September 2008
Update
Greetings,
I keep thinking finding home hosts is going to get easier the longer we do it.
Not yet.
And therefore I ask for your help (can you hear the begging tone in my voice as in “pleeeeeeeeze.”). I ask you to wander around in your mind through every person you know in San Diego, and if you think there might be the slightest chance they would want to host a Russian from St. Petersburg starting September 25th . Then I would like to meet them. ASAP.
Deadline in 9-11. Cath@CDCSD.org BIG THANKS.
On another note, I now know we can find any expert, and design around any theme that Washington DC can dream up! Courtney just designed a program for a visitor with this theme: Foot and mouth disease and avian flu! Ha! Maybe a new action hero is in order here? SuperProgrammer.
I open with home hosts, I close with home hosts.
Thanks for send The Willing our way. There are points somewhere for this.
Grateful for hosted Russians,

Cath DeStefano
Executive Director
Contents
1. Home Hosts STILL Needed!
2. An Evening With...Afghanistan SOLD OUT
3. Save the Date
4. World Affairs Council Event
5. Visitor Story
6. Around the Office
7. New Board Members Welcomed
1. Home Hosts STILL Needed!
We need Home Host angels to step forward. The Russians are coming from St. Petersburg September 25th and some are still host-less. This time we offer hosting for only half the time the visitors are here with another host taking the other half. Please email everyone you know who might think hosting is a great idea. Contact: Cath DeStefano or call 619-291-8105. For more information click here.
2. An Evening with…Afghanistan SOLD OUT
Years and years and years later, there we are, still in Afghanistan. WHAT is happening there?
Know that one of the three speakers, Bonita Chamberlin will bring jewelry for sale made by woman of Afghanistan and the proceeds get returned to them to help. Our other speakers, Tony Perry of the LA Times and Stephen Brown of Rotary International will tell of their first hand experiences. We are glad to be co-sponsoring this event with World Affairs Council.
3. Save the Date
The New Member Reception
October 23rd we are officially welcoming all members who have joined since last September to a WELCOME event.
All CDCSD members are invited and we will have Denise Hummel, CDCSD Board Member speak about the Arab culture. Watch your mail for your official invitation.
4.World Affairs Council Event
Carroll Bogert speaking on “The Human Rights Agenda for the Next President"
Sheraton San Diego, Mission Valley: 1433 Camino del Rio South Wednesday, September 17th 11:30 am Lunch will be served; free parking Members $35 Non-Members $45 Speaker only (no lunch) $10.
To reserve a spot, call 619-325-8200 or Click here to book online.
5. Visitor Story
by Courtney Giordano, IVLP Program Manager
Last month I had the pleasure of joining the closing session of our multiple-country delegation here to learn more about the U.S. Judicial System.
The closing sessions are a truly unique forum in which the visitors share with the State Department program officer and the Programming agency program officer their thoughts on the IVLP program. On top of discussing their professional meetings that took place during the various city stops, they also highlight their overall impressions of the United States and cite specific experiences that stood out.
Many of the members of the judicial delegation noted the warmth and friendliness of the Americans they came across, as well as the freedom we enjoy and our inherent generosity (which is apparent to them in our system of gratuity).
But one visitor, however, shared a truly unique story from his experience at dinner hospitality in another city. The Judge from Tanzania explained that in his country he did not believe homosexuality to exist, and noted that if it did it absolutely was not recognized. He continued to state that because of this he held preconceived notions toward homosexuals, expecting them to somehow be inferior or unnatural.
As luck would have it, he was invited to a gay couple’s home for dinner hospitality.
As it turns out, he had a very pleasant experience, one that he said he would remember forever. As a result of this, he realized that LBGT community members, while not openly accepted in his home country, are people just like everyone else. He was grateful for the opportunity to change his previous views through a personal interaction!
Now that is citizen diplomacy in action – people from all different backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations, and ethnicities coming together and realizing that at the end of the day we are all human beings first and cultures second.
6. Around the Office
Finally, the sad gray wallpaper is going and being replaced by fresh new paint. I know this seems minor, but this is the fulfillment of a three year attempt to get this done…alas, success! Still another lesson in patience…
We are in the middle of a major update of our website. Our web designer, Connie Wuest, is setting it up so we can update most of the copy ourselves whenever we want without having to know Dreamweaver, moving us from PayPal to another vendor, and making it possible to register and pay for events online! It will have a new look and be even easier to navigate.
Bright new interns have arrived and we still have some helping us from last semester!
We welcome:
► Juliana Hinch is a USD anthropology major. She jumped right in and is planning our holiday gathering in December and also finishing up the Visitor ORIENTATION powerpoint.
► Kristina Leano is working on her masters in international relations at Alliant University. We put her on the phones calling all of you looking for home hosts on her first day here! She is also already doing visitor agendas.
►Michael Schainfeld has a degree in philosophy from Boston College. He will be working mainly with programming when he arrives on the 16th.
►Keelan McClymont is in UCSD Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies Master of Pacific International Affairs. Her career focus is International Politics and Latin America. Keelan will join us later this month as a marketing intern.
7. New Board Members Welcomed
Denise Hummel
Denise Hummel is an attorney, a diversity trainer, a mediator, and a writer. She directs her own communications firm, www.imagine-communications.com, which focuses on cross-cultural training and otherwise bridging the divide between countries and cultures. Considered an expert on the subject of tourism image-restoration and recovery after natural disaster or terrorism, Denise was recently honored as a guest speaker at the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism Global Summit in Pattaya, Thailand. She has trained executives in multiple continents as they prepare to enter the U.S. market for commercial or altruistic purposes. Denise maintains a part-time posit
ion as an Executive Editor of www.justtheplanet.com, a luxury travel magazine.
Kieu Vo
Kieu Vo is employed with Global Campus Management USA (GCM) which is an Australian based educational company that seeks to promote international education throughout the world. Kieu holds a Master of Arts, International Relations from United States International University, San Diego, Summa Cum Laude, and Bachelor of Science, Economics from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
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