Hosted by Nane Annan
Organized by UNICEF
The UN General Assembly building with all the country flags waving high out front. 1st avenue was closed off and security cars line the street. This was the scene for the entire World Summit!
The media also lined the streets. Every news station was present from the BBC, to CNN to the local news channels.
I had the privilidge to be involved with one of the major events, the First Spouses Briefing. Mrs. Nane Annan asked our department to organize an event on her behalf addressing two imperative topics on the global agenda: girls education and HIV/AIDS. For several months my department finalized the logistics of the event, anything from the guest speakers, testimonials, video selection, the correct language versions of our publications to the seating chart (there's quite a bit of UN protocol involved).
The day was unbelievable! Walking to work was a nightmare however. I arrived before 8am and all the streets were barricaded and lined with secret service, NYC police, UN police, etc. The buildings also had snipers on top. Can you see the 2 figures on the roof--they're snipers.
Several of my colleagues and I arrived in Conference Room 4 early to lay out the publications on the desks and reserve seats for certain delegations (with their enormous entourages). The conference room was set up like the GA. All the country nameplates were up starting with Thailand going alphabetically from the front to back. (US was front and center)
This is my "special" pass I used to get by: 1) security check to cross 1st Ave., 2) entrance to the tent outside the GA where I went through metal detectors, 3) into the conference room area, 4) through metal detectors again and a wand search and 5) finally into the appropriate conference room. (next to the conference room where Bush was speaking)
Mrs. Annan arrived and gave personal thanks to the UNICEF staff members for all our help (that included me)! She is a very sweet lady. Shortly after her arrival came Mrs. Bush. She entered and said "hello" to me! (Yes, me) I , in addition to the other ushers, greeted her. She was quickly swept away for a photo op with Mrs. Annan.
Other First Spouses arrived and soon the briefing began. Not all countries were represented and as a result these respective countries needed to be filled. I was a seat filler for "Burkina Faso" which put me right behind Laura...yup. I sat about 5 feet away from her.
The panelist: Lydia (Testimonial for girl's Education from Tanzania, Rima Salah, Deputy Executive Director UNICEF, Ann Veneman, Executive Director UNICEF, Nane Annan, wife of Kofi Annan, Secretary-General UN, Peter Piot, Executive Director UNAIDS, Rachel Ong(Testimonial for HIV/AIDS)
Lydia speaking, Rima Salah and Ann Veneman
The event was an amazing experience! (I felt like I was playing MUN.)
I was in the presence of world leaders.
No comments:
Post a Comment