Speakers Information

CHRISTCHURCH

A Walk To Beautiful - Thursday 22 7.15pm and Saturday 24 1.30pm
David Close was a teacher for many years. A highlight of his career was six years’ teaching in Tanzania shortly after the country became independent in the 1960s. David was also a Christchurch City Councillor for 24 years. He is currently Deputy-Chair of the Canterbury Community Trust. He accepted an invitation to become a founding trustee of the Hamlin Trust (NZ) because of his deep interest in the challenges faced by African countries. The Hamlin Charitable Fistula Hospitals Trust was established in New Zealand in 2005, one of a number of similar trusts in different countries. Catherine and Reginald Hamlin started work in the hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1959—language was a difficulty, blood was scarcer than gold, and there were many more obstetric problems than they had ever encountered. Particularly troublesome was the prevalence of obstetric fistula. Power failures were a hazard, and some operations had to be finished in torchlight. Nevertheless, their hard work prevailed and as a result, hospitals and programmes were established, and the lives of thousands of outcast women have been restored over the last 49 years. Dr Catherine Hamlin wrote The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope, a book about her incredible mission in Ethiopia.

Children of a Nation, East Timor - Sunday 25 3.45pm
Rev. Dr Geoff King, minister at Knox Christchurch who served as chaplain to the 4th NZ Battalion Group as part of the UN peacekeeping mission to East Timor from May – August 2001 and was deeply moved by the plight of children in East Timor.

Children of a Nation, East Timor – Sunday 25 3.45pm and Monday 26 6.00pm
Liz Whitehead is the Schools and Youth Coordinator Christian World Service. Liz has long experience as a youth worker in New Zealand and is able to relate this experience to the difficulty young people in East Timor face in just being young in a climate of violence and uncertainity. Liz also advocates in New Zealand for the Youth Training and Sustainable Agricultural Progamme in East Timor, supported by CWS.

Fighting The Silence – Friday 23 8:15pm and Sunday 25 5:45pm
Karolin Potter is an adviser in the External Relations Team of the Human Rights Commission based in Christchurch. She was initially employed in the Race Relations Office which has now amalgamated with the Human Rights Commission. She has previously been a teacher, trade union organiser and worked for members of parliament. Karolin is currently on the board or management committee of Christchurch Resettlement Services, Tenants Protection Association, Union and Community Health and the Council of Social Services and is a JP. She is a community board member for the Spreydon Heathcote ward. She has previously been involved in poverty, women and children’s issues, and in organisations as diverse as residential associations and antiapartheid campaigns. She currently provides education and dialogue sessions on a range of issues from the Human Rights Act in the community, employment and in business, to sessions on matters associated with race and ethnicity, disability, Tiriti and diversity and reconciliation.

Maquilapolis – Friday 23 6:15pm and Saturday 24 8:15pm
Dennis Parker is a Business Manager at the University of Canterbury and a director of both the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority and the Sustainable Business Network. Previously Dennis worked as the Finance Manager and General Manager at Macpac Wilderness Equipment Ltd for 16 years, and was a key member of the leadership team in creating a unique organisational culture in a manufacturing company that was committed to achieving economic success alongside social and environmental responsibility. After leaving Macpac 6 years ago he has continued to work in sustainability issues in various sectors and in the key role that people in organisations have in determining their organisation’s future.

Now The People Have Awoken: Exploring Venezuela’s Revolution – Saturday 3.45pm and Sunday 7.45pm
Julia Capon is the co-director, co-producer and editor of the film “Now The People Have Awoken”. Julia, after finishing a Masters in Business at Otago University in 2006 jumped on a plane and went on an adventure to Venezuela with a Colombian friend Ricardo Restrepo. Having both had little experience in film making they had a passion to document what happened during the Venezuelan Presidential elections – intervention of some type seemed highly possible. What they found was a country undergoing an impressive transformation. Today Julia is the marketing manager of Trade Aid, and is involved in various Venezuelan solidarity groups.

Now We are Fearless - Sunday 25 7.45pm and Saturday 24 3.45pm
Esther Water visited the Womens Development Resource Centre in Madurai in Feb 2008 as a member of the Christian World Service International Programmes group.

Now we are Fearless - Saturday 24 3.45pm
Elizabeth Mackie, as project worker for CWS, played a key role in supporting and mentoring the Women’s Development Resouce Centre in Madurai, Southern India for many years.

Occupation 101 – Wednesday 28 8pm and Thursday 29 6pm
Asher Goldman is a Jewish activist and writer who has spent time working on co-existence projects with Jewish and Israeli-Palestinian youth. He has also written and spoken on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict across New Zealand, with a focus on the Israeli anti-occupation movement. He is shortly to return to Israel/Palestine where he will do research and interviews for a book on Israeli anti-occupation activists.

2008 Dates

Wellington 8 - 16 May
Paramount Theatre

Auckland 15 - 23 May
Rialto Newmarket

Christchurch 22 - 30 May
Regent on Worcester

Dunedin 29 May - 6 June
Rialto Dunedin