Event: Peacekeeping: Can The U.N. Meet the Challenge? [Harvard KSG]

January 31, 2009 ~ peterhaasaidg

With MINUSTAH‘s mandate being extended in Haiti until October 2009, I figured this is a worthwhile talk to go to.

Peacekeeping: Can The U.N. Meet the Challenge?
Date: Thursday, FEB. 5, 2009
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: JFK Jr Forum, Littauer Building, 79 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge, MA
Speakers:
SUSANA MALCORRA
Under Secretary-General,
U.N. Department of Field Support

MICHAEL GAOUETTE
Darfur Integration Operation Team,
U.N. Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations

DAVID HARLAND
U.N. Europe and Latin America Division,
U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations

JACQUELINE BHABHA (Moderator)
Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer, Harvard Law School;
Director, Harvard Committee on Human Rights Studies

Event: Paul Farmer and Matt Damon at JFK Library

January 15, 2009 ~ peterhaasaidg

Change Haiti Can Believe In
Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Time: 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Location: John F. Kennedy Library, Smith Center, Boston, MA
Speakers:
Matt Damon, Paul Farmer, Linda Dorcena Forry, and Brian Concannon, Jr.
moderated by Amy Goodman
Sponsors: Partners In Health and Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Description:
Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health; actor and activist Matt Damon, who recently visited Haiti to assist victims devastated by hurricanes; Massachusetts State Representative and Haitian American Linda Dorcena Forry; and Brian Concannon, Jr., director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, share their stories of eradicating disease and injustice in one of the world’s poorest nations, and discuss how changes in U.S. policy can help to build strength and prosperity. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, moderates.

To register for the event, please visit the Kennedy Library Forums website.
Live webcast will be available at www.pih.org.

Visit the Health and Human Rights Prison Project page to learn about the joint work of Partners In Health and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

Hat tip Emily L and Ted K.

aidg_roof_2008.jpg

January 14, 2009 ~ peterhaasaidg

aidg_office_2007.jpg

January 14, 2009 ~ peterhaasaidg

Guatemala: New AIDG Fab Space under construction

January 14, 2009 ~ peterhaasaidg

New AIDG compound: 3 story office and training space. Not shown: intern housing, garden, storage and workshop space.

Current AIDG office. Pictured: Former intern Emily Freeh

Yesterday we did a walk-through of our new AIDG compound for training and design. Anyone who has been with us in Guatemala or has visited our current office knows that it’s on the small side with not enough space for experimentation and storage. The new compound will give us far better resources for training and design, including a Fab Lab style facility for BOP engineering.

Under construction: Intern and visiting researcher housing

Under construction: Fab-lab space

The overall compound will include a fully equipped machine shop/fabrication facility and a 3-story office and training space where we will have an electronics and water testing lab (2nd floor). Two side buildings will cover housing for interns, visiting research groups and entrepreneur teams coming in from other regions. Throughout the grounds will be technical training and experimental design stations focused on our technologies. We’ll also be moving our “Petting Zoo” into this space.

Part of the existing eco-roof buildout that we hope to port to the new space. More pics/info.

A chunk of the big move will happen within the next 2 weeks. We’re going to try to keep as much of the eco-roof buildout as we can. Much of AIDG’s board will be on deck to help.

Papa Carlos & Mama Coney with a UCB Batch Solar Water Heater installed on their roof in Guatemala

The space is being rented to us by the sister of the famous Papa Carlos, seen in this CNN story about the Berkeley solar hot water team (CalSolAgua). Many interns have stayed with Papa Carlos and Mama Coney, who have become a significant part of the AIDG family here in Guatemala.