Over a month ago, a family friend, 47 years old, was with his family and calmly asked his parents for some money. They gave him $60. He told everyone he was going to the cottage. That was the last time anyone saw Bob.

Every time I ride the subway, another face is flashed across the screens installed in the stations. Today, it’s sadly the same kid who I saw on the screen last year. The people on these bulletins have usually been missing for five years or more. Is there even a point of searching for them anymore?

I always wondered how the police could not find a missing person. Perhaps they did not wish to be found, but many of the faces I saw were only kids. They could have at least sent a letter saying they were okay.

Being so close to this investigation gave me a grim look into the search for a missing person. With no transactions on bank accounts and no sightings since leaving Toronto, there were no leads for police to follow. After a month of investigation, police divers searching the waters close to the cottage and countless friends searching surrounding areas and camp areas, everyone came up empty.

The question begs: Where is his silver Honda? Where is Bob? And why can no one find him?

Brenda Zulu
Freelance journalist


The issues of good governance cannot be discussed in isolation but together with other factors that help in the achievement of a society that promotes democratic principles.

The advent of the Information Society characterised by the prevalence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are impacting every facet of people’s daily lives. One clear upshot of this is that knowledge forms a critical component of production and development. The deployment of innovative mix of both old and new telecommunication regimes offer opportunities for appropriate strategies to accelerate Africa’s development.

Zambia’s report to the third meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Committee on Development Information shows the country readiness for the Information Society.

E-governance is a tool for governments to use new technologies to provide people with more convenient access to government information and services, to improve quality of service and provide opportunities to participate in democratic institutions and processes of governing a nation. It also provides opportunities to move forward in the 21st century with high quality, cost effective government services delivery and the creation of better relationships between the people and government.

Zambia presently is in the process of formulating a national policy on ICT to foster and guide the use of ICTs for development in the country; however in the absence of ICT policy, ICTs are regulated by the Zambia’s Telecommunication Act of 1994.

The Zambia Telecommunication Company Limited (ZAMTEL), which administers Public Service Telecommunication Network (PSTN) in Zambia, was established in 1994 through an Act of parliament. This followed a separation of the postal and telecommunications services under the postal and telecommunications Corporation.

The Country has three cellular service providers. Zamtel providers a analogue telephone system based on the Advanced Mobile Phones Services (AMPS) technology with an installed subscriber base of 10,000 but currently the entire exchange network is undergoing digitalisation in preparation for the introduction of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) while TELECEL and CELTEL provide a GSM system with a combined subscriber base of about 139,092.

In 1994, Zambia became the first country in Sub Sahara Africa (Outside South Africa) to have full Internet access. The first ISP, the University of Zambia owns ZAMNET. The Communications Authority has since licensed five others. These are Coppernet, Microlink, UUNET, Zamtel and Celtel. The number of combined subscriber base is currently 11647 and is expected to increase tremendously in the next two years.

Following the return to multiparty politics in 1991, the Government embarked on various policy reforms and initiatives, all aimed at harnessing the full potential of the ICT revolution. Among these has been the liberalisation and deregulation of the telecommunication sector, the liberalisation of the airwaves and formation of the Communication Authority, which regulates the telecommunication sector.

The government has instituted a National Technical Committee comprising experts from government and the private sector. The committee commenced its work in November ’02 under the following terms:

* To provide guidelines and supervise the preparation of an ICT policy framework, policy itself, and strategies.
* To give input to the pilot project, initiate and undertake ongoing evaluation.
* To work out programmes to facilitate the creation of a digital society through ICT infrastructure, education and training, and human resources development as primary focus in ICT policy development; and
* To organise a national forum for the discussion and validation of the draft policy document.

