Lessons from Haiti Tackling acute & Chronic disasters The 17 th Annual Thomas J. White Symposium

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Lydia Haynes
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Dear Students, Each year, the Thomas J. White Symposium brings together Partners In Health staff, family, friends, and fellow advocates for health and social justice for the poor.

1 Dear Students, Each year, the Thomas J. White Symposium brings together Partners In Health staff, family, friends, and fellow advocates for health and social justice for the poor. We are pleased to have you along with thousands of students worldwide join us for the 17th annual symposium on September 25th, This guide outlines the basic steps for planning a Symposium Viewing Party at your school. When making this event your own, we encourage you to engage across all levels of students, groups, faculty, and staff to foster full participation on your campus. While the symposium will focus on our community-based work at twelve country sites, it also offers a chance for your different campus groups to come together and consider how you can act together for global health equity and social justice issues. The theme for this year s Thomas J. White Symposium is Lessons from Haiti: Tackling Acute and Chronic Disasters. As we come together to pause and reflect on this past year, we draw strength from solidarity. We thank you for gathering with us, and broadening the student movement for global health equity. Sincerely, Ophelia Dahl Executive Director

Lives of service depend on lives of support. Quote from Save the date! This year s Thomas J. White Symposium is on Saturday, September 25. Speakers begin at 3 p.m. EDT.

2 Lives of service depend on lives of support. Quote from Save the date! This year s Thomas J. White Symposium is on Saturday, September 25. Speakers begin at 3 p.m. EDT. Print checklist and use this step-by-step to track your planning progress. Check off the boxes as you go! Register online and create your event page at /symposium. Here you can track attendance and connect with other viewing party hosts around the country. Collaborate with friends and student groups. As your co-hosts, they can help you prepare for the big day. Tip: Reach out to faculty and staff for guidance and support. Find space in advance. Book a classroom or larger auditorium, based on expected attendance. Get equipped to screen the live feed. You ll need a computer and internet access. For a large audience, you may need speakers for better sound. If your venue has an audio/visual system, make sure you ll have access on the day. Tip: Contact your school s media services staff for help with equipment. Send invitations to friends and teachers, using our invitation tool on act.pih.org. Invitees will receive a link to your event details and can RSVP. Tip: Contact your school s media services staff for help with equipment. Publicize to get the word out! Customize the included Symposium Flier to print and post around campus. Reach out to your online networks through Facebook and Twitter. Post Fliers Network online Add to school calendar Contact student newspapers/radio stations Write to student and departmental mailing lists Don t forget Write down any other items (nametags, refreshments, signup sheets, etc.) or details to consider:

3 Poverty in a place like Haiti is difficult to personalize. If it s in front of you, it has a reality. Alan Ezekowitz, quoted in At Your Party Set up your computer or projection system before your guests are scheduled to arrive. Get oriented with the controls to avoid technical difficulties. Welcome your guests at the door. Before the viewing starts, take a minute to welcome the group, say a few words about your interest in PIH, and thank them for coming. Watch the live feed at /symposium from 3 5 p.m. EDT. Discuss your thoughts, reflections, or questions with the group. Discussion prompt: As individuals, how do you stay involved with the movement for global health equity? As a school, what resources do you have to support these efforts? Wrap up by thanking your guests again, and pointing out the sign-up sheet for those who want to stay involved. Following Up Thank your co-hosts for helping behind the scenes call them up or write a note. Share and let us know how it went! your sign-up information with pictures and stories from your viewing party to Elise at students@pih.org Join the greater student movement at act.pih.org/students Learn more about PIH and the issues we face at. Notes:

If people could be kept from dying unnecessarily, then one had to act. Quote from What s Next? Thank you for attending the 17 th Annual Thomas J. White Symposium!

4 If people could be kept from dying unnecessarily, then one had to act. Quote from What s Next? Thank you for attending the 17 th Annual Thomas J. White Symposium! We welcome you to stay involved in any way you wish, and to take the next step by visiting /what-you-can-do. Here are some ideas to consider: Reach out to the PIH movement in your area: See what kind of global health clubs exist at your school, and look for chapters of student organizations like FACE AIDS and GlobeMed. Find people, groups, or events near you at act.pih.org Bring PIH to your community Talk to your teachers and local librarians about putting Mountains Beyond Mountains on summer reading lists. Request a PIH speaker to visit and address your community. Whether you re a student or an educator, talk to your school s administration about creating classes or units for social justice and global health. Host an event for PIH: Gather friends and plan a dinner party, movie night, dance marathon, kickball tournament, benefit concert, bake sale, knitting club whatever interests you! Elise at students@pih.org And more: Volunteer at a community-based organization in your area. Consider how social justice fits into your daily life: drink fair trade coffee, learn about where the products you buy are made, engage in learning about the issues of inequity in your own community. Watch videos on PIH s Health and Social Justice Video Network and share them with your friends: /globalhealthequity Find out how to do all this and more at /what-you-can-do

5 The 17th Annual Thomas J. White Symposium Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Margaret Mead quoted by Jim Yong Kim in Haiti: The Uses of Haiti Paul Farmer Common Courage Press, 1994 This historical account of Haiti reveals the international community s role in Haiti s poverty and disease. Paul Farmer, with over a decade of experience in rural Haiti, brings into stark relief the myriad forces that have long kept the majority of Haitians poor, sick and silenced. Wòch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti This report from Partners In Health and three other groups reveals the United States government s clandestine efforts to ensure that political considerations (namely the desire to destabilize Haiti s elected government at that time, led by President Jean- Bertrand Aristide) took precedence over the rights of some of the planet s poorest and most vulnerable people. Global: Dying for Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor Jim Yong Kim, Joyce V. Millen, Alec Irwin, and John Gershman Common Courage Press, 2000 Through country case studies, this collection demonstrates how economic growth often worsens the suffering of poor and marginalized people worldwide, and recommends practices to reduce gross health disparities worldwide. For excerpts relevant to the Symposium, see: Chapter 4, Hypocrisies of Development and the Health of the Haitian Poor. Chapter 5, Theoretical Therapies, Remote Remedies: SAPs and the Political Ecology of Poverty and Health in Africa. Partner to the Poor: A Paul Farmer Reader Paul Farmer University of California Press, 2010 This reader collects Dr. Farmer s writings from 1988 to 2009 on anthropology, epidemiology, health care for the global poor, and international public health policy, providing a broad overview of his work. For excerpts relevant to the Symposium, see: Chapter 10, The Consumption of the Poor. Chapter 15, Women, Poverty, and AIDS. Chapter 16, On Suffering and Structural Violence. Chapter 20, Landmine Boy and Stupid Deaths. For additional suggestions, visit our website: /pages/recommended-reading/

6 Tackling Acute & Chronic Disasters 17th Annual Thomas J. White Symposium Saturday, September pm EST Join us for a live viewing & discussion. Speakers include: PIH Co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer PIH Executive Director Ophelia Dahl PIH leaders from around the world RSVP: /symposium Questions? Contact: /symposium

7 : Event attendee sign-up form Name Address Phone Number Address Interests Fax completed sign-up forms to PIH at or them to

Read, Connect, Act Solidarity in Action

Read, Connect, Act Solidarity in Action Welcome to act.pih.org Clean water and health care and school and food and tin roofs and cement fl oors, all of these things should constitute a set of basics that people must have as birthrights. Paul