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Volunteer Experiences at the AIDS Conference

Well,

Day 1 of my week-long volunteering was yesterday. I was in the Global Village, which was pretty impressive with hundreds of booths and exhibits from people all over the world. The volunteer work was pretty boring, though.

My first task was to move chairs around the main stage, which annoyed the other volunteer I was working with because then he had nothing to do. Then it was 2 hours of standing around and occasionally helping people find their way somewhere (or not find their way since the staff didn't really tell us about the layout or where everything was at the conference centre). And some of the people there were little piggies - there was trash everywhere around the stage, empty bottles, crushed up coffee cups, candy bar wrappers, big puddles of spilled coffee and water. Ugh.

Highlights:

• a spoken word/rap performance by this group called the 411 Inititiative which was pretty cool - http://www.whatsthe411.ca/index.asp?pageID=1
  
• talking to a lot of the delegates and exhibitors between my very important tasks of standing around doing nothing
  

Re: Volunteer Experiences at the AIDS Conference

quote:

Originally posted by mercure there was trash everywhere around the stage, empty bottles, crushed up coffee cups, candy bar wrappers, big puddles of spilled coffee and water. Ugh.

I hope you helped to throw away some of the empty bottles and such.

Signed,
Ms. Environment

Good for you for volunteering at the conference though.

nice! thanks for the thread - i've always wondered what it's like to volunteer at these things. I've always wanted to, but i don't.

good for you for volunteering ydour time!
I would too, if I had the time

let us know if you meet or even see anyone famous!

xxoo

quote:

Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* I hope you helped to throw away some of the empty bottles and such. Signed, Ms. Environment Good for you for volunteering at the conference though.

I did, and I even looked for recycling bins for them. However, annoyingly, all I could find were regular trash bins.

So, today was round 2 of volunteering. A lot more time spent doing fairly little. Or at least, little officially. There was nothing for me to do in my sections, so I wandered around the whole Global Village complex.

I chatted with a cool anti-war Israeli chick who's studying in Toronto for the summer, and another woman who's running in the Municipal election this year. I talked to a lot of activists and NGO workers trying to deal with a whole range of issues in Africa. Saw a cool Kenyan dance performance, and heard a west african percussion band. Also caught part of Stephen Lewis and Bill Clinton's talks and Q&A session.

Didn't do much in the way of productive volunteer work, though. Too many volunteers, not enough to do.

quote:

Originally posted by mercure I did, and I even looked for recycling bins for them. However, annoyingly, all I could find were regular trash bins.

That's my boy!

I'm also a stickler for recyclying. I make a point of recylcing at the bookstore I work at. I notice a lot of the time people throw paper in the trash, so I'll take it out and put it in the recycle bin. I noticed something I didn't like the other day...the janitor (who I might add is lazy as fuck), was emptying out all the little recycle bins into the trash can! I was completely appauled by this. I didn't want to say anything...but I wish I had spoken up.

awesome to hear you are helping out!! I am a firm believer in the fight against Aids.. anything is possible.. and one of the first steps is awareness... and thats what this convention is all about... good stuff!

So is this conference thingy going to suddenly change millions of peoples' views on contraception, or is it yet another thing to make North Americans feel like they're doing something to fix a huge issue elsewhere in the world?

quote:

Originally posted by VERTiG0 So is this conference thingy going to suddenly change millions of peoples' views on contraception, or is it yet another thing to make North Americans feel like they're doing something to fix a huge issue elsewhere in the world?

It's rare that anything big suddenly changes.

And the conference is largely Non-North Americans, talking about their own issues and what they've been doing in their own countries to try to deal with them.

Day 3

No official Conference volunteer shifts today. But in a non-official capacity I went to help out with a panel discussion and networking session that NextAid - www.nextaid.org - was involved with. NextAid is the organization I'm doing this fundraiser for, on Thursday: Sustainable Groove. Besides setup, I shot a video of the whole session, and my girlfriend Sally (aka Allegory) took photos.

Afterwards we circulated, handing out flyers for the party and promoting it with the delegates and conference volunteers. Then we went to another session about how youth leaders in Africa and Asia are helping to address the AIDS crisis in their own countries. The first speaker was good, the second was clearly a future bureaucrat in the making so we bailed before falling asleep.