The vision of government is to make ICT the engine for economic growth and social economic development in Zambia. It has been recognised that the association between telecommunications and the wholesale changes brought about in the global social-economic system as a result of the information society has rendered credence of the following:

* Economic growth is directly linked to levels of telecommunications and digital infrastructure,
* The intangibility of the information resource levels the playing field for corporation, governments and communities around the world
* A “new economy” has emerged that in fundamental ways supplants what went on before; in this economy, information means money
* Information flows have “opened” otherwise closed or insular countries and that this opening has further prospects of democracy in these politics; and
* Developing countries must get on the information highway or they soon will fall by the wayside of the digital divide.

Information and governance
The issues of good governance cannot be discussed in isolation but together with other factors that help in the achievement of a society that promotes democratic principles. One such element is the provision of timely, relevant and reliable statistics that enhance informed and accurate decision making, at Government, community and private sector levels. Policy reforms aimed at democratisation must use population statistics that ensure equal representation in our national political system. Policy reforms on economic liberalisation must include the use of statistics on vulnerable groups such as women, children, the disabled and the elderly etc., who must be cushioned from the adverse effects of economic reforms.

One area that directly illustrates the link between statistics and good governance is that of the Populations Census and how it relates to issues of the electoral system. Firstly, any electoral victory for any political party depends on the numbers and also the population distribution. The census is one of the few statistical systems that provide data at sub-district level and therefore has spatial implications for governance.

On the other hand, the electoral system also depends on the demarcations for governments of constituency and wards levels, as the case is Zambia. One of the challenges in Zambia has been the harmonisation of statistical data for the decision making process that is guided by existing statistical frame for data collection and the electoral demarcations of constituencies and wards. Politicians at both ward and constituency levels need statistical indicators that support them in advocacy activities and in resource mobilisation.

The current production of statistical data and indicators at both constituency and ward levels has provided a tool for politicians and civil society to advocate for a system of resources allocations that takes into account statistical representations. For example, the Zambian situation has seen increased demand from politicians and civil society for statistical information that is representative of local communities and the population Census is probably the only reliable system that is able to provide data to lower level. This has exerted great pressure on the ability of the national statistical system to provide at that lower level.


The development of ICT in Zambia has created great challenges on how statistical information is collected, processed and disseminated. Apart from the increased use of Local Area Networks in statistical operations, there is currently great need to expand such networks to enable remote regional data from various sources.

The approval of decentralisation policy by cabinet in 2003 has brought challenges for regional statistical offices to provide statistical data for local area planning in line with the Transitional National Development Plans. In Zambia, the Central Statistical Office (CSO), is in the process of developing a Wider Area Network that enables remote regional statistical office access data and other national development initiatives.

In 2002 the CSO engaged services of consultants to help develop a 5-year strategic plan to improve the operations of the office. This strategic Plan was designed for the Zambia National Statistical System focusing on the central statistical office to halt the decline in provision of official statistical system and service capable of meeting the information needs for poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP), the TNDP, and other national development initiatives.

Government has approved the establishment of National Remote sensing centre to coordinate in the application of GIS/remote sensing in Zambia. Remote sensing technologies are some of the tools that have been used in Zambia for sometime now. The Zambia Association for Geographical Information Systems (ZAGIS) has been spearheading activities in this area.

Development and dissemination of geo-information is important for any country’s economic development and growth. This is because well-developed geo-information infrastructure helps in high-level decision-making. It is a process that should be supported by National governments as well as and global bodies.

In Zambia we have a forum of core network stakeholders in the development of national standard for digital topographic databases as part of the national spatial database infrastructure development. This is the Environmental Information Network and Monitoring System forum that is composed of Zambia survey Department, Forestry Department, Zambia Wildlife Authority, Mine safety Department, soil survey unit (Ministry of Agriculture and cooperatives), Ministry of local government and housing, Lusaka city council and central statistical office. This forum is very strategic in the development and dissemination of geo-information. With long-term financial support from governments and cooperating partners the forum can transform the current under developed geo-information scenario in Zambia to an advanced and well-managed geo-information powerhouse in the region.

