Leader of mission to Nicaragua to speak on campus Wednesday, Nov. 18 - 2009-11-10

LEADER OF MISSION TO NICARAGUA TO SPEAK AT PAUL SMITH’S COLLEGE
Sister Debbie Blow to deliver inaugural lecture in series on Wednesday, Nov. 18

CONTACT: Kenneth Aaron, Director of Communications, (518) 327-6297

PAUL SMITHS – The executive director of the North Country Mission of Hope will deliver the inaugural Douglas W. Payne Lecture on the United States and Latin America on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.

Sister Debbie Blow will talk about her group, a spiritually based humanitarian organization that builds sustainable programs in education, health care and community and ecological development in Nicaragua. The 11-year-old mission, based in Plattsburgh, works with volunteers at high schools and colleges in 13 states and 11 countries.

The lecture is part of Prof. Kirk Peterson’s Latin American Studies class. Peterson established the talk in honor of Payne, an Adirondack resident who died in July. Payne was a journalist who covered Latin America and the Caribbean, reporting on human rights conditions, politics, drug trafficking, refugees, the environment, trade and labor issues. He wrote for publications including The New York Times, Dissent, Harper’s, The Nation, Double Take, the Journal of Commerce and the Lake Placid News, and delivered several lectures to Peterson’s classes.

Payne also trained political asylum officers on human rights conditions in Central and South America, was a consultant for the Organization of American States and testified before the U.S. Congress on Latin American and Caribbean issues.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Adirondack Room of the college’s Joan Weill Adirondack Library.

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