Dawn's Marshall Memorial Fellowship

PowerPoint Presentation on Professional Appointments

2007-11-16T15:02:14Z

...

Coming Home

2007-10-28T11:21:38Z

I left the hotel at 4:45 AM after just 3 hours of sleep to head for the Berlin Tegel airport. I flew from Berlin to Milan. There was a short layover, and then I flew directly to Atlanta (10 hour flight). I thought I might sleep on the plane, but I had an aisle seat. I recently read that airplane bathrooms are the 2nd most dirty things (behind your kitchen sink), and I have to agree. I tried my best to wash my hands and keep them clean until I got back into my seat - but it proved difficult. I went through customs in Atlanta and rechecked my bags to fly into Chattanooga. I finally got into CHA at 6:30 PM after 17 hours of traveling. I gained 6 hours, so it felt like 12:30 AM to me. Bob and Nathan were waiting for me. It was an overwhelming time. I was exhausted and saw them for the first time in over 3 weeks. One of my bags didn't make it, so we had to file a lost baggage report. We picked up something to eat and headed home. Nathan wanted me to sit in the back seat with him. Getting home, it seemed that Belle (our basset hound) didn't think I was ever coming back. She got excited and tried to jump, but she can't jump much anymore. Coming in the house, everything seemed so big. Big TVs, big rooms. It's funny how you get accustomed to certain things over such a short period of time. I slept for about 9 hours, but I am still tired somehow. I got on the scales fearing how much weight I had gained. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had lost about 3 pounds. I guess all the walking did some good. I'll post some more comments as I reflect on the trip and get my brain around the whole adventure.

Trip Statistics

2007-10-28T11:22:24Z

In 23 days -

6 hotels
11 flights
About 40 hours of airport time (check-in, flight time, layovers, etc)
About 175 fellowship contact hours - 39 talks, 24 group meals, 9 tours
Sleep and free time - very little!
Estimated miles traveled by air and by land: 10,366

Chattanooga to Atlanta (air): 120
Atlanta to DC (air): 640
DC to Brussels (air): 3000
Brussels to Hamburg (air): 304
Hamburg to Lubeck (car): 41
Lubeck to Eutin and back (car): 48
Lubeck to Fehmarn and back (car): 60
Lubeck to Hamburg (car): 41
Hamburg to Frankfurt (air): 244
Frankfurt to Turino (air): 353
Turino to Alba and back (car): 92
Turino to Vienna (air): 466
Vienna to ...

Berlin - day 2

2007-10-27T11:22:06Z

Berlin has been cold, but not rainy like Belgrade. On Thursday, the group walked over to the GMF office and had a briefing on the German political system. After the briefing, we took taxis to a local school to talk to high school students.

German School System - Children start school at the age of 6, and attend elementary school (Grundschule) up to grade 4. At that point, children are separated according to their academic ability and attend one of three different kinds of schools. The Hauptschule (grades 5-9) teaching classes at a slower pace with some vocational courses. It leads to part-time enrollment in a vocational school. The Realschule (grades 5-10) leads to part-time vocation schools and higher vocational schools. The Gymnasium (grades 5-13 leads to a degree and prepares students fro university study. Students must complete 9 grades of education. German children only attend school in the morning. There is no provision for serving lunch. There is a lot more homework and very few extracurricular activities.

The whole German educational system, including the universities, is available at no charge to the children of bona fide expatriates.

At Carl-von-Ossietzky-Oberschule, we met with students in the 13th grade and just chatted with them.

From left: Liz Decker, a student, Barbara, Gwendena, Darnella, two students, and the headmaster.


Group photo:

After the school visit, we took taxis to a Turkish restaurant for lunch in Kruezberg. Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside Turkey.

After lunch, fellows had individual appointments. I had an appoinment with Dr. Walther Haas of the Robert Koch Institute (http://www.rki.de/EN/Home/homepage__node.html). Here's a nice photo just outside the building.

The Robert Koch Institute is the central federal institution responsible for disease control and prevention. Dr. Haas is in charge of the Respiratory Infection program and a part of that is pandemic flu preparedness. He and his staff developed the state pan flu plan. According to the plan, Germany will stockpile enough antivirals for the treatment of 20% of the population on an outpatient basis. The antivirals will be kept in a central location, and states can request the drugs when WHO announces a Phase 6 pandemic situation. Germany is not stockpiling vaccines.