The survey department is currently compiling the digital topographic database at scale 1:50 000 and 1:100 000 with the ambition of covering the whole country. About 150 map sheets were compiled with the financial and consultancy support from the Environmental Support Programme (ESP) of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources and Swede Survey Department’s daily core activities. This brings the total number to 220 sheets out of 826 sheets of 26% of the whole country coverage.

With 26% of the work done, capacity has been built in Zambia Survey Department, which now only requires to be fully improved, by way of financial support from government and other cooperating partners, to the level where it could speed up the process of developing spatial database for contribution towards the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. This is an opportunity that needs to be exploited if an efficient NSDI is to become a reality in Zambia.

Zambia is among the first countries in Southern and Central Africa to host a continuous GPS tracking station connecting to the IGS International points. This station is in Lusaka. However, there are plans to establish two more stations at Ndola and Mongu when equipment and other auxiliary resources permit. The Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources has been implementing the ESP. One of the components has been developing information systems focusing on addressing, deforestation, poor water and sanitation, land degradation (desertification), industrial air pollution (mainly from mining activities), and wildlife depletion.

The Zambia Meteorological department is currently executing a project called RANET. RANET is an acronym for Radio and Internet. It involves the use of a small digital radio (world space receiver) operating on “L” band and capable of accessing the Internet signal to receive data and information in rural settlements, and transmitting the same messages in local languages to improve infrastructure of delivering weather and climate data and information, as well as other developmental information to rural communities.

Media and ICTs in Zambia
The Internet is accessible from Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA) resource centre, British Council Library and cyber cafés. Most of the media institutions have Internet facilities which journalists do not even have access to. Internet facilities are only accessible to editors and IT people who have to update the website.

Many media institutions do not even have digital cameras, televisions, telephones lines and Internet access. Many urban journalists however have their own mobile telephones.

Government Media is not an exception. The situation is even worse in rural areas where journalists have to depend on the telefax to send a story where applicable or read on the phone line as applies to the situation. The infrastructure in the rural areas is not developed, thus making it difficult for the media to operate effectively.

Civil society and ICTs
Most NGOs, just like media organisations, have limited access to ICTs. The concept has been welcomed but the implementation is still remaining. Civil society, however, has even introduced IT sections in their organisations.

Gender issues regarding ICTs
The use of ICT enables more information to be found, retrieved and disseminated faster than ever before. Yet women often find themselves at a disadvantage. Whether through ‘technophobe’, a perception that computers and other technology are for men only, or through finance, women are often unable to take advantage of the ICT revolution. This includes women communicators, information officers, community liaison officers and women journalists.

Furthermore, women are still outnumbered by men in the majority of the media houses in Africa, with the result that they feel less confident and less influential than their male colleagues. There is need for women to develop new skills and knowledge about the use of ICTs and to apply these to the task of reporting more effectively about development of ICTs in Africa. ICT research and publishing skills need to supported and expanded in order to promote access to dissemination of information. In Zambia there is also need for women to explore ways in which they can have access to ICTs.

Conclusion
There are drawbacks in how governments have paid lip service to the development of technology. While many of them created regulatory bodies, put in place legislation and requested technical assistance towards the development of ICTs, these steps remain but a charade. In most cases, the setting up of regulatory bodies is simply done to fulfil donor conditions. No follow up is made to ensure the harmonisation of these new entities with already existing structure. Despite the high demand for Internet services, African governments seem keen on clinging to monopolies As a result cost remains prohibitive for the majority of the rural populations. Why is that in Europe and America where the per capita income average is at least 20 times higher than the African average, Internet services are more affordable than they are in Africa? African governments need to facilitate the acquisition of information and technology among their people, and in doing so, empower them to participate in the process. Without assessed information and communication needs for African populations, Africa’s dream to participate in the global information economy could remain elusive. This underlines the importance of collaboration and the sharing of best practices at national, regional and international levels.

The first step in empowering people in Africa in the age of new communication technologies is helping people achieve more technology literacy, so that they can use technology to help themselves. This can definitely be done because Africa’s best resources are the people.

