Eisenhower Fellows

This website is managed by the distinguished members of the Eisenhower Fellowship Multi Nation Program 2007.

Fatin’s Regular Column on Arab News: The Little Girl Who Shocked World Leaders Into Silence

Author admin | 02.06.2008 | Category Saudi Arabia, Updates

Fatin Bundagji, (MNP 2007 Saudi Arabia) writes a regular column for the Arab News - Here’s her updated column from this past week (Friday May 30, 2008) -

“There is a YouTube video clip being forwarded that is worth seeing and definitely worth passing around. Its content is an old footage from the “Earth Summit Conference” organized by the United Nations back in 1992, and the scene is taken from a plenary session under the theme, “Development and the Environment”.

The speaker is Severn Suzuki, a 13-year-old Canadian girl, and her audience is world leaders.

Two aspects of the footage got my attention: The speaker, and her message. At the age of 9, Severn started her own Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO), made up of a small group of children committed to teaching other kids about the ongoing environmental crisis. In 1992, Severn and her group raised enough money to attend the Premier Earth Summit in Brazil to warn decision makers of the catastrophic results of their actions - or inactions as we see today - on future generations

Click here to read the rest of the article -

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Shirlene Noordin (MNP 2007 Singapore) Organizes Much-Awaited Photography Exhibition!

Author admin | 01.06.2008 | Category Singapore, Updates

Phish Communications organizes its eagerly-awaited Month of Photography exhibition, starting on the 13th of June, 2008. Entitled ‘The Magic of Cinema’, the exhibition will cover still and moving works of art, along with the opening of the Magic of Cinema, a Magnum Photos Exhibition.

The Month of Photography Asia and the Cathay, in association with Elle’s 5th anniversary invite you to walk the red carpet on the 13th of June - If you’re in Singapore, don’t miss it!

For more details, please click on the attached thumbnail! Congratulations Shirlene!

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Ratish Nanda (EF MNP 2007 India) Appointed DUAC!

Author admin | 01.06.2008 | Category India, Updates

Ratish Nanda has just been appointed to the DUAC

The article in the Indian print newspaper, “The Mail Today” (attached as a jpeg for reference reading also) had this to say:

AFTER dilly-dallying for over three months, the Union ministry of urban development has finally constituted anew panel for the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) with the citys renowned urban designer, K.T.Ravindran, as its chairman. The panel also includes conservation architect Ratish Nanda, Delhi University history professor Nayanjot Lahiri and landscape architect Mohammed Shaheer. The new panel has been constituted for a period of three years beginning from the time of assumption of charge.

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A year ago this week in: Washington

Author admin | 06.04.2008 | Category a year ago this week

….and the nostalgia kicks in… A year ago today, I was traveling with a group of fellows, on a bus, onwards to my first destination: Washington. We landed there on a Saturday morning, I broke out in terrible fever, and was “taken care of” by everyone else to the vietnamese restaurant in GeorgeTown. The next day, April 5th, I had gone out for an early morning run from the Foggy Bottom district (where we were staying), towards the Potomic and snapped this wonderful photographs… amongst others..

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Future of Saudi Civil Society Associations: Fatin Bundagji in the Arab News

Author admin | 06.04.2008 | Category Saudi Arabia

Fatin Bundagji, MNP 2007 Fellow from Saudi Arabia, has the following article in the April 4, 2008 issue of the Arab News -

During the last few decades the global community has witnessed an extraordinary leap in the positive impact civil societies have had on the communities they served. Their support for children, the young, the elderly, the challenged, and the disadvantaged… their advocacy for human rights and the rights of minorities… their campaigns on environmental threats; consumer rights; child abuse and domestic violence… and their attention to recreational and educational opportunities - as well as the preservation of culture and the arts has not only prioritized these issues on the planning agendas of nations but it has also enabled these civil society associations to position themselves as “the” indispensable 3rd sector development building blocks from which strong and prosperous nations emerge.

As global communities fast-forward themselves to become self-reliant through the systematic incorporation (licensing) of civil society associations, our local efforts are repeatedly blocked by obsolete bureaucracy and excessive restrictions that thwart any attempt to establish “civil society” initiatives as legitimate “non”governmental organizations.

The negative impact of blocking the creation of independent civil society associations is something that cannot be ignored. For one, bureaucracy kills the passion and determination of good-willed citizens and thus aborts good “citizenship” actions; and second, it encourages the growth of a negative, passive “laissez faire” local culture; and third, it creates a fertile breeding ground for unsystematic activities to operate - albeit informally under the radar.

Click here to go to the Arab News website and read the rest of the article!

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Fatin Bundagji writes: Are US Media Violating the 1st Amendment?

Author admin | 21.03.2008 | Category Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Fellow MNP 2007, Fatin Bundagji, writes up another storm in the Arab News -

Last week Arab News printed in the “Letters to the Editor” column a letter by Ms. Lin Hansen Petro from Portland, Oregon, commenting on my article, “Peace & Stability: Pre-requisites for Reform” (March 7). Ms. Petro wrote that while writing her article, “Fatin Bundagji conveniently forgot, as Arab writers usually do, that the US was attacked by Arab terrorists which led to retaliatory action in the Middle East and out of America. All those glorious outreach programs she was describing that America used to do would still be in effect and there would be no war waging at the moment if the radical Arabs kept their opinions and hatred of American policies in the academic or political arena… Please click here to read the rest of the article.

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Speaking from Experience: Caroline Casey

Author admin | 18.03.2008 | Category Ireland, Looking Back

Our dear fellow (MNP 2007) from Ireland, Caroline Casey, has these words of wisdom to share with the new batch:

“Hope you have the same magic mystery tour that the mad bunch of 2007 ef fellows had. Make sure you do something completely different, make time for dancing and unusual conversations, get up and walk around New York in the early morning, do NOT drink 7 café latté’s a day and most importantly, never make assumptions because you will get one hell of a surprise! And, though when they tell you that the ef experience will change your life, you don’t believe them – but it does! I wish I could do it all again!” -

Believe her! She DID ALL of these things! And in case you’re wondering, this was the “Sunday” she was referring to, as she most WICKEDLY got me to ice skate for the first time in my life! And all that, after we had an interesting, unplanned tour of New York’s underground!

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Opening Week: One Year ago

Author admin | 16.03.2008 | Category a year ago this week

I thought because the new batch of fellows will be starting their journey into the Eisenhower Fellowship fairly soon, that I’d dig up the bits and pieces of our group, Multi Nation Program 2007. Wish all of you the very best and one STRONG piece of advice: Document and capture as many of the memories as you can. I assure you, they will keep you GREAT company, bring you many laughs and reminiscing opportunities, for your entire life!

Here’s a photograph of all of us, in the lobby of our hotel, the DoubleTree, towards the end of the first week: