UMD 6 Graduation and Photo Competition
2010 GRADUATION CEREMONY SPEECH FOR UMD6
JOEL ABUMERE IDAYE & BIDDY LIVESEY
HOTEL NEW YORK, 24 SEPTEMBER, 2010
Joel Idaye:
I would like to recognise the presence of all the special guests of this great and glorious occasion - the IHS Director, heads of Specialisation present here, Diplomats and country representatives, professors, IHS course bureau and other staff members, distinguished fellow graduating students, ladies and gentlemen.
This day is a notable landmark in the history of IHS and to the graduating students. It all started a year ago, when 86 students from different parts of the world came together under the umbrella of IHS management. To be trained, taught and nurtured to be Urban Managers. These dreams of ours have finally transformed into reality this day.
In my personal capacity and on behalf of the graduating students, I wish to specially thank the management of IHS. The Director - sir, managing a large group like us with diversity of cultural backgrounds cannot and could not have been easy. Though with the calibre of staff, endorsed with multicultural and trans international experiences, they were able to flow with us and give us their best. We say Kudos to IHS.
The academic year was interesting and a lot of knowledge, values, experience were shared and exchanged. I may not have the time to elaborate on the various ways and manners you have made an impact in the students, but would proudly like to say at the end IHS have produced researchers, policy makers, better planners and urban managers.
Our exceptional thanks and appreciation to all IHS staff members, professors both the permanent and the visiting ones, the course bureau. The manner you have carried the group has proven your managerial skills and further justify why IHS is recognized as one of the world’s best leading institutions in urban management and development.
Biddy Livesey:
Thank-you Joel for offering our thanks to IHS, the lecturers and staff. I would like to use my minute to speak to you, the students. When we left home to come to the Netherlands a year ago, we all left different things behind. Some of us left our families, new babies, steady jobs. We left husbands, wives, sons and daughters, parents and friends. We all left the certainty and comfort of our own cultures.
Each of you has found your own way of coping with the distance from your country. Many of us are helped by the internet, and skype and email have become a part of a daily ritual where we greet our friends and family across space, and across time. Sometimes it’s hard to know whether that contact makes us feel closer together, or further away.
But I am sure that right now, in Indonesia and Bhutan and Uganda and Tanzania and Italy and China and Turkey, not to mention India, Bangladesh, France, Eritrea, and Ghana, there are people thinking about you. As you are thinking of them, your friends and family are thinking of you. They are probably picturing you – that well-loved face, that well-known figure – seated in a crowd of people just like the crowd the people sitting around you now. They are probably slightly worried about you (they know you’ve been working hard) and they can’t wait for you to come home after eleven long months, but most of all they are thinking of you today and they are proud.
They are proud because of what you have done. You made the decision to apply for this course. You found funding, through your own means or through competing for a scholarship. You got yourself here, found a place to stay, things to eat, new friends and you’ve survived your months in the wilderness of Dutch civilisation.
And although nothing and no one can compare with those who have stayed in our home countries, in the last year, I think we have forged a new kind of culture – UMD6. It’s a culture where you see a person’s face before you wonder where they come from, where you see a friend where a year ago you saw an unfamiliar and unknown stranger. It’s a culture where we share Nigerian hospitality, eat Indonesian food, and dance like Zambians – or try to.
Over the last year, we’ve learnt a lot from each other. We’ve listened to stories about local government in Kenya, land-sharing in Kathmandu, public private partnerships in Manila. We’ve heard about the traffic in Tehran, the jungle of Jog-Jakarta, and urban issues in Utrecht. We’ve discussed the ins and outs of informal settlements, participatory governance, and distributed energy systems in Port Moresby, Colombo, and Harare. We know Houston and Bogota. We even know Ismailia, though none of us have ever been there...
And next week, or next year, or soon enough, we’re going to take that knowledge home.
A lot of things can change in a year. When you finally get off the plane, get in the car, or hop on the train, when you arrive in your city and finally walk up your street and stand in front of your house, you’ll notice things have changed. They might have built that new bridge. Your child might have learnt to walk. That tree might have blown over in a storm. The noisy neighbours might have moved out, and new people moved in. But you have changed too. You’re more resilient, more confident, more expert.
You’re better connected. Because like some kind of light-rail shuttle that zooms from Lima to Addis Ababa, this year we’ve built a high-speed network of friends and contacts. I want to take a minute to acknowledge the work of Joel, Jacob and Dhirendra in setting up the GoogleGroup we’ve been using over the past year. I checked the other day and there were over eleven hundred messages posted on that forum. Eleven hundred posts of ‘Have you seen my umbrella, its black?’ and ‘Dinner at Papaya 7pm Tuesday’ and ‘I have scanned the readings for you all, they are attached?’. We’ve got the technology, so let’s stay together. Let’s stay connected.
I know they’ve got pretty strict on the luggage controls at airports recently. I think twenty kilograms is the maximum that most of you can take home. But it’s lucky those airport officials don’t weigh your brain, or your heart. None of us would get past check-in. Because when you go home, believe it or not, you’re going to take all eighty-six of us with you. Congratulations, UMD6 on a great year, great work and a great spirit. Kia kaha koutou.
Technology has also enabled us to capture some of the highlights of this year, and Joel has compiled this presentation to remind you of some of those less academic moments...
UMD6 Your moment at IHS
Winners
Since the process of your graduation has been such a success. We had a lot of great experiences together both socially and urbanly….We Miss You Guys! Best photographer of UMD6 class 2010.
1. Urban category
Under the Urban category you should think of the field that you are working in, the field that IHS is working in or any perception of “Urban” that you have encountered.
Urban: Winner Putra Arief
2. Social category
Under the Social category you should think of excursions, parties that you have been to while being a student at IHS. You can also consider the funniest moment that you have had while studying at IHS.
Social: Winner Antonius Lambok
Award
1. Your picture will be published on the IHS website and will also be used for other purposes (such as prints etc.), This means that your name will be mentioned with your photo in IHS publications
2. The winner will get a goodie bag shipped to their home address. The goodie bag entails a sweater, a polo, a beanie & usb stick.
3. By participating in the photo contest you agree to the above mentioned! (You agree to point 1 & 2).