LUSAKA, 19 July 2007 (IRIN) - Civil society fears that the imminent introduction of legislation aimed at regulating non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will severely compromise their work and independence, and could even result in their operations being closed down.

The NGOs bill, introduced this week in parliament by justice minister George Kunda, calls for "the registration and co-ordination of NGOs - [and] to regulate the work, and the area of work of NGOs operating in Zambia".

If the bill becomes law it would empower the interior minister to form a 10-member board, comprised of government members and two representatives from civil society, which would "receive, discuss and approve the code of conduct [of NGOs], and ... provide policy guidelines to NGOs for harmonising their activities to the national development plan of Zambia".

''We believe that this is a very sad moment in the life of Zambia's civil society.
The bill is dictatorial and seeks to constrain and limit the space for civil society''
Civil society leaders and human rights activists told IRIN the new law was a ploy by government to silence their critics and erode the role of civil society.

"We believe that this is a very sad moment in the life of Zambia's civil society. The bill is dictatorial and seeks to constrain and limit the space for civil society in the country," said Lee Habasonda, executive director of the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes [SACCORD], a human rights and good governance watchdog.

"This sends very wrong signals and threatens the existence of NGOs, in that if the board is to be directly under the Minister of Home Affairs, then it means this same board will be de-registering, at will, any NGO whose style the government does not like."

NGOs are registered by the Registrar of Societies, a quasi-government organisation, but after registration the government has little power to restrain NGOs from voicing political dissent, and any attempt to de-register an NGO usually involves long court battles. In the proposed bill, NGOs will be obliged to register annually.

Court battles

SACCORD was de-registered by the government last year, only to have its NGO status reinstated by the court. It is once more embroiled in a legal battle after the government deregistered it again this year, but this time the court has allowed it to retain its NGO status until the outcome of the legal action.

"They [government] have been failing to put an end to our activism or existence, because there was no legal basis for de-registering us for holding dissenting views [from the government]," Habasonda said.

"This bill reduces the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of association; it reduces the efficacy of NGOs, because if they can't effectively criticise the state, then it means democracy is losing ground and dictatorship is now creeping in."

This is the first attempt by the Zambian government to regulate civil society since the onset of multiparty democracy 16 years ago, when Kenneth Kaunda, president since Zambia's independence from Britain in 1964, was unseated in 1991 by former trade unionist Frederick Chiluba.

Zambian civil society has been a strong force for change: it was pivotal in forcing Kaunda to abandon one-party rule and adopt multiparty democracy; helped block Chiluba's bid for a third term of office in 2001; and, during the tenure of current president Levy Mwanawasa, has maintained pressure for the adoption of a new constitution.

Emily Sikazwe, director of the Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Committee [NGOCC], an umbrella body for civic organisations involved in gender issues, said the proposed legislation would negatively affect the rights of women and children.

''The immediate impact is that the women's movement, and NGOs who have championed the cause of women and children - where the government has not been faring well - will certainly be de-registered''
"The immediate impact is that the women's movement, and NGOs who have championed the cause of women and children - where the government has not been faring well - will certainly be de-registered," Sikazwe told IRIN.

"We know for a fact who they are targeting with this new legislation, but we reject it with the contempt it deserves. Democracy has come to stay in Zambia, and we won't allow anyone to sit on critical issues that are important to the country."

Matyola Malawo, executive secretary of the Zambia Council for Social Development, a coalition of NGOs working for upliftment, said the bill was not good for the country because "it doesn't seek to harmonise the contributions of NGOs to national development."

He added that "NGOs were not consulted in its formation and, when we tried to access it, we were all told that parliament would decide on behalf of the people. If this law goes through, there will be a lot of mismanagement of public funds, because no one will speak for fear of being de-registered."

Chief government spokesperson and information minister Mike Mulongoti said the bill was designed to make civil society more responsible and accountable in their conduct. "We have democracy to safeguard. We must all stand on one platform - NGOs should not just be asking government to be transparent or accountable to the people, they should also do the same.

