Shared Interest 10th Anniversary Gala

Mar. 1, 2004

Hotel Pierre New York, NY

It’s hard to believe that an entire decade has gone by since the time democracy was first introduced to South Africa. Those ten years to some—those who’s ancestry are from South Africa—seem like a much longer time, considering the harsh realities they had been forced to deal with.

The event started out with a wonderful reception during which people of all different professions—many devoted to humanitarian and philanthropic causes—had the opportunity to introduce themselves to each other and network amidst the lavish décor of one of Manhattan’s finest hotels, The Pierre.

After the cocktail reception, everyone was escorted to the dining area, which was every bit as decorative and luxurious. Here, we sat down to a wonderful salmon meal while listening to the members of the Shared Interest staff, the award presenters and the honorees.

Marco Masotti, Shared Interest’s Board Chairman, welcomed all honorees, guests and award presenters. He then introduced the emcee for the evening, none other than the classic actor Danny Glover, who's dedication to Shared Interest outrivals his dedication to acting.

Danny began by reminiscing about the long, 10-year span of time that had passed since the introduction of democracy into South Africa—the time when folks came from afar and wide in order to wait on extremely long voting lines for their very first opportunity, ever, to elect a President, Nelson Mandela, that will take their nation into tomorrow. In his words “It seems like only yesterday”. It was in 1994, as Mr. Glover mentioned, that South Africa first came to terms with the past in its efforts to build an equitable, new nation. There are still long roads and many challenges which lie ahead.

Danny first gave acknowledgement to Chair Vincent Mai for his accomplishments, citing his background in Government, business and philanthropy, then gave a wonderful acknowledgement to Donna Katzin, Shared Interest’s Founding Executive Director for ten years, praising her for her leadership and sacrifice over the past 10 years. There was even a mentorship started in her name.

Donna Katzin then got up and spoke to the audience, telling everyone about how much of an emotional moment it was for her to have come this far in the organization’s struggle to help South Africa grow democratically. Ms. Katzin also commented that the night’s fundraiser dinner has helped to raise $750,000.

The audience then enjoyed a brief video presentation about South Africa and some of the areas in which Shared Interest is helping families of this still-impoverished part of the world advance in business as well as in their personal lives. For example, many family head did not have credit histories, and so were extremely limited in their capacity to start any type of business because the bank from which they had tried to take out loans denied them because there was no credit history, nor any collateral to back the loan up. Shared Interest had thus stepped in to provide loans to these third-world families, enabling them to get started in business, whether farming, crafts, or whatever. These families, I am happy to say, reciprocated by faithfully paying back their loans at over a 99% reliability rate. This kind of commitment should be a very inspirational example to many “7-11” Americans (Chapter 7, and Chapter 11).

Following the video presentation, we enjoyed our wonderful salmon dinner, prepared with a delicious béarnaise sauce and crispy angel hair noodles, and mousse a chocolat with coffee flavored ice cream for dessert.

On with the gala, the first honoree was Congressman Charles Rangel, of the U.S. House of Representatives, 15th Congressional District of New York State (East & Central Harlem, the Upper West Side and Washington Heights/Inwood) Mr. Rangel was introduced by former Mayor of N.Y.C., David Dinkins. Mr. Rangel is a deputy within the H.R. and the Dean of the New York State Congressional Delegation. Mr. Rangel is responsible for quite a number of anti-apartheid measures, including denying tax credits for taxes paid to South Africa—one of his most effective—causing high rate of attrition among the South African presence of many Fortune 500 companies. Upon receiving his award Mr. Rangel made several hard-hitting comments—“Why wasn’t there much outrage over the pre-civil-rights south in America?” and “As the struggle continues, we must remain vigilant.” He also commented about today’s present-day situation with Haiti, questioning why “Why was Aristeed made to resign if he was forced out of power?—The answer is because, the U.S. military could not take over jurisdiction of the territory in response to a coup, but they could in response to his resignation.”

The next Honoree was William Rhodes, Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup and Chairman of Citicorp/Citibank, N.A. who’s award was presented by Prof. Paul Volcker, of the 15th Congressional District.. Mr. Rhodes, indeed, has a wealth of experience working in emerging markets around the world, where he solidifies and maintains relationships with Citibank’s clients. He has successfully taken an active role as a liaison between debtors of developing nations and their creditors, demonstrating his true leadership in the area of external debt management.