Germany has had birds positive for H5N1, but there have been no human cases. It's interesting that their response was much different than that in Belgrade. When ducks in Bavaria became infected, 400,000 ducks were slaughtered in the area. Serology samples were taken from the workers. There was no quarantine of the area, but there was enhanced surveillance at the local level. No people exhibited symptoms were identified.

Thursday night, Raj, Beth, and I had a "homestay" at the home of Ms. Andrea Bischoff, Deputy Secretary to the Committee on Health at the German Bundestag. Andrea was a European Fellow a couple of years ago. She invited a couple of colleagues over and we had dinner. We had an extensive discussion about global climate change. They love Arnold Schwarzenegger ("Arnie"); he's from Austria. Many people I met in Europe are impressed with the actions he's taking in California to stem climate change.

Berlin City Tour

2007-10-25T01:04:27Z

Some of us arrived in Berlin early - around noon. We didn't have a meeting until 6, so we set out for a bus tour of Berlin. We are staying in the Arcotel Velvet. It's very nice. It's been interesting throughout this trip to figure out how to use the sinks, showers, and toilets. By the way, it's proper to say "toilet" instead of restroom or bathroom.
My room. Pretty funky.

View from my room.

Photos from the bus tour - I'll post these later. I very tired and ready to go to bed!

OK, I'm back...

Not sure what river this is yet

Largest palace in Berlin

A bridge in the foreground

New train station

Remnants of the Berlin Wall

Sculpture called "Big Butterfly"

Dinner on Wednesday night.

Comments_on_Belgrade.MP3

2007-10-24T17:10:30Z

Off to Berlin

2007-10-24T16:43:37Z

We were off to Berlin, Germany on Wednesday morning. We met in the hotel lobby at 6:30, which is early when you are out late the night before and are weary travelers. Belgrade is very different from the other cities we haved visited. Of course, it is in Eastern Europe. I see some similarities with lesser developed countries I have visited in the Caribbean and Central America. The people here love it and there seems to be a lot of potential for development. Currently, there are few environmental regulations. No one seems to know what happens to the sewage. We were told that the restaurants along the river (Danube and Sava) release their sewage directly into the river. There is a lot of litter. I noticed many open dumps on the landscape as we landed at the airport. I bet if I were to come here in 10 years, there would be many changes.

Here's the view from the airport. It kind of sums up Belgrade for me. It has beauty and potential, but right now there are some problems. Not to say that the U.S. doesn't have problems too, however.

Last Day in Serbia

2007-10-24T16:36:38Z

Tuesday was our last day in Serbia. It was very cold and rainy...my toes were numb! Everyone in our group is great - Tom, Beth, Darnella, and Barbara. We get along very well. Our city coordinator, Dane (pronounced dawn-a), has been great. He's a young guy with lots of energy (more energy than me!). We have a van that transports us from place to place which is much better than taking taxis. It's interesting that people park wherever here...on the sidewalks, half on the sidewalk and half on the street. It doesn't seem to matter.

We went to the Humanitaritan Law Center first. HLC is a regional non-governmental human rights and humanitaritan organization. It was founded in 1992 after the outbreak of armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The HLC has been researching the killings, disappearances, and torture of prisoners of war and the patterns of ethnic cleansing. They interview witnesses and victims and enter their accounts into a database. Natasa Kandic is the founder and executive director.   For an article about Natasa, go to http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935405.htm. She is a very brave woman. She was actually in the building while we were having our meeting, but was busy with other things.

During our meeting, we watched a video about HLC. The video included footage of the execution of 6 Muslim prisoners by members of the "Scorpions", a unit of the Serbian Interior Ministry. This footage was made public in 2005, and four of the men were sentenced this year. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1637469.ece

We also had meetings with the Center for the Development of Serbia and B92. Dane is on the right.

B92 is a radio and TV broadcasting station.  Sasha Mirkovic, the co-founder of B92, told us that their website is one of the most popular websites in Europe. http://www.b92.net/eng/

We had a farewell outing at the Restaurant Reka.  They had a great band. They sang a few Serbian tunes, but mostly American music like "Lady in Red".

Darnella is on the right. She is a graduate of Miami University (my Alma Mater). We were there at different times, but we were reminiscing about Oxford nevertheless.

Institute of Public Health Belgrade

2007-10-22T16:37:23Z

Monday morning, I had a fantastic meeting with Dr. Predrag Kon. He is the Head of Immunization at the Institute of Public Health Belgrade.   Their health department is much like the regional health departments in Tennessee. There is a central health department, with health departments in each municipality. They have similar programs - Health Promotion, Biostatistics, Disease Prevention and Control, Microbiology, Environmental Health, and Eco-Toxicology. Dr. Kon has dealt with outbreaks of bird flu in birds.

