IwB Guest Lecturer: Christine Hwang, Red Cross
Student Response by: Robert Giusti
October 7, 2010
IwB Class with Guest Speaker Christine Hwang
YAY! My first blog entry, and I have been given the opportunity to discuss the wonderful, inspiring guest lecture we received from Christine Hwang on October 7th, 2010. Christine is a public health physician, a humanitarian and more specifically, a Canadian Red Cross delegate. She has an extensive background in medicine and a long history of involvement in humanitarian work, having participated in projects in Cambodia, Turkmenistan and Haiti.
From the onset, it was clear that she is extremely passionate about the work done by the Red Cross and humanitarianism in general. Her energy and enthusiasm kept the current IwB class engaged as she spoke about the Red Cross and its history, the importance of healthcare in disaster situations, emergency response units (ERUs) and her recent contributions as a public health delegate in Haiti.
Having little knowledge about the Red Cross prior to this lecture, I was interested to learn about the organization. Although she could only cover a limited amount of information in the hour she had to present, I believe she covered the key concepts. I found the seven principles of the Red Cross (Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality) to be particularly relevant, and facets of each can be applied to the research that we will be undertaking in Lota, Chile.
I found that the most interesting information came from the portion of the lecture where she discussed her personal experience in Haiti. With the title of a “Public Health Delegate” I was under the impression that her role in Haiti was strictly to oversee the work carried out in rapid deployment hospitals. But I was way off! Due to the fact that her duties were not set out before she arrived in Haiti, she was able to set out her own responsibilities. As a result, she provided some amazing contributions to Haiti in a short period of time. She was able to start a vaccination program and a nutrition program. She also developed an educational system for children, teaching them about important issues such as malaria, safe drinking water, nutrition and hand washing through song and dance. I thought that these were some amazing achievements, particularly the educational system because in order for it to be effective, an understanding of the local culture was essential.
The lecture concluded beautifully as Christine told us how although she had seen a lot of chaos, sorrow and despair while in Haiti, there was also a lot of positivity. This truly emphasized Christine’s optimism. Her optimism also led me to realize that the idea presented by Jeremy Rifkin about three weeks earlier – in which the only way to shift as a society is through empathy – may be true.
Overall, there are many lessons that we can take away from Christine’s lecture and her work in Haiti. While we are currently trying to develop a very structured research schedule for our fast approaching trip to Lota, we can learn from Christine’s ability to adapt and invent according to the situation. I believe that although some structure is necessary, in many cases structure can be limiting and often the most inventive, creative ideas occur spontaneously when people remain flexible and open to change.
To find out more about the Red Cross you can visit www.redcross.ca, and please check out Christine’s Blog about her visit to the IwB at http://theyearoftherightbrain.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-7-cheering-for-home-team.html.
