Mt. Holyoke Students Empowered to Assist OI

Mt. Holyoke Students Empowered to Assist OI Thru
New England Women's Global Leadership Conference

Empowering. This word singularly describes the New England Women’s Global Leadership Conference, Sept. 27, at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Funded in part by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, the conference was opened by Mt. Holyoke’s articulate and inspiring president Joanne Creighton.

Both of my grandmothers graduated from college in New England at the turn of the century, my mom was a psychologist, my step-mother a professor, and my sister administrates social programs, so the concept of women’s leadership does not threaten me at all – it encourages me.

As founder of Orphans International Worldwide, I realize that women care about children – and specifically many, many about our children – globally. Our Board is predominantly comprised of women, as is our staff, our volunteers, our funders, and our interns. We are so woman-dominated in fact, Orphans International is legally considered a “minority-run” non-profit organization.

In general, I find the concept and reality of women’s leadership inspiring. Having met female heads of state around the world, I firmly believe that women are neither evil enough to blow up the Twin Towers, nor arrogant enough to invade Iraq. Condoleezza Rice, the exception, was chosen perhaps for her ability to buck this trend.

The keynote speaker of the conference was Anu Aiyengar, an Executive Director of JPMorgan, who spoke of how she is in effect a global citizen. She stated she is consistent on the inside, but externally able to change languages, shoes and even hairstyle depending on her location. She reminded me of the most cross-cultural woman I know, Nancy Zhang of Citigroup, one of OI America’s strongest Board members.

Conference panels included columnist and Columbia professor Sheryl McCarthy, whom I read with enthusiasm for decades in New York Newsday, speaking on media, Amy Shearer of SoHo’s Anthropologie for retail, Anika Patterson of OXFAM, Sarah Harder of the National Peace Foundation, and Analisa Balares, the impressive C.E.O. and Founder of Womensphere, for NGOs.

In my panel, on NGOs, I touched on the “story” of my organization, but focused more on the importance of relationships in the real world. I don’t really like the term “mentor” – at 49 I am too young (in my mind!) to be either a mentor or a “Mr.” I lead an all-volunteer effort and am more than willing to be a friend. As a friend, I will do almost anything.

I stressed the importance of these relationships. Our funders, my staff, my Board, my media and U.N. connections, are all my friends. Mt. Holyoke interns from last summer, Amy Ruan and Tho Ngo, are now my friends, as in Anne Loingson, a Mt. Holyoke alum and current staffer.

I discussed the value of electronic social networks. I feel FaceBook is the leader and OI has a strong presence there. Want to connect with the world? FaceBook can help you. Check out multiple Orphans International group and cause pages, as well as my own personal and new “celebrity” page. Friend me or become a fan! I told them they would be amazed who ranks among my friends.

I have been particularly impressed with the mission of Mt. Holyoke – the oldest women’s college in the world. I would personally like to see four OI internship spots held open each semester for Mt. Holyoke students. Further, I would be delighted to recruit Mt. Holyoke alum to our Board of Directors and Advisory Board for 2009. Finally, I hope a group of students and faculty can visit OI Haiti in Jacmel for Spring Break next year!

At lunch, Orphans International presented to students specifically interested in networking and internship opportunities. This theme was carried over to the afternoon career fair.

The end-of-day Alumnae Reception and Dinner was powerful. If these women took control of the world, I thought, our global problems would be over. Global health care. World peace. Universal education. An end to hunger. Utopia is perhaps a feminist concept. I am convinced these women could achieve it handily.

The world continues to be, despite all news to the contrary, a better place to live. Wars, statistically, are down. Famine is down. Women and other minorities – blacks, Muslims, gays – continue to move up the ladder. HIV is being stymied. Barack Obama may well lead us into a better future. Mt. Holyoke plays a key role in this better world.

