ONE Perspective on Latin America

September 25th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

With the United Nations Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals going on this week, it may not be a surprise to say a group of world leaders were gathered in New York City. Yet, they were miles from the UN headquarters. In fact, these heads of state gathered at The Earth Institute at Columbia University for a forum on The Children of Latin America: A Future Without Poverty.

Those in attendance from the Latin American nations were Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa, President, United Mexican States, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President, Argentine Republic, Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez, President, Republic of Paraguay, Elias Antonio Saca González, President, Republic of El Salvador, and Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino, President, Republic of Panama.

At that, Bono isn’t the only rock-star philanthropist taking aim at eliminating poverty. Shakira and Alejandro Sanz graced the floor with their presence along with Jeffrey Sachs, bestselling author and director of the Earth Institute, and activists from the ALAS and Inter-American Development Bank.

So naturally, when student leaders at Sacred Heart University, Emerson College, and Seton Hall University found out about it, we knew we had to be there to represent ONE. After convincing our professors to let us skip class, we traveled from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey with ONE bracelets and shirts proudly displayed.

While we loved seeing Shakira and Jeff Sachs, the truly meaningful words spoken at the forum were those of the world leaders. From stating how they themselves focus on the MDG’s to more personal stories, such as the state of emergency in Paraguay to the sacrifice of “beautiful buildings to have happier citizens”, much was shared, and likewise much was learned. Truly, other world leaders aren’t turning a deaf ear to these problems.

Mr. Sachs joked between Shakira’s monologue that “Like Wyclef Jean said, she makes a man want to speak Spanish.” Well, even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can watch a bilingual archived webcast of the thrilling forum available online!