In 2006, there were positive swans in two zones in Serbia. In one of the zones, there were 9 dead swans that were found near a small pond.   Public Health quarantined (voluntary) a 10 km2 zone around where the dead swans were found. This area encompassed a village. In this zone, more than 700 domesticated birds were culled and tested by the Ministry of Agriculture.  All of them were negative except for a rooster. This rooster had been outside (unlike the other birds) because the owner had recently died. He was probably infected by the swans or through contact with the pond area. The more than 100 people in the village were checked for respiratory symptoms, and three of them were sent to the hospital for testing. They were immediately given Tamiflu and were put in isolation, but the test results were negative for H5N1.   Interesting!!

He said that Serbia is prepared for avian flu, but not for pandemic flu. They are forming working groups to include the Ministries of Education, Trade, Internal Affairs, and Local Government. They have stockpiled some Tamiflu (20,000 doses) and will continue to stockpile for 1% of the population. I asked if this will be used for treatment or prophylaxis. He said that the decision will be made in the field by public health. Tamiflu is not pre-positioned, it is being held in one place in Serbia.  It is in a location in which it could arrive within 4 hours to any part of Serbia.  They are not stockpiling vaccine.

I asked him about public education about pandemic flu. He said that they are giving seminars to healthcare workers and the media. It is hard to reach the public.  Less than 5% of the population uses the internet. They have not encouraged people to stockpile food and water yet, but will. Interestingly enough, they will encourage stockpiling enough supplies for 2 MONTHS. Wow!

Hospitals in Serbia are state-owned. Public Health has provided guidance to the hospitals on how to plan, but he doesn't think there has been much planning yet.

He gave me a book called "Influenza in Serbia: Socioeconomic effects and policy issues of a potential pandemic".  He also gave me a lovely booklet about their health department.

City Tour

2007-10-21T15:06:07Z

Well, I've been trying to do another podcast...but, I'm having trouble uploading it. So, I give up for now. Today is Sunday and we had a tour of the city. Belgrade has 53 parks, and according to our guide, is the "greenest" capital in Europe.

We started the tour by going to Zemen, a suburb of Belgrade. Zemen used to be a part of Hungary. There are lovely cobblestone streets. There is the smell of burning coal in the air. People use coal-fired stoves to heat their homes. This smell is not unfamiliar to me. Growing up, my family raised tobacco. In the winter, we had to "strip tobacco" which is basically removing the leaves from the tobacco stalk. We worked in the barn and burned coal in the stove to keep warm. Who would have thought that 20 years later, I would be traveling through Europe? I didn't like working in tobacco at the time, but it did instill a work ethic in me that has helped me be successful in life.

On our way to the next stop, we drove past some buildings that were bombed during the 1999 NATO attack.

We also drove over a bridge. Under and around the bridge are people who live in a shantytown. They are called Roma.

Our next stop was the Museum of Tito. He was the communist dictator of Yugoslavia for many years.

His crypt is in the museum along with displays of items he received as gifts from all over the world. The most interesting one to me was a witch doctor costume from Bulgaria.

We got back in the van and stopped at the Sava Cathredral (white one on the right). It is not finished yet, and was started way back in 1905. Every time there was a war, there was a pause in the contruction. Next to this Cathredral (on the left) is a smaller one that is completed.

Here is the inside of the smaller Cathedral.

Our next stop was the Belgrade Fortress. Here is the view from the Fortress:

Fortress and Dinner

2007-10-21T13:43:46Z

After visiting U.S. Steel, we stopped at the Small City of Smederevo fortress. It was built between 1428 and 1430. It was built to keep out the Turks.

Here is Ivan from the Balkan Trust for Democracy (on right) and our guide.

Beautiful view of the Danube River.

After our trip, we headed back to the hotel. A little while later, we met some folks at a restaurant for dinner. The lady sitting to my right is Lana. Lana was a European fellow this year who traveled in the summer. She actually came to Chattanooga during her fellowship. She said that she expected the least of Chattanooga, and got the most out of it. I thought that was a nice compliment to the city. It was a nice time. I had chicken stuffed with prunes and cheese - it may not sound good, but it was. We talked a lot about drug problems in the U.S.. We discussed meth, and I shared with them my experiences working with people who have had their homes quarantined after a meth lab bust. Liz Decker (front, right) joined us today. She works for the German Marshall Fund office in Washington DC. She had recently been to Chattanooga to interview candidates for next year's fellow. She said that Dr. Fred O'bear is the Chairperson again and the interviews were on UTC's campus.

