[Dialogue] {Spam?} Stephanie Nolen brings frontline stories of AIDS in Africa

[Wayne Nelson]

> This was a really great event for ICA Canada and Listen to the Drumming
> 
> There were over 500 people there. 50 of them attended  a special reception
> prior to the event itself. It was held at a downtown Anglican Church.
> Beautiful place.
> 
> Several highlights:
> 
> Presenters
> Stephanie Nolen is a story teller and weaves the facts and major policy points
> home through the on the ground stories of people living with HIV/AIDS. She was
> great. John Patterson did a roving and insightful report of African ICA¹s work
> on AIDS and talked the pilot project at Il Ngwesi, Kenya. . . . . and believe
> me, having spent time on the front lines in Africa, this is an amazing project
> approach. You would all be very proud of this work. Dr Phillip Berger, a new
> colleague and Team Leader of the Ontario Hospital Network, talked in a
> no-nonsense way about the whole situation. Ruth Mathiang, a Sudanese refugee,
> provided gentle rhythms and lilting melodies that makes East African music so
> wonderful.
> 
> ICA Members ran it
> The whole event was run by ICA board and volunteers. From elder Sister
> Virginia Varley ­ ICA chair to Adrianne, our university student intern; they
> were there and engaged. Rhonda, a newer board member filled in as MC when they
> found out that Alanna Mitchell, Jim Patterson¹s partner, was stuck in a snow
> storm in Edmonton. ICA Canada staff and volunteers produced the event with
> class and grace. Us old hand staff did a few things to help along the way, but
> honestly very little.
> 
> Youth
> The place was full of youth. Great energy. At a similar, but smaller event
> leading up to the Marathon, Jo and I were amused and honestly pleased to see
> what we probably looked like when we were in our 20¹s and doing these sort of
> events. I also find myself heartened, because this generation has a rep for
> being quite self centred ­ the ³Friends² dynamic in which everything revolves
> around the self and relationships and fun in a tight group. These people are
> involved and committed.
> 
> Families 
> 4 of 5 Gibsons were there ­ Rashad had to work, but Stan, Miriam, Javed and
> Ishara were there. Javid spent 4 months in Il Ngwesi recently. You could
> hardly move without running into a member of the extended Patterson family.
> John is on the ICA board. Their energy has really made this whole thing come
> together. Duncan (kind of acting ED) and Derek (on the board and the point
> person in our relationship with the hospital that is eating up the Courage to
> Lead. ­ Richard Sims and Jan Sanders ( a board member and regular African
> traveler teaching courses) . These and other families are real examples of
> 21st century families in mission.
> 
> The energy was great ­ the food at the reception was exceptional. It was an
> evening of goodness. I was proud to be associated with such amazing people.
> 
>    
> \\/
>  
>   
>        
> Nolen to bring frontline stories of AIDS in Africa
>  
> Sun. Nov. 11 2007 10:47 AM ET
>  
> CTV.ca News Staff
>  
> 
> South Africa-based journalist and author Stephanie Nolen will be bringing
> stories from the frontlines of the battle against HIV/AIDS to Toronto.
> "HIV/AIDS: Stories From the Field" is designed to raise funds to bolster the
> fight and inspire people here to take action, said Eowynne Feeney, co-director
> of Listen to the Drumming, the group hosting the event.  "What we hope people
> get from this is that there is hope and there are people on the ground --
> Africans on the ground -- who are doing amazing work," Feeney tells CTV.ca.
>  
> 


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Wayne Nelson - ICA Associates Inc
416-691-2316 - http://ica-associates.ca


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