Georgetown Students for Tsunami Relief united over 70 local financial supporters at a fundraising gala last Friday. "Waves of Hope" raised $3,276 for the victims of the tsunami that hit SE Asia on Dec. 26. Students from Georgetown, George Washington, and Johns Hopkins Universities, along with members of the Georgetown community, each donated $25 to attend. The Georgetown University Jazz Band performed, and refreshments were donated by the Pepperidge Farm company.

An event organizers, Brintha Vasagar (CAS '06) was spending time working to rebuild war-torn areas in Sri Lanka when the tsunami struck. She said that her experience in the region galvanized her to plan the gala.

"The thing about aid in countries like Sri Lanka is that the regions supported by the government receive aid while the other areas are ignored," she said. "With these conditions in mind, I came up with the idea of the gala when I returned to Georgetown."


Proceeds from the gala were split evenly between the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and the International Medical Health Organization, ensuring that aid would be distributed to all affected areas, rather than restricted to specified ones.

Tajik Dips at Georgetown

Georgetown's Center for Intercultural Education and Development is training 16 representatives from the Republic of Tajikistan in U.S. diplomacy. According to CIED Director of East European and Eurasian Programs Dr. Maria Pryshlak, the diplomats have participated in lectures and workshop exercises related to U.S. diplomacy over the past two weeks.

Through a $287,000 grant that the CIED received from the U.S. Department of State, the Tajik diplomats have had the opportunity to listen to lectures from over 50 ambassadors and political officials. They have participated in diplomatic simulations with China, Russia and the U.S. regarding the use of atomic energy, Pryshlak said.

The main purpose behind the establishment of the CIED and Department of State-coordinated program was to expose the diplomats of foreign countries to the rationale behind U.S. diplomacy.

"The CEID wants to develop the ambassadors' diplomatic skills-how to write official documents, how to act in multilateral negotiations," Pryshlak said.

Behzod Mingboev, Secretary to Tajikistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he agrees with Pryshlak, stating that those well versed in diplomacy have as much benefit to gain from their first trip to the U.S. as do those who are less experienced.

"Our traditions are very different between us and the United States, even the tradition of how we think," Behzod said. "Sometimes logic is different, and now that we have been here, we know more about what causes the various decisions and changes inside the U.S. In all countries I'm familiar with, the decisive role is played by the executive of the country, but here Congress actually plays a stronger role than the executive."