"This is why we have decided, as government, to introduce this new law: it's necessary to have a legal framework to regulate their conduct, because some of them seem to have been set up specifically to oppose the government in everything," he commented.

"They [NGOs] want to have a free-for-all atmosphere, when they themselves want government to be accountable. We must stand on the same platform: they should also be held accountable for their conduct and expenditure. After all, even the money they use to fund their activities is taxpayers' money elsewhere, just like we use Zambian taxpayers' money."

Zambian NGOs are not funded by the government but source their funding from mainly Western donors.

By Brenda Nglazi Zulu

20 July 2007

Many initiatives have been undertaken, mostly by civil society organisations, towards the bridging of the digital divide between the north and the south. The pressing concerns have been on the ability of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve the standards of living of the poor in societies.

If harnessed and directed properly, ICTs have the potential to improve aspects of our social, economic and cultural life. Appropriate technology for Zambia is not just a desire but also a real need. Among Zambia’s greatest challenge today are poverty and HIV/AIDS. In addition to this challenge we are faced with a language challenge which hampers communication. Given that 73 languages are spoken in Zambia, could the country not develop a technology that contributes towards narrowing the linguistic gap? These challenges can be seen as opportunities to make a difference, rather than liabilities to marginalise Zambia.

All stakeholders have a leading role to play in the Information society, especially through partnerships. The conference observed that the government had a leading role in developing and implementing comprehensive, forward looking and sustainable national e-strategies.

The commitment of civil society was important in creating an equitable civil society and in implementing ICT related initiatives for development.

ICTs can thus serve as an engine for development in the New Millennium and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The conference was a unique opportunity for all key players to develop a shared vision of solutions and tools to bridge the digital divide and create a global society.

Government also took this unique opportunity to launch the first draft national ICT policy.

There are draw backs in how governments in Africa have paid lip service to the development of technology. Although many of these governments have created regulatory bodies, put in place legislation and requested for technical assistance towards the development of information and communication technology, all these steps remain but a charade.

More often than not, the setting up of regulatory bodies is simply done to fulfill donor conditions. There is no follow up afterwards to ensure the harmonisation of these new entities with already exiting structures.

Despite the high demand for Internet services, the Zambian government seems keen on clinging onto monopolies as opposed to inviting more internet service providers. As a result cost remains prohibitive for the majority of the rural populations.

There is an urgent need to depoliticise issues that affect national development. The provision of information in Zambia needs to be facilitated by the acquisition of information and technology tools for the people, and in so doing empower them to fully participate in the global information technology process. The onus here really lies with the government in their structuring of a policy that is all inclusive and will take into consideration submissions from all stakeholders. There is also need for publicity of the draft ICT policy on government’s part to ensure participation from all.

Drawing from past experiences, important submissions from civil society and other stakeholders will not be taken into full consideration by the government. And when there are no contributions, the government will ask why, it is this kind of trend that brings out the apathy in people especially when something looks like it is only for the benefit of a few in the upper circles of society. Government needs to understand that when it involves the masses on larger a scale and appreciate their contributions, the people will be interested and involved and thus policies made will be a true reflection of the peoples needs towards improving their living standards.

The first step in empowering people in the age of new communication technologies is to help them achieve more technological literacy, so that they can use technology to help themselves and to help them make meaningful contributions on ICT issues that affect their livlihoods. The best resource in the world is the human resource, if we keep this in mind then we are heading for progress.

I was thinking about this the other day. Similar to MySpace, a social networking site that many North Americans will likely be familiar with is a site called Facebook. Facebook was originally created specifically for university students to network, send messages and share photos, among other things. At one time, it was only open to university students and you could only signup using your registered school email account.

While not all of my friends have Facebook, those who don't login using other user's accounts to check what is happening regularly -- without doing it, you find yourself out of the loop on friend's lives. This just goes to prove that right now, Facebook is essential to most student's social lives.