The conference dovetailed so well with the mission of the interfaith, international, interracial, inter-generational, and Internet-connected organization I founded ten years ago. All Orphans International children, girls and boys alike, are treated and educated as equals. We are raising global citizens. We need women leaders to assist us move forward, changing lives and futures forever. I am convinced Mt. Holyoke is an integral part of the future of Orphans International.

- Jim Luce, Mt. Holyoke College, Massachusetts, Sept. 27, 2008

The conference was organized by the well-run Lyons Network, named after the founder of Mt. Holyoke. The Lyons Network is comprised of women professionals and students dedicated to advancing the opportunities of women for leadership, professional, and global impact. Student and alumnae from many other schools, including Smith College, attended the all-day conference.

A summer at Orphans International

By Amy Ruan

A summer at Orphans International gives a new meaning to the phrase “rolling with the punches.” There are days where you are stuck with mundane clerical tasks on computers that never seem to run fast enough. Then there are events and projects which reaffirm your decision to work for a NGO despite the weight of your wallet. The Indonesian Consulate Fundraiser was the first OI fundraiser I attended and helped out with. Despite my lack of experience, I was told to model for the fashion show the day before the fundraiser. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel experience especially when Jim announced that OI raised $70,000+. But two day afterwards, I was updating Jim’s monstrous Outlook. But no matter what tasks you are ultimately handed with, everything you do is meaningful to the organization.
My major project was to create an Anime & Manga Fundraiser. One of the best things about the organization is the guidance you personally receive from Linda. She oversees your work and seems to have an answer for every question you may have. After plowing through Linda’s huge bag of contacts, I was fortunately referred to Peter Tatara of Reeds Exhibition. He is the program manager of the NY Anime Festival and the key to getting the whole fundraiser running. Although we had a general theme, a party always needs a budget. In OI, the theme for budget is to get everything donated. This is a particularly frustrating and tricky point but one will be surprised by the amount of support one can get with the right amount of luck or emails. Right now, the fundraiser has a great venue place at China 1 and two great J-Rock bands (Uzuhi & Echostream) willing to play for free. Planet Hollywood, Viz Media, Funimation, AnimEigo, ITO EN, NY Anime Festival and Anime Insider are donating items for our goodie bags and raffle prizes. Due to the limited resources, there are times when you have to extend yourself and learn different skills. Before the need for a promotional poster arrived, I didn’t have the faintest clue on how to use Illustrator or Photoshop. Even though I am still far from skilled with these applications, I at least have basic skills to create a poster. All in all, I am immensely pleased with the experience, skills, and knowledge I have gained through this internship.

Indonesian Consulate Benefit

Orphans International
Summer Interns

June 4, 2008 – Indonesian Consulate Benefit

Renata (Elisa) Aráuz-DeStefano

Today, the interns at Orphans International Worldwide, including myself, were priviledged to attend “A Splendid Cultural Evening to the Realms of Indonesian Culture.” This event was held at the Indonesian Consulate in Manhattan and featured a gamelan music ensemble, peacock and jaipong dances, an art and jewelry auction and a batik fashion show.
Originally, I thought I was going to be doing the typical volunteer work expected at events such as these; showing guests to their seats, serving food, etc. But, to my surprise, I and a few other interns were asked to participate in the fashion show! None of us had any experience modeling, but Nancy Zhang, a member of the OI America Board of Directors, has professional knowledge of the fashion industry and she was able to train us in a matter of days.
The night of the event was incredible. The Indonesian Consul General was present, along with other members of the consulate. Over 135 Orphans International supporters came to help OIWW raise money for our children in Indonesia. Although I was upstairs preparing for the fashion presentation for most of the night, I was still able to enjoy the delicious food – prepared by the women of the Indonesian Consulate – and watch the dancers perform. Everything had been such a success, now it was time for us to do the fashion show.
One by one, we walked down the grand spiral staircase of the Consulate and walked through the dining tables with the accompaniment of Indonesian music. We paused at each table, doing our best to showcase the beautiful handmade jewelry and batik clothing for auction. It must have worked, though, because items were being sold as soon as we had gotten off the floor.
With $70,000 raised for OI Indonesia, I would definitely consider our June 4th event to be a huge success. It was my first benefit with OIWW, but I look forward to organizing, planning and attending many more to come.