Saturday in Belgrade - U.S. Steel

2007-10-21T04:16:43Z

We are staying in the Hotel Balkan - http://www.balkanhotel.net/hotel_balkan_e.htm. Our rooms are very small compared to our hotel stays in Germany and Italy.  It's still adequate, though, and I have slept very well which is the most important thing.

Saturday morning, we took a bus to a town called Smederevo that is southeast of Belgrade. We visited U.S. Steel Serbia. Apparently, it was difficult to get a tour of the plant. We had to leave our cameras at the security check (in case we are spies, I suppose).

At the request of the Serbian government, U.S. Steel took over the management of the Serbian steel facilities in 2002. These were state-run facilities until the take over. According to U.S. Steel, they have improved the facility; there are three major business drivers: employee safety, product quality/service, and protection of the environment.  U.S. Steel Serbia has 5700 employees, and they operate 24/7. They emphasized their corporate social responsibility efforts. U.S. Steel supports schools, foster children, sporting events, cultural activities, traditional festivals. They also provide scholarships to local people and provide support to the university library.

We took a tour of the plant. We had to wear a lot of protective equipment. We had bright orange pants and jackets, a hard hat, steel-toed boots, goggles, and ear plugs. The plant produces iron at two blast furnaces, then converts the iron to raw steel. The end product is hot rolled steel. A fellow named Marco lead us through the plant. With all the noise and with our ear plugs in, there was a lot of information I didn't catch.

Overview of the Region

2007-10-21T03:56:07Z

Belgrade sits on the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers on the Balkan Peninsula. It's one of the oldest cities in Europe. It grew from fortresses built by the Celts (3rd century BC), and Illyrians, and the Romans. The town was captured by the Huns, Goths, Sarmarthians,and Gepids before being retaken by a Byzantine emperor in the 6th century AD. Then it became the Franks, and then the Bulgars. The Bulgars named the city Beligrad, meaning white fortress.

In current history, Serbia fought is old partners in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict (for more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War), and NATO bombed the city in 1999. Bombed buildings still exist. I don't think I've ever seen bombed buildings before. I'll try to get some photos.

The city has a population of 1.6 million. Serbian is the official language, though many people also speak English. The currency is the dinar, but the euro is also accepted. 58 dinars equal one dollar. It makes for difficult conversions when you are trying to figure out how much something costs.

Belgrade

2007-10-28T09:08:25Z

On Friday morning, we left Turino for Belgrade. We had two flights. The first was from Turino to Vienna, Austria. I actually got to fly first class for the first time ever! Not sure how that happened, but I didn't complain. Too bad it was a short flight. I read a Newsweek magazine (Europe edition). It was very interesting because it focused on women leaders and provided profiles and interviews with them. There was a section about Dr. Margaret Chan, Director of the World Health Organization. She was quoted as saying that it's OK to cry at times in your position. She felt that it doesn't show weakness, but compassion and empathy.

From Vienna, we flew into Belgrade. It was interesting to watch the changes in the landscape. Turino is surrounded by the Alps. Then, there were rolling hills and flat agricultural land as we flew east. Darnella and I arrived in Belgrade around 1:00. We were greeted by a driver who took us to the Hotel Balkan.

We met our city coordinator, Dane Koniga, who is a program associate with the Balkan Trust for Democracy. BTD is a program of the German Marshall Fund. We had a couple of hours of down time, and then met for a briefing and overview of the Balkan region. Slobodan Markovich, a professor of political science, gave a lecture. Beth Locker (Atlanta) is on the right.

That evening, we went to a local restaurant and had dinner with the Director of BTD, Ivan Vejvoda. The food was very good. I had a beef roast with potatoes and carrots. The restuarant was a converted home.

Here is Ivan (far left) with some of this staff and interns.

Hotel Tortoise?

2007-10-28T09:28:08Z

The morning we left Turino, I met a man from Michigan in the hotel lobby. He told me that his two sons live in Nashville. Small world. He asked if I had seen the "turtle" in the hotel garden. I told him no, and he pointed the animal out. He was told by the hotel staff that the animal is 40 years old. I suspect it is a tortoise. If anyone knows it's identity, please leave a comment.

italy_comments.MP3

2007-10-22T01:22:30Z

Click on arrow to hear the podcast.