Today, anyone can join -- students at any age level, adults, teens and even those who are not attending school. I find now that more than ever, my life revolves around Facebook. Want to know what everyone is up to this weekend? Check Facebook. Want to see photos from the other night? Check Facebook. Need to message your friend who isn't online? GO TO FACEBOOK.

I find that increasingly, it becomes a central place for friends to meet online and share what is going on. Without it, those who are not already insanely social miss out.

Similar to checking email and phone messages, most students today seem to login to Facebook at least once per day -- and that's just the start. More and more frequently now, people will reply faster on Facebook than to emails, especially when it comes to social interaction and with that, people are on MSN less often.

What I wonder is this: Will there be a day when online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or even TIG will become a manditory part of your day? Let me know what you think!

Yesterday I mentioned that a woman had lost her purse to a motorcycle thief.

All day, I was extra careful with my camera bag with all my new toys in it (new leses, etc)

When we sat down for lunch, you ordered and then sat down and they would bring your food. I sat down after ordering to let my mum go order and I put my bag down and basically looked out the window. While I was waiting, I suddenly felt my spidey senses tingling and turned around to notice a man leaving with a bag similar to mine. I quickly looked down quickly to check on the satus of my bag and put it together -- he had MY bag. I immediately got up and ran after him as he was quickly making his exit out of the restaurant. As he got to the door, I grabbed the bag and him, and told him that he had my bag as well as adding a few choice words in Spanish that I learned from Yaz (thanks!!) and walked back into the restaurant to the surprise of some Spanish citizens who had figured out what had happened.

Had I lost it, my camera and money would have been gone. NOT FUN.

So, lesson # 2 learned. Don't detatch my bag from my body -- ever.

Spain is an exciting city!

Things that are great:

- It's warm!
- It's a really livable city. Lots of boulevards and walking space for people. I have also never seen so many people in the streets in any city before that I have visited. It seems that people very much enjoy walking with friends and going to large street cafés.
- People are friendly and generally helpful
- Taxi's are really inexpensive compared to Canada
- Lunch is super cheap! (Self made salad, rice with meat and then a drink all for $10!!)
- The city it super clean

Things that aren't so great

- Few tourist places actually have English interpretation. Often they have Spanish, Catalin (local Spanish variant) Italian and German, but rarely English even though staff only speak Spanish and English.
- Tourist things are expensive ($20+ to enter, each)
- Taxis are near to impossible to actually get
- Restaurants have absolutely awful customer service


We went to a number of places today and I especially enjoyed a building which had no flat walls. ie. they were all curvy. This included doors, windows, everything. The builders must have gone absolutely insane building it.

We went to a restaurant and it had some absolutely hilarious translations and scary practices.

We were waiting for a table and watched a waiter place salad on a plate with his hands. Clearly not sanitary. Not so bad until he got the asperagus out of a can and placed those on a plate as well. Needless to say, we didn't order any salad.

On the menu, I first noticed the homely haddock (as in ugly) but it got better!
Another one of their specialities were appearantly roasted kid. Frightening.
Next came the grilled or roasted angler. I guess they weren't a good fisherman.

On the wall we previous notable people who had visited the restaurant. Next to us were Charleston Heston (without a gun amazingly!!) and Robery Di Nero. DIrectly next to me was OJ Simpson sans esposa. :|

Tricky robbers!!

When leaving the hotel before dinner, some American's in front of us in the taxi line (who were more than happy to directly remind everyone that they were first, who were also dressed in hokey teeshirts and hats) had had a nice little incident. One of the women had appearantly been standing on the corner when someone on a motorcycle drove by, slowed down, and grabbed her purse. Lucky for her, only her glasses were in it, but lesson learned for us -- safe guard our things like a hawk!