Photo of OI America Interns

A Summer with Orphans International

A Summer with Orphans International
By Giulia

This June I joined the OI America team on Roosevelt Island, New York. My relationship with the organization started long before stepping into their office, it all begun in Paris. During my year abroad in the city of lights, I spent hours researching summer internships: the same set of questions kept on flocking to my head. Where do I want to be? What type of job position should I apply for? And the most pressing of them all: what is my purpose? I was completely and utterly lost at sea. All that I knew was that I wanted to work with children in some capacity. But where? And that is roughly when I clicked on the OIWW website, a non denominational organization whose mission statement instantly grabbed my attention:
“to help orphaned or abandoned children grow into solid citizens of the world through a sound structure that simultaneously Interfaith, because there are many paths up the mountain; Interracial, because there is but one race - the human race; International, because our neighbors are our family; Intergenerational, because there is much to learn from our elders; and Internet- Connected, because the world today is at our fingertips.”

To some it may come across as slightly cliché. Thankfully, as I later discovered, it is a winning formula to what is, surprisingly, an attainable goal. I walked into our New York headquarters on the lovely Roosevelt Island soon after. Here I met with the hearts and souls (not to mention the brains) of this NGO: Jim Luce, Founder, and Linda Stanley, Executive Director of OI America. I was swept away by their commitment to the cause as they explained to the summer interns (there are over a dozen of us!) the character of OI, its history and our role in the organization.

Unlike other summer jobs before (and I have had quite a few, believe me!) this has not been your regular buying-coffee-for-your-superiors sort of internship, far from it. The focus of the organization are the children under its care in Haiti, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and as of this year, Tanzania. Hence my first assignment: a full blown project to research the building of a self-sustainable, and energy sufficient community centre for our orphans in Jacmel, Haiti. What does that entail? Getting in touch with multiple architects, sponsors, the media; but also: figuring out the logistics behind the process, the time constrictions, the budget. One has to map out a focus, a plan of attack. I would be lying if I said that it has been an easy ride: between the overwhelming sense attached to the task, the obstacles have been many, varying from the hostility to the complete indifference of those to whom we have been trying to reach out to. It has been a daily reminder of the difficulties faced by a non-for-profit and one of the many reasons why people think twice before choosing the job as their life career.

Alongside the team’s efforts to meet the children’s basic needs, such as food, clothes and healthcare, OIWW believes in the right of each child to a normal childhood (Matthew’s Rule). Every child should be entitled to fun and games. Unfortunately, for many of kids around the globe, this is not the case. I grew up dancing and I owe a lot more to my classical training than good posture and flexibility, for it gave me a solid foundation and enforced working ethics. However, the one reason why I danced, and still do, is for the simple pleasure of it. Hopefully, the dance DVD that we are trying to put together, with its ‘roger rabbit’ steps, plies and pirouettes will give our kids the same joy, and if anything else a fun break in their day.

In the past three weeks I have been inundated with unbelievable amounts of information regarding orphanage care: the Family Care Model is in multiple ways a more efficient system than the traditional Orphanage Model, every 15 seconds a child dies from infected water, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, there is a lot that we can do to help. Although Jim’s (slightly bad) habit of drinking approximately 26 cups of coffee a day might (partly) explain his ability to put such an organization together, and run it, it is clear that the key lies somewhere else. Where? In his continuous drive to help, in his ability to involve those around him, in his hard working team. Helping children is not an easy task, but if everyone of us could do what Jim has done, and rise to the challenge of an increasing orphans’ population, with determination and passion, then I have no doubts in the immense changes that we could bring about