Welcoming New Executives

WUSC had its General Elections on Monday, February 22nd and new Executives have been elected for the 2010 - 2011 term. The new executives will formally take on their new roles and responsibilities by next Month. Thank everyone who come out and voted. I would like to thank Tove Fynbo, Our Faculty Advisor, for the tremendous effort and energy she puts to coordinate the elections. I would also like to thank the Center for Refugee Studies and WUSC Ottawa for all the valuable fresources they provide us with.

Please kindly join me in congratulating and welcoming the new executives and
best of luck to everyone.

NEW EXECUTIVES:
Niha Agha: Co-Chair – nagha@yorku.ca
Patrick Isingizwe: Co-Chair - pizwe@yorku.ca
Zohaib Khan: Vice Chair – Zohaibk06@gmail.com
Tha Dar Hsae: Student Refugee Program Rep - everdah@gmail.com

We still have few positions available. Please email us and let us know about the
position you are interested in.
Treasurer (1)
Secretary (1)
Public Relations Officers (2)

CONTACT WUSC@yorku.ca for more information.

Charly Soza
WUSC Co-Chair: Returning Officer

WUSC General Elections

WUSC will hold its General Elections on Monday, February 22nd from 4pm-6pm to fill the following Executive positions:
Co-Chairs (2)
Vice Chair (1)
Treasurer (1)
Secretary (1)
Public Relations Officers (2)
Student Refugee Program Coordinator(1)

If you can not make it on Monday but you would like to take a leadership role, pleas...e email us and let us know about the position you are interested in and why you are interested in that position.

We look forward to seeing you all.

CONTACT WUSC@yorku.ca for more information.

International Development Week

WUSC@York will do tabling at Glendon for the International Development Week, on Tuesday, February 9th from 11:00am to 2:00pm. There is a free shuttle that goes from Keele-Glendon and we will take the one that leaves at 10:30am. We will meet in front of the Student Center. Please find below the link to the event facebook page. Hope to see you there.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=283416337609&ref=mf

WUSC Local Committee Get-Together: Toronto, January 23rd and 24th, 2010

We are pleased to announce that WUSC staff will be coming to Toronto for a regional Local Committee Get-together! The event will take place at the University of Toronto – New College campus on Saturday January 23rd (8:30AM-4:30PM) and Sunday the 24th (8:30AM-2:30PM). The weekend will include workshops and networking sessions with WUSC Local Committee members. The workshop will cover a range of topics touching on the Student Refugee Program and Uniterra Campaigns (Bike for AIDS, Fair Trade, 8 Goals, etc.).

Workshop on Migration, Work and Citizenship

A workshop will be held at York on Oct 1st-3rd titled 'Migration, Work and Citizenship: Toward Decent Work and Secure Citizenship'.

The workshop will be held at the International Conference Centre, 5th Floor, York Research Tower. Seating (and catering!) capacity is very limited but some spaces are
available for York faculty and graduate students who wish to attend.

If you wish to attend and to have a program of the sessions, please contact Luz Vasquez (vazquez@yorku.ca).

BIKING 4 AIDS!

According to UNICEF over A MILLION PEOPLE, roughly 11.9% percent of people living IN MALAWI ARE HIV/AIDS POSITIVE.

Of these deaths 70,000 40% were CAUSED BY THE INABILITY TO GET ACCESS MEDICAL CARE. It is incredibly DIFFICULT TO TRANSPORT VICTIMS from rural areas and villages to clinics quickly, HENCE...............................


the BICYCLE AMBULANCE!*****************

A) ADDRESS PROBLEM; specifically designed bicycles attached with a lightweight trailer and a removable stretcher.

B) GRANT TRANSPORTATION for victims to be safely transported to the nearest medical clinic.

C)CREATES JOBS; relatively simple design enables the trailers and stretchers to be made and operated locally.

$200 will buy a bike.
$380 will provide a bicycle ambulance.
ANY DONATION GOES A LONG WAY!

BIKE + AMBULANCE= 30,000 individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi GETTING THE MEDICAL ATTENTION THEY DESERVE.

TO PARTCIPATE:

A) SPONSOR MY TEAM:
We will be biking from Toronto to Ottawa August 11-14, 2009

ANY DONATION WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE AS WE ARE TRYING TO RAISE $3, 000!!!!!!!!!

CLICK ON THIS WEB PAGE TO DONATE:

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=677643

OR CONTACT

WUSC-Keele: wusc@yorku.ca


SO......
BIKE 4 AIDS.
BECAUSE WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Friends of WUSC

Crystal Melin, who was the Director of External Affairs with WUSC back in 2004, kindly requested that we post information about a fundraising event she is organizing on behalf of the Canadian Institute for Cultural Affairs for youth-led prevention of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Event:

Eclectic Acoustic Night

When: Friday, September 15th
Where: Concord Café (Across from Ossington Subway Station)

Featuring: up-and-coming Singer/Songwriters, hand drummers, bands, and spoken word artists.

Doors open at 9:00 pm
Sliding cover $10 - $5

For more information please contact Crystal Melin (crysmelin[at]yahoo.ca)

September Update

Welcome to the start of another school year. The York Local Committee will continue to work hard, so please continue to give us your support. There has been a gap since our last update, but we hope to summarize events within the past few weeks in this post.

Glendon

The WUSC delegation at the Glendon Campus welcomed their sponsored student, Jean Paul, earlier last month. Since then they have made efforts to secure all the government documents that Mr. Jean Paul requires, and have taken him on a number of different activities including a bicycle ride, visit to the Tower, a hiking trip, and a cottage getaway to name a few.

A big welcome party was arranged for Mr. Jean Paul towards the end of August and it was held at Mme Lewin's residence on the Glendon Campus. Faculty who were familiar with the WUSC sponsorship program were in attendance, including staff from the Centre for Refugee Studies.

The Glendon delegation has been very supportive and has been a source of motivation for the Keele delegation. For more information about the Glendon delegation please contact:

Mr. Kamal Farmaly (farmaly[at]yorku.ca) or;
Ms. Tammy Maclean (tammy_maclean[at]hotmail.com).

Keele

The Keele delegation was off to a slow start due to obstacles that the newly elected executive members constantly ran into. Insufficient explanation, information and assistance had been given to the new executives, which resulted in a lot of frustration and stress in the days leading to their sponsored student's arrival.

The new delegation at Keele pushed for more transparency and communication. Many details were left unsaid - or were simply unknown - during the transition period, and there was much confusion. Thankfully, the executives persisted and, after much running around were able to sort out (most of) the issues.

They welcomed their sponsored student on the 30th of August with representatives from other local committees in Ontario. In the weeks following the student's arrival, the executives secured government documents and introduced him to York University. They have gone on small tours of Toronto, a visit to the Tower and a trip to the Eaton Centre, among other things.

The student has also participated in Glendon's hiking trip and subsequent cottage getaway. Since he can speak French fluently, he enjoys being in the company of the Glendon delegation.

For more information about the Keele delegation, please contact either Mabel Ou Yang or Eric Leung at: wusc[at]yorku.ca

This concludes the update.

Thank you for reading!