So I'm off to Barcelona for my cousin's wedding. However, before I could get there, I had to fly to Montreal, then Munich and then finally Barcelona. Since I had an 8 hour layover in Montreal, I decided to go downtown. The girl at the airport told me to get off at the bus station. I'm not sure what she was thinking, but it seems the station is in a semi-ghetto as far as Canadian cities go.

So here was my first and last adventure to the bus station in Montreal.

1. I decided to grab a map and see if I could figure out where to go, so after not having any idea where I was, I went outside and found a big pole with directions, but couldn't figure out where I was on the map. Shortly after, a homeless man approached me with a whole speach about how he was $4.76 short of getting his student ticket (clearly was NOT a student) and if I could help him out, he could tell me where things were. For $2 I thought it was worth it and he helped me out and went off finding 3 more "victims" before I left the area.

2: I decided to walk towards a nice Church and take some photos but noticed a number of unsavoury characters including one woman who wouldn't stop hitting herself so I left that area.

3: Next I found a nice looking street and decided to check it out. Half way down, another homeless woman approached me and said something about God and a nice day. Turns out she went on and on and before long was asking me for $20 for crack or coke. She kept saying F this S on that and kept tying Jesus and God into crack and asking for that $20. Weird.

4: To make me feel better about my experience so far, I decided to go to Zing, which was awful with their new TINY bowls and expensive good. Zing was also graced by my crack lady again. *sigh*

5: I walked uptown (or something) into a nicer area which was boring so I walked back downtown which went from nice to ghettoized quickly. First came the homeless man with at least 7 dogs all attached to leashes and to him. Not sure how that all worked.

6: Next came the nice gentleman across the street who turned out to be a crack dealer. Best dressed crack dealer I have certainly ever seen. First he sold some to random people and then to a quite unattractive hooker.

7: I get to the airport and the airline people are finally there. As I'm waiting, a guy who wanted to fly with Czech airines 10 minutes before his flight with 1 suitcase and 2 tires for a car, one which is sealed and one appears open and used is denied boarding. Then he can’t understand why he can’t get on the flight, as there aren’t even agents from the right airline there anymore!!

Oh well, hopefully the flight is better :D

Today was a significant day for dignitaries to visit the Youth Pavilion. With so many influential people on the list, hopefully youth can gain significant ground on the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Some of the highlights of the past two days are:

Stephen Lewis - Stephen Lewis Foundation
William Blair- Toronto Chief of Police
Tony Clement - Federal Health Minister of Canada
Dr Anders Nordström - Acting Director General of WHO
Mark Richmond - UNESCO Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS


Yesterday, there were also some very influential people such as:

Dr. Peter Piot - Executive Director and Under-Secretary General of UNAIDS
Mark Wainberg - Co-Chair of the XVI International AIDS Conference
Matilde Maddaleno - Regional Advisor Adolescent Health, WHO
Mariam Claeson - Coordinator of South Asia, World Bank


To check out the commitments themselves, take a look over here!

The final post of the day with the celebs who drop by plus something funny that happened. Will try to post one each day!


We had what I would call three "celebrities" today at the youth hub.

First we had Mayor David Miller, who was actually really nice and said some great things about TIG (see my other post)

Then we had Bill Gates swoon by with his entourage of people (no less than 10) with his wife Melinda who also signed an Adult-Youth Commitment

And finally we had Mary Robinson the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who was also super cool and spoke with us for quite a while.



Funny moment of the day: When a woman tried to plug her USB key into a monitor port on the computer. It took me a while before I could figure out what the problem was -- we both seemed equally confused.

Stories from youth who have gone to Malawi, Burkino Faso and Botswana with the World University Services of Canada.

Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.

Stories from youth who have gone to Malawi, Burkino Faso and Botswana with the World University Services of Canada.

Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.

Stories from youth who have gone to Malawi, Burkino Faso and Botswana with the World University Services of Canada.

Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.

Stories from youth who have gone to Malawi, Burkino Faso and Botswana with the World University Services of Canada.

Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.

Stories from youth who have gone to Malawi, Burkino Faso and Botswana with the World University Services of Canada.

Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.