THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 27,2008
NEWS
6A
Jessie Fetterling/KANSAN
Leslie Peterson/Amazon
Nicholas Ward, Vermillion, S.D., graduate student, saws wood for his wood shop class in the Art and Design Building Tuesday afternoon. Ward is one of about 1,200 students in the School of Fine Arts.
If a grad student could chuck wood...
CONCERT
CONCERT NY orchestra helps mend U.S. ties with North Korea
PYONGYANG, North Korea The New York Philharmonic's unprecedented concert could herald warmer ties between North Korea and the United States. After three encores, some musicians
left the stage in tears as the audience waved fondly.
Between horn fanfares and the flourishes of the conductor's baton, the U.S. and North Korea found common ground in a concert Tuesday that spanned American and Korean musical traditions.
Whether the feeling lingers
after the music will depend on the North's compliance with an international push to rid it of nuclear weapons.
After the New York Philharmonic played the last notes of the folk song "Ariang," the adoring audience stood and applauded enthusiastically, waving to the musicians.
Orchestra members — some moved to tears — paused with their instruments and waved back, an emotional finale to the concert that was the highlight of the Philharmonic's 48-hour visit.
The concert was broadcast live on North Korean TV, meaning it was heard beyond the 2,500 people in the theater. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not attend; there was no way to know whether he watched.
"We may have been instrumental in opening a little door," Maazel said after the performance.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE
www.pipelineproductions.com
Associated Press
Saturday, March 8th
Oakhurst
w/ DeWayn Bros.
Saturday, March 22nd
Apollo 13
Wednesday, March 5th Family Groove Company w/ Cosmopolitics
Saturday, March 28th
Hoots & Hellmouth
w/Jim Bianco
Wednesday April 2nd
Mae w/ Far Less
Between The Trees
The Honorary Title
Tuesday April 8th Perpetual Groove
Wednesday April 9th Lotus w/Future Rock Friday May 9th The Breeders
CAMPUS
Alumnus talks about medical work abroad
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
Michael Barringer-Mills' interest in pursuing a career in humanitarian work started innocently enough with a college course on
MICHAEL BARRINGER-MILLS University alumnus
the history of the Holocaust
After graduating from the
"I was really inspired to do that kind of work as a KU undergrad. It just took me a few years to figure out how to do that."
"It really struck a chord with me," Barringer-Mills said. "I was really inspired to do that kind of work as a KU undergrad. It just took me a few years to figure out how to do that."
phes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the early 90s. This revelation made him consider opportunities to stop human suffering.
Barringer-Mills said Woelfel and Trulove were integral in bringing him back to visit the University.
"We both saw, in him, a very bright, well-informed, questioning and searching sort of person," Woelfel said.
in 1997 with a bachelor's degree inhistory, Barringer-Mills said he bounced from job to job. He eventually worked in construction in Minnesota, but his dream of helping others wasn't over. As
Monday evening, Barringer-Mills spoke to students about his experiences in Doctors Without Borders in his lecture, "Medicins Sans Frontières and Shrinking Humanitarian Space," and discussed the health care situations in developing countries he visited.
"We both saw, in him, a very bright, well-informed, questioning and searching sort of person."
"I felt I had been working for a few years and was interested in the idea of engaging in a wider world," Barringer-Mills said. "That was something that had been a goal of mine before graduating from undergrad. To me, it felt like a now or never type of thing because I finally had the skills necessary."
JAMESWOELFEL Director of Humanities and Western Civilization
Humanities and Western Civilization director James Woelfel and his wife, Sarah Trulove, traveled abroad with Barringer-Mills when he was a student. Woelfel said he and his wife saw Barringer-Mills' fascination with finding out more about the world and his place in the world.
it turned out, his experience in construction helped him land a logistical position with the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders.
ally settled on Doctors Without Borders because of the complexity and importance of the work the organization undertakes in countries with unique situations, internal conflict and, many times, civil war.
Barringer-Mills began his Doctors Without Borders career in 2004 as a logistician in Darfur, and has also served in Sudan, Congo,
After deciding to pursue humanitarian work, Barringer-Mills researched organizations such as the Peace Corps, Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders on the Internet.
He eventu-
Uganda and Nigeria. His duties included coordinating supplies for the organization in Sudan, coordinating a vaccination campaign during a meningitis outbreak in northern Nigeria and serving as a 72-
bod trauma center director in the midst of urban violence in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.
"I think we are in a unique position to get to places where nobody else is," he said. "Frequently we are the only ones around so we are able to make a real, physical and immediate difference in the lives of our patients."
Barringer-Mills said that working in such volatile situations could be dangerous, but that Doctors Without Borders relies on impartial treatment and steadfast neutrality to avoid violent conflict among warring factions. Doctors Without Borders workers are unarmed and are not accompanied by guards, he said.
Barringer-Mills said one of the most dangerous situations he had experienced was during his time in the Niger Delta when the urban violence surrounding them restrained the organizations ability to exit their compound.
"The danger was in traveling," he said. "Nobody can anticipate a stray bullet. We had to stay within the confines of our hospital for four days. Our biggest concern, frankly, was not for our own safety than it was for the ability of our patients to reach us."
Barringer-Mills said the demands of working in the field with Doctors Without Borders attracted committed health professionals and humanitarian workers from all over the globe. He said he met his wife while working with the organization.
Barringer-Mills is attending graduate school at the University of Minnesota, with plans to return to work with Doctors Without Borders upon graduation.
He said that although he had to take breaks from the field to stay motivated, his previous work with Doctors Without Borders and the work that he will do in the future continued to motivate him to help others.
"It's work that I really believe matters," he said. "It makes a concrete, real difference in people's lives."
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld