The Cleveland Council on World Affairs, or CCWA, reopened its doors for a new year of professional networking and political learning in Cleveland. Through youth events, exchanges, and teach-ins that tie together Cleveland and the cultures of the world, their goal is to use this range of programs that offer international affairs education and build global awareness of world peace.”
Their keynote event of January was the Young Professionals Immersive Workshop: How to Build a Refugee Camp, which drew dozens of students and staff from local businesses and universities. The event was hosted at the Cleveland Public Library on Superior Avenue in cooperation with the City of Cleveland.
Patrick Kearns, executive director of “Re:Source Cleveland” shared his experiences living and working in the Umpiem Mai refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border. His experiences, lasting over half a decade, included fights with corrupt officials, energy droughts and the inability of refugees to work abroad as citizens of Myanmar in Thailand. Despite these difficulties, Kearns expressed his joy at witnessing multicultural, determined and peaceful refugees overcome each challenge.
After learning about the real-life experiences of Kearns, attendees build their camps in teams of four to six to learn about each other and practice the in-depth planning needed to simply lay a camp out.
Nevada Todt, a former service member looking to work in Cleveland’s non-profits stressed that “It was nice getting out, being social and networking in a subject I enjoy,” especially with participants who got to meet fellow young job-seekers in the Cleveland area.
Though the CCWA often focuses on networking events, it does branch out further into the Cleveland area. Founded in 1923, the ground focuses on furthering peace and international cooperation in the aftermath of World War One. With a surge of support from returning soldiers from World War Two, the organization has educated Clevelanders, young, old, citizens and non-citizens in three main ways.
Each year, they hold multiple teach-ins regarding world issues open to all, as well as an exchange program for up to 400 students from abroad looking to learn and live in the area. Finally, and most importantly for John Carroll Students, are the three Model United Nations events held each year, which include a winter conference at the O’Malley Center for local high school students.
Jen Ziemke, Ph. D, is a professor in the political science department who collaborates with the CCWA for these events on campus and always encourages her students to attend. Ziemke stressed, “I am a big fan of the organization as [students] get to learn from speakers about perspectives they’ve never heard before.” When discussing the success of the most recent refugee event, Ziemke added “I’m glad to hear JCU students got to learn about that—and learn more about each other too.”
Future CCWA events can be found here as they look to “inspire engagement in international affairs through education, citizen diplomacy and public dialogue” for many more years to come.