He is also responsible for the establishment of a dedicated scholarship fund at the school for South African students in celebration of the one-hundredth year anniversary of Pixley ka Isaka Seme’s graduation from the school and return to South Africa in order to found what would later become the African National Congress. Mr. Rhodes started off by thanking Donna Katzin for her great work, and then proceeded to brief everyone about the hard work that had gone into the educational programs he had also helped to develop in South Africa. Mr. Rhodes also spoke about Pixley ka Isaka Seme’s graduation from the school which Mr. Rhodes had helped to establish and ultimate founding of the African National Congress. Mr. Rhodes had thus, in 2002, established a dedicated scholarship to celebrate the one-hundredth year anniversary of this special occasion.

The next honoree was Kami, on who’s behalf the award had been received by Gary Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop. The award was presented by Kati Marton. Mr. Knell leads the non-profit educational organization in its mission to create innovative, engaging content that maximizes the educational power of media to help children reach their highest potential. Mr. Knell has been instrumental in focusing the organization on Sesame Street’s global mission, including groundbreaking co-productions in South Africa, Russia, China and Egypt, and has lead over 300 dedicated producers, researchers and other talented professionals in a variety of media applications, including television, print, online and radio. Upon receiving the award, Mr. Knell and Kami spoke about the problems of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, Kami the HIV+ puppet talking about how children that are not educated are afraid to play with her or sit near her—the theme, children need to be taught that AIDS is not contagious through casual contact. Mr. Knell and Kami spoke about the programs Mr. Knell had helped to establish in South Africa—programs designed to get HIV victims to come and seek help, and overcome what they perceive a “shamefulness” from having the disease, thereby further educating the public about HIV/AIDS.

The next honoree was Dr. Peggy Dulany, Founder and Chair of The Synergos Institute, who’s award was presented by Barbara Masekela, Ambassador to South Africa. Dr. Dulany has done extensive work to support the creation and construction of South Africa’s democracy. She is a leader in the creation of enduring international partnerships and empowering philanthropy. She made a startling discovery while working in Rio de Janeiro in her younger days, namely, that those affected most by adverse living conditions actually have the greatest energy, desire and motivation to solve their problems. She founded the Synergos Institute in 1986 in an effort to provide the necessary resources that were missing—the connections to the economic and political realms—thus making it possible to effectively link grassroots leaders with political and business leaders. Dr. Dulaney graciously accepted her award, and talked briefly about connections within communities, and how important these connections are in the progress of this nation.

The final honoree was Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, Permanent Representative to the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the U.N. He received his award from Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke and Ambassador Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, who himself was honored for his lifelong commitment to freedom and democracy in South Africa through his various roles as journalist, activist and diplomat. Since 1999, he has been South Africa’s Ambassador to the United Nations following his tenure as Director of the United States Desk at his country’s Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria. Ambassador Kumalo, upon receiving his award, started to reminisce of how organizations like Shared Interest have helped him many years ago, when he was broke. He told some touching stories regarding how they helped him, and attributes where he is today largely to the help he received back then, but also commented that we must continue to strive, for the struggle is not over yet, and there are many challenges ahead.

Throughout the evening, we were entertained by the music of the Bakithi Kumalo, which played a blend of African and contemporary (even somewhat jazz-like in style) music, which had the audience on their feet in applause at their finale.

This was a very touching event, and there was plenty to learn about how South Africa had come such a long way from its apartheid days, yet still has a long road ahead.

We would like to thank, the public relationist, for inviting us to attend and cover this most meaningful event.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the Shared Interest organization, or wishes to sponsor any of its programs, may feel AIDS/its website, at http://www.sharedinterest.org.

Abbey H. Muneer is the Executive Director of H.A.D. Organization of New York City, Inc., a world-famous athlete, author and, above all, a humanitarian. Abbey will write articles about charity events, benefits, fundraisers and galas which are raising money for humantiarian causes. If you are interested in having Abbey and one his staff members cover one of your charity events, benefits, fundraisers or galas, feel free to notify us one week in advance, at LNEvents@hadofnyc.org, or telephone us at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. and ask to speak to Abbey or Maria. If you would like more information, or would like to have Liberty News Online Magazine consult your next charitable event, please feel free to visit our website, at http://www.hadofnyc.org/store/success.html, email us at humanitarians@hadofnyc.org, or telephone our hotline, at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. (U.S.A.)