Spires Family

Living in Geneva over the past month or so has afforded me quite a few opportunities to listen to some pretty amazing people speak on some pretty amazing stuff. A couple of weeks ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) held its World Health Assembly which was attended by delegates from around 190 countries. It was held in the main UN meeting hall and I was able to attend as a WHO intern.

We heard from people like Dr. Margaret Chan (WHO, Director-General), Sarah Brown (Britain's

first lady), and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. They spoke on topics (all obviously related to health) ranging from the importance of the global health of women and children, to how the UN's Millennium Development Goals are not currently being met, to how global climate change is having a negative effect on the health of all.

Another great opportunity happened yesterday. I heard via email that there was a free conference on social change taking place at the Geneva International Conference Center just down the road from where I work, and that Archbishop Desmond Tutu would be the keynote speaker. I have been wanting to see Desmond Tutu for quite some time now, so I dropped everything and attended. He gave an extremely candid and inspiring lecture on peace building and conflict resolution. I asked one of the conference directors if they were going to post his remarks online and he wasn't sure. If they do I will post a link to it as I think it is applicable to anyone and everyone regardless of profession or state in life. The conference was also showcasing a number of documentaries addressing social change in one way or another which were all pretty interesting.

Here are some more pics from yesterday, they include the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, a statue paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, and the United Nations Headquarters building.