Red Cross heard the students debate and improve resolutions dealing with the safety of children in Haiti and educational goals.

Also developed in workshops and negotiating sessions before the conference were resolutions on Women's Rights in the face of mounting violence in refugee camps; special status for Haitian migrant farm workers in the Dominican Republic, and re-emphasis of hemispheric construction and infrastructure guidelines in relation to Chile and Haiti.

The conference delegates, led by Rolando Roquebert of the delegation of Haiti, and Allen Shor of the host delegation of Panama also studied International Red Cross and United Nations "risk prevention" techniques for implementation before natural disasters strike.

Corporate sponsor Luis LaRocca, vice-chairman of the board of DIGICEL spoke about his employees in Haiti who were killed and injured but also of others who immediately sprung into action and mobilized restoration of phone service, food and water supply collection and distribution, and civic activity. Digicel even donated two soccer jerseys from the Haitian National Football Team for a silent auction.

"Those of us old enough to remember where we were when President Kennedy was shot, now have etched in our minds --- as do these student delegates --- the moment the city of Port-au-Prince was nearly destroyed and more than 200,000 people killed, 300,000 hurt, and 1.5 million people left homeless."

Other corporate sponsors included SONY, Fotorama, Rivertech Corporation, University of Louisville, Veneto Casino, ALDO and WOMEN'S SECRET, Panama Star Tours, Envases del Istmo, Walkabout ipTV, and initial "seed money" for the project from CLUB KIWANIS CANAL DE PANAMA.

 "I think we went from drawing board to boardroom --- from modest project to an international event when Jean Carlo got involved a few months ago," Professor Scheinbaum said of the banquet and meeting manager of Wyndham Veneto Hotel. "Many of our students are majoring in business, finance, marketing, mass communications, and computer science --- by watching a world class hospitality team run efficiently under Mr. Lopez the semester became much more than a political science exercise. This was a full practicum in the organization and promotion of a large international conference, and they learned from a master at the Veneto."

Dr. Leon said that formal presentation of donation checks to UNICEF will be scheduled next week at the University in Bella Vista when the final contributions are totaled.