Emily Vrotsos
Meredith Tweed
WST 4021
25 October 2011
Ambassador Harriet Thomas, Director of the Global Perspectives Department introduced Dr. Samantha Nutt, the featured speaker. Thomas explained that the forum began five years ago to focus on women’s roles. Thomas shared that Nutt was a registered physician who worked first in Baidoa “The City of Death,” Somalia for UNICEF in the mid 1990s.
Dr. Nutt explained that her first book Damned Nations covers the last 16 years of her life at work in war-torn countries and an evaluation of how we work on war. Her mantra is: “people power, politics, and change.” She stated, “It won’t be enough for you to simply be better. We must redefine success in human terms; human-centered achievable values.” Somalia changed her view about her relationship to the world. When she first arrived she wondered what other people could do, but by the time she left she looked at it as what more could she do. She ascribed the title of story-teller to herself and how she gives presentations and asked the audience to imagine themselves in each anecdote that she told us.
One quarter of a million people died of famine, war, and diseases in Baidoa after health services literally stopped just on the heels of the Rwandan genocide. Somalia was drowning in weaponry with no functioning government. Children had not been to school but had fought and killed. Nutt said that the problem must be understood and acted upon in a global context. The billions of dollars spent on weapon development contracts every year is unsustainable in any economy and we should instead invest those dollars into development projects.
Possibly the worst place for women to live in the world is the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where the “War Against Women” is raging. Rape with extreme violence, gang rape, and amputations of women’s anatomy all play along the lines that rape is a crime of power and opportunity. There is very little stigma in the Congo against rapist but incredible stigma against those who have been raped. There is an international and national struggle to control the Congo’s vast resources and there have been mappings done that show that the closer to the mining areas one goes, the greater incidents of rape with extreme violence, and so people must make informed and ethical choices on a global level in a global context.
Nutt gave us four points to affect social change. The first point was to gain knowledge and information, often in the form of institutionalized education. Her second point was that individuals should make small contributions on a regular basis to development projects, such as programs of education or skills and employment training programs. Her third point was that we must be socially responsible consumers and have responsible investment practices. We should choose companies that are behaving ethically, such as those who follow their supply chains. Nutt’s fourth point was that life and loss are just as relevant “here” as it is “there.”
The talk ended with Nutt and audience members conducting a Question/Answer session. Nutt recommended many social development websites and relief organization websites. She also provided suggestions for traveling and participating as a volunteer or activist in a war-torn country.
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I am so bummed I could not attend this!
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