Students, U.N. rep discuss poverty
Michael Pasaoa
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: News
SJSU students from GenerationEngage discussed ways to reduce the incidence of extreme poverty with the third-highest ranking United Nations official, Kemal Dervis, through a video iChat conference Feb. 6.
Dervis is the United Nations' development programme administrator.
The Millenium Development Goals are a set of priorities established to cut poverty in half by 2015, said Jaime Contreras, San Jose outreach coordinator of GenerationEngage, a civic engagement initiative for young adults.
GenerationEngage formalizes different things like civic engagement through media access, Contreras said. If students want to get involved with learning how to make their own blog or short documentary or news article using video or audio, then "GenGage" facilitates those resources to students on campus.
"GenGage" members from Miami also participated in the iChat discussion with Dervis, who broadcasted from New York, on how to deal with the goals on a local level.
Chris Carter, a senior theatre and political science major, asked Dervis why he cared about global issues and why young people should also care.
"I enjoy many things, but when I see real misery, I think we're all the same," Dervis said. "Then we can't really enjoy what we have.
"In the modern world with TV, with the Internet, with iChat, with all the communications we have, we can see and feel the misery much more than maybe our grandfathers, fathers and mothers have in the past."
He said that traveling overseas is a step that young people can take by linking up with those in other countries to help bring the world together.
"Peace-building beyond ethnic-based politics is important," Dervis said.
Ashley Brackmann, a 2006 graduate from SJSU and a member of AIESEC, was at the conference.
She said AIESEC is an organization, with an on-campus chapter, that provides internships abroad and enables people to have a worldwide view and bring about cultural understanding.
Dervis is the United Nations' development programme administrator.
The Millenium Development Goals are a set of priorities established to cut poverty in half by 2015, said Jaime Contreras, San Jose outreach coordinator of GenerationEngage, a civic engagement initiative for young adults.
GenerationEngage formalizes different things like civic engagement through media access, Contreras said. If students want to get involved with learning how to make their own blog or short documentary or news article using video or audio, then "GenGage" facilitates those resources to students on campus.
"GenGage" members from Miami also participated in the iChat discussion with Dervis, who broadcasted from New York, on how to deal with the goals on a local level.
Chris Carter, a senior theatre and political science major, asked Dervis why he cared about global issues and why young people should also care.
"I enjoy many things, but when I see real misery, I think we're all the same," Dervis said. "Then we can't really enjoy what we have.
"In the modern world with TV, with the Internet, with iChat, with all the communications we have, we can see and feel the misery much more than maybe our grandfathers, fathers and mothers have in the past."
He said that traveling overseas is a step that young people can take by linking up with those in other countries to help bring the world together.
"Peace-building beyond ethnic-based politics is important," Dervis said.
Ashley Brackmann, a 2006 graduate from SJSU and a member of AIESEC, was at the conference.
She said AIESEC is an organization, with an on-campus chapter, that provides internships abroad and enables people to have a worldwide view and bring about cultural understanding.
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