AIDS Puts Human Face to Global Trade

A very caring and engaging Bill Clinton was one story at the HIV AIDS conference at the Metro Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.

This was my first stint as a project manager, so our staff really didn't know what we were in for. On Saturday August 12 we registered over 15,000 delegates. Lineups were huge. Our attendees were understandably impatient with waiting times in line for over 4 hours.

Some of our staff were doing registrations for the first time and broke down in tears. Some were so stressed that they left and simply never returned. We had one attendee in line faint; another went into labour. Tempers were short at times, and we had to close the doors at about 6 pm just to be able to keep up with the volume.

For those who stayed, perserverence paid off. I had the pleasure of guiding Mr. Roble Olhaye, Canada's ambassador to Djibouti (country in Northeast Africa, population 500,000) to his group presentation room. Similarly, I helped Aileen Carroll, Canada's former Minister for International Cooperation, moderate a session titled Learning from the Leadership of Young People and Positive Youth in the Global Response to HIV/AIDS.

While I was on Level 200 of the Metro Convention Centre I saw a lady in a wheelchair outside the entrance doors with her head in her hands. Security was not allowing her in the building. I went out and listened to her story. She was HIV positive and had travelled all the way from New Zealand to share her personal story speaking at a session, but security was blocking her from entering because her 12-year-old daughter didn't have a security badge. There was no way I could leave her in such pain after she had shown such courage in coming to Toronto to share her message. I had an extra security badge in my pocket which I put around the daughter's neck and gained entry. I then went to Guest Services and found out where the elevator was, and personally accompanied our New Zealand friends to the Speakers Centre on Level 300 of the North Building. I'll never forget the lady in the wheelchair's smile as I left her in the Speakers Centre; I could tell her spirits were uplifted.

Some of our other NASCO event staff had similar stories. Musa is a gentleman from Jordan. We had an HIV positive guest from the Middle East who could not speak a word of English and who had nowhere to stay in Toronto. Musa was the only person who could speak Arabic, and he took initiative to speak with the delegate. Musa explained the issue, and we were able to arrange that gentleman to stay at a care centre.

On Wednesday, Bill Clinton arrived through a secret passageway in the South Building where our staff were handing out delegate bags. Mr. Clinton took it upon himself to shake hands with each and every staff behind the counter, even though he had a busy schedule of multiple speaking engagements with the fight against AIDS. Everyone who met Bill was inspired; for some it was a life-changing experience.

So what does an HIV-AIDS conference have to do with International Trade? Plenty. On one level it's about getting affordable medication to AIDS survivors in places like Africa, the world's poorest continent.

But more than that, the HIV-AIDS conference shows us how people from all countries across the world can work together to rise above the trials and tribulations of a killer pandemic to bring to the table the best each person has to offer. I may not be as bright or as articulate as Mr. Bill Clinton or Mr. Bill Gates. But I now know that I share something with these great leaders: I'm part of the international human spirit which can overcome any barrier to defeat AIDS.

It may be a cliche, but if there's a will there's a way.