The
IPPNW
European Student Conference 2006
What
could make a city as beautiful as
Like
every year, students from all corners of
The
first day was one of amusement. With the roar of the sea so near to the
hostel,
with the elegance of the boats silently floating in the harbour, with
all the
interesting Italian dishes on the table, we all just let ourselves be
marvelled
in this world... And with the help of the Italian students, discovering
The
next four days were filled with real seminar work, as delegations
started to
present their projects and achievements of the year. We were really
lucky to
have with us doctors like Gunnar Westberg (IPPNW Co-president from
With
the nuclear danger so close to us during these last years, discussion
about it
might have seemed just like a drop of water in the sea, but only after
a few
debates we understood that all these small drops together could finally
make a
difference. We have the history of the IPPNW organisation to prove this
to us,
as Vicky Fera, the former European Student Representative showed in her
presentation.
The
NWIP workshop reminded all of us how important the work of IPPNW in
eradicating
all nuclear weapons is and that we live in a world in which the word
"safe" has almost lost it's meaning. As for the issue of nuclear war,
BanG presented the short movie "Genie in a bottle" - discovering the
atomic bomb through the eyes of a child. The conclusion of the movie
was that
none of the political powers involved knew what they were setting free.
The
danger comes not only from weapons, but from also from nuclear plants
still
functioning. We had a sad celebration: 20 years since the tragedy of
The
theme of the conference was "What one person can do?" Dr. Lars
Pohlmeier answered this question with his presentation on the IPPNW
project
"Dialogues with Decision Makers" and talked about IPPNW members
meeting with important political figures of the world and trying to
change their
attitude regarding nuclear weapons. Of course, things won't change over
night,
but we have to start somewhere. This is a job not only for the older
members of
the IPPNW, but one especially for the new generation of doctors who
should
realise that the responsibility of putting an end to the nuclear danger
lies on
their shoulders, too.
The
Target X Project tried to draw public attention to the
Since
IPPNW members are also worried about non-nuclear conflicts in the
world, there
were some workshops and plenaries on other issues as well. First of
all, there
was the presentation on the “Health situation in Iraq”, by Dr. Heba Al
Naseri
and Dr. Judith Cook from MedAct (IPPNW UK), which opened the eyes of
many on an
existing problem about which we don’t hear so much in the news. Finding
real
available solutions for it during the debates afterwards was a
challenge, but
at least people got interested in what is going on in the medical
system of
One
of the most interesting workshops that we had was the one given by the
team of
the Refugee Camp Project ReCap – this is a project in which students
from more
than 20 countries are involved and which tries to help children in the
Palestinian refugee camps. The participants of last year described
their
journey as “the best four weeks of their lives” and I could just see on
their
faces how glad they are that they went there and how much this
experience
enriched them spiritually. During their presentation, they drew the
attention
on the pain of the people living in those camps and also on the fact
that so
many things have to be done in this country devastated by war. What I
admired
about them was the fact that they made the first steps: they got
involved, they
went there and now they are spreading the information.
During
their workshop, the Israeli delegation presented how medical students
and
doctors working in the
At
the end of these four wonderful days, some administrative issues were
also
solved: the election of two new European Student Representatives for
the next
year. They are Noora Kaikkonen from
The
entire conference was under the sign “What one person can do…”, so
everyone
focused on finding ways of helping people that could easily be
translated into
projects ran by medical students. This was the part were the joy of
living, the
hard work and the brain-storming sessions really paid off. Most the
newcomers
realised the danger of nuclear power and looked for ways to get
involved in the
war against them (inscribing in older projects or starting information
campaigns
in their own countries).
These
four days passed as if they were a dream – a dream of youth and
enthusiasm, of
hope and tolerance, of trust and help. Was it real? As I think of all
the
people that I’ve met there, of their plans for the next year, of their
ideas
for the future, of all the joy and energy that just filled the
conference
rooms, I realise that this is more than a reality. It’s something that
we
should see more often, that we should encourage and admire. It was a
great
event that allowed people from all the corners of
So,
let’s just dream some more - not only in
Andra
Corbu
IPPNW
European
Student Representative
4th year student at the
University of Medicine “Carol Davila”