Last day in Italy

2007-10-28T09:18:29Z

Whew....the last 48 hours have been quite a whirlwind. Thursday morning, we had a couple of meetings regarding arts and culture. Turino has undergone a renewal over the past 10 years, from an industrial city to one of arts, culture, and environment. There are efforts underway to attract technology businesses. Turino will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unity of Italy in 2011. A committee has been formed to set up a "great international event."

Stephen and Val (fellows) and our city coordinator, Giulia.

We had lunch with Dario Disgni, Head of Culture, Art, and Environmental Hertiage with Compagnia di San Paolo.
I've forgot to mention before that raw meat is served here. I just can't bring myself to eat it.

We had a one hour break before our afternoon session for shopping. There are wonderful shops here - Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, etc. I can't afford any of that, so I went to the park instead.

In the afternoon, we had a session at the Centro Estero per L'Internazionalizzazione del Piemonte. We took a group photo in front of the skating rink that was built for the 2006 Olympic Games.

We got back to the hotel at 5:10 and had to be ready to leave again by 5:50. We meet the Secretary General of Campagnia di San Paolo for appetizers and drinks before the Opera.

The Opera started at 8:00 - it was a comic opera in three acts based on a libretto by Arrigo Boito. It was a wonderful ending to the trip. We got back to the hotel at 11:30. I then had to pack because Darnella and I were leaving for the airport at 6 AM. I got about 3 hours of sleep.

Photos of the opera house. No photos were allowed once the opera began.

Trip to Alba

2007-10-17T15:14:24Z

I met up with the rest of the group after my meeting at the laboratory. They were at the open market. This is like a flea market, but is the "largest open market in the world". We hopped on the bus and traveled to Alba. Alba is southeast of Turino. It is known for it's truffles (not the chocolate, the mushroom).

It took about 1.5 hours to get there. On the drive there, we got to see some of the countryside. There were terraced fields of vineyards. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, but on this trip, there is no stopping to smell the roses or to take photos of scenery.

Alba is a nice town. We ate lunch at Piazza Duomo - la piola. It was a 4-course meal - antipasto, ravioli, cheese plate, and dessert. We had a short amount of time to walk around and I found a park where you can rent a bicycle. There are bike paths along the river. I also have a photo of Tennessee's state tree - the tulip poplar!

Bikes for rent. This would be neat in Coolidge Park in Chattanooga.

FIAT display

Cathredral. Some archeologists were doing excavations inside.

Bike paths along the river Tanaro.

The Sister City of Alba is Medford, Oregon. This sign is proudly displayed in the park.

Tennessee's state tree

Meeting with animal disease laboratory

2007-10-28T09:16:21Z

This morning, I had an appointment with two ladies from the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale. This is a animal disease diagnostic laboratory. I met with Carla Prattarola, who collects the proper specimens from the animals, and Maria Lucia Mandola, who does the laboratory testing. Right now, they only do testing on birds (wild and domestic), but they hope to include swine in the future. They test birds for avian influenza, but also for other diseases such as exotic newcastle disease. There are 10 laboratories in Italy that do serological testing on bird samples. In this lab, they conduct about 800 tests per week - 25,000 tests per year for H5 and H7. They receive all kinds of birds for testing - even those species not affected by bird flu. As a result, they do have to "filter" through the birds they receive and don't do testing on all of them.

Maria Lucia Mandola

In Italy, most of the large poultry farms are in the northeast region. These are controlled houses, much like what we have in the states. Carla and Maria are most concerned about the small farms that have a variety of different species in a small area. When a large mortality of birds occurs, there is a protocol that is followed. Maria gave me a copy of the protocol to review. Essentially, their Chief of Veterinarian Services and public health officials visit the site and determine how to proceed. In 1999, there was an outbreak of high path bird flu, and 15 million birds were destroyed. T

I talked with them about pandemic flu. They said there is not much discussion of this in Italy - even though there have been birds found with H5N1. Carla said, "in Italy, we are happy...we don't worry too much". To their knowledge, there has not been a public campaign about preparing for a pandemic. I talked to them about our efforts to educate people to stockpile food and water. They did say that the government in Italy is stockpiling Tamiflu.

As a side note, they thought it was funny that I have a degree in Biology, but I don't work in a laboratory. It seems that a lot of people here learn a certain trade and stick to it.

small_town_girl.MP3

2007-10-17T01:25:34Z

Click on the arrow to hear the podcast