Then we went to Harbourfront to hear an incredibly inspiring talk from Stephen Lewis on what we need to do to deal with some of the most urgent issues right now. Then home for dinner, then off to Beba.

ps: for Dallas - after leaving Harbourfront when Stephen Lewis was finished we ran into him crossing the street, and I had the chance to compliment him on his talk and shake his hand. There's one famous encounter for you.

this week has been HELL....
since sunday i've put in 65 hours... and i still have more to go.when will it end < cries>

quote:

Originally posted by Halycon this week has been HELL.... since sunday i've put in 65 hours... and i still have more to go.when will it end < cries>

still probably not as bad as the hell going on in Africa .. i guess it could always be worse

quote:

Originally posted by dEsidEL still probably not as bad as the hell going on in Africa .. i guess it could always be worse

so why aren't you on the horn to your MP, asking up to speak up in parliment as to why we haven't fulfilled Canada's committment of the cocktail to Africa?

quote:

Originally posted by Halycon so why aren't you on the horn to your MP, asking up to speak up in parliment as to why we haven't fulfilled Canada's committment of the cocktail to Africa?

i think i'll pledge my donation 2nite at 5ive instead

quote:

Originally posted by Halycon so why aren't you on the horn to your MP, asking up to speak up in parliment as to why we haven't fulfilled Canada's committment of the cocktail to Africa?

Actually, I know my MP, plus several others in the House, plus a number of political staff on the hill, and I'm contacting all of them to push for action on AIDS in Africa.

What are you doing?

quote:

Anger at Ottawa's AIDS stance Anger greets Conservatives' decision to call off big funding announcement Aug. 18, 2006. 08:01 AM RITA DALY, TANYA TALAGA AND JOSEPH HALL STAFF REPORTERS The Canadian government was roundly condemned on all fronts yesterday for missing a prime opportunity to show political leadership in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Delegates, top AIDS researchers and advocates slammed the Stephen Harper government for reneging on a promise to announce significant HIV/AIDS funding at the world's largest AIDS conference, which wraps up in Toronto today. There was much confusion earlier in the week when federal Health Minister Tony Clement suddenly postponed an announcement minutes before the scheduled time. But yesterday confusion turned to anger when it was learned no announcement was forthcoming this week. Clement's office said the International AIDS Conference had become too "politicized" and that they would make an announcement within several weeks. "This government has politicized this conference by its mere absence," said an angry Dr. Julio Montaner, one of Canada's leading AIDS researchers and president-elect of the International AIDS Society. "This is not about politics, this is about people dying," he said. Last night, Clement refused to elaborate on why the government felt the conference was no longer the right venue for an announcement. The Prime Minister "is absolutely committed to a new announcement soon," he told reporters before co-hosting a Canada-Ontario reception downtown for AIDS delegates. Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman expressed disappointment there wasn't a more forceful message from Canada, but cautioned against making it sound like a disaster. "This has still been a very good conference," he said. "At the end of the week, I'm going to look back and say, `Yes, that was an opportunity wasted.' But at the same time, there's a really good vibe here." Montaner said his greatest regret is that 26,000 participants return to their countries today, unable to hold up as an example to their own political leaders one of the world's biggest democracies' commitment to AIDS. The federal Conservatives have come under fire on several fronts since the start of the six-day event. Conference co-chair Dr. Mark Wainberg blasted Harper at the opening ceremonies for turning down an invitation to attend. Then the government became caught in controversy over its failure to deliver cheap HIV drugs to Africa despite legislation passed two years ago. Wainberg, director of the McGill University AIDS Centre, was more restrained in his remarks yesterday upon hearing of the funding cancellation. "I think it's possible the government of Canada did not anticipate the impact of this conference, the importance of this conference, and we should give them some breathing room," he said. Wainberg said he would prefer an announcement later that offers major new funding to one sooner that's perhaps less generous. However, Stephen Lewis, the UN's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, didn't hold back his disappointment at the government's performance this week. He called the move to cancel one of "petulance" and based largely on the Prime Minister's irritation at being criticized earlier in the conference over his refusal to attend. "Obviously if they announce two weeks from now it's not going to diminish what they do, but they've left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. "The entire activist, research, scientific world is now skeptical about Canada's intentions and motives." Lewis said he was actually told by government officials how much money the Conservatives were poised to pledge, an amount that would have dwarfed anything offered previously by this country. Harper could have looked like a hero if he'd actually followed up with an announcement, he said. Ottawa has donated $800 million to global AIDS efforts since 2000. It committed $68 million to Canadian AIDS research for 2006-2007. Interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham, who attended the Sunday opening ceremonies and sat with Toronto Mayor David Miller, said people genuinely regretted Harper's absence. "What an opportunity that is lost," he said at the conference yesterday. "I think we have to recognize the art of politics is the art of inspiring people to rise above petty differences and genuinely help people." Bloc MP R�al M�nard, who personally competed in the Outgames in Montreal where Public Works Minister Michael Fortier was booed by the crowd, told the Star's Graham Fraser he could understand Harper's decision not to attend the conference. "But I really don't understand his decision to delay the funding announcement," he said. The Prime Minister's office would not comment yesterday.

source:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...72154&t=TS_Home

quote:

Originally posted by Halycon this week has been HELL.... since sunday i've put in 65 hours... and i still have more to go.when will it end < cries>

Hang in there...not only will this look great on a resume, but you're volunteering for a good cause!

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