We arrived early on a quiet Sunday morning. Not that we were quiet, being a bunch of Americans, but most businesses are closed on Sundays so Geneva was quite peaceful. It was totally apparent to all of us that we were in a different country as we road into the city from the airport; the architecture here is quite elegantly European and the city is actually clean. Sundays also seem to be family time. As we walked along Lake Geneva, starved and hunting for an open cafe, we saw dozens of babies and dogs. Truly dozens. And some of us began to consider kidnapping they were all so cute . .
Monday, we hopped on a bus to the WHO before the sun even rose. The Executive Board, the main governing body for the WHO was beginning their 10 day long yearly meeting, and we were able to watch the first hour and a half, which included Margaret Chan's opening address. She is a very frank speaker, but besides the usual, 'what we've accomplished this past year' she actually said, "This organization has a limit, and we have reached it. We need to consider downsizing," and "Not all of the failures have been due to lack of funding." In light of the financial crisis this makes some sense and many of the bureaucratic critiques of the UN and Chan this makes sense, but most directors wouldn't come anywhere near admitting it. Anyway, her speech was pretty much everyone's favorite part of the day.
After getting back we headed off to a department store searching for some chocolate, and were presented with aisle upon aisle of heaven. They have a bunch of cute cow themed tins, and the prices aren't bad. Swiss chocolate, yum yum.
Tuesday was more presentations from a number of provocative speakers. I think the one our group had the hardest time with was the speaker from the International Committee of the Red Cross. His presentation was really dynamic, but the level of neutrality necessary to for the ICRC, where you have to be able to treat both homicidal dictators and victims of genocide without taking sides, is kind of hard to swallow. I guess Americans aren't generally the most diplomatic of folk, and we're raised to always have an opinion, so the ICRC's mandated doesn't come easily.
The fondue restaurant we went to for dinner on Wednesday had live music, and a great ambiance. The food was pretty good too, especially the chocolate fondue for dessert (of course).
Wednesday, more presentations. I feel like we're here to be talked at, however thought-provoking the speaker or topic. The UN perspective has been really fascinating though, and I'm glad we got to spend so much time here.
Days are pretty long, wake up between 6 and 7 and we may not get back ‘til 5 or later from site visits, group activities, etc. It'll be interesting to see if we keep this pace throughout the whole program.
I'll stop babbling now, I've been writing this entry over the past three or four days. We're off to Basel tonight . . .
Pictures- Lake Geneva and Full moon over the WHO
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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Web Assistant's Note: Here is a quick snapshot Lizzie forwarded from goodbyes in Boston:
| IHP 2011 Spring-One Health & Community Orientation was thrown a curve ball by an unwelcome winter weather visitor: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/26470833/detail.html Or as the IHP web site called it, "...a flurry of activity..." http://www.ihp.edu/page/updates/ |
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