wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 001-Over long career, United Methodist remains U.N. booster

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG> (by way of Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>)]

>
Over long career, United Methodist remains U.N. booster
>

Jan. 3, 2007      

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report at
>http://umns.umc.org. 

By Linda Bloom* 

NEW YORK (UMNS) - When Mia Adjali's college class decided to
>put on a "mock" United Nations - with Adjali as
>secretary-general - she attended a weeklong Methodist Student Christian
>Citizenship Seminar as preparation.

That experience became a turning point, leading to a lifelong career
>relating to the United Nations. On Dec. 31, she retired after serving 46
>years in the U.N. office of the Women's Division, United Methodist Board
>of Global Ministries.

"Mia Adjali has probably known more of the international community
>over a longer period of time than any living American," declared
>Betty Thompson, another longtime employee of the Board of Global
>Ministries.

"From her post at 777 U.N. Plaza, she has been a vibrant link
>between the Christian community and the United Nations," she added.
>"Through her office, literally thousands of Americans have come to
>visit the U.N. and participated in seminars. Her passionate dedication to
>peace and justice, her gift for friendship and her mission heritage
>uniquely equipped her for this post."

Although she has officially retired, Adjali is not yet leaving her
>diplomatic stomping grounds on the east side of Manhattan. In July, she
>was elected vice president of the World Federation of Methodist and
>Uniting Women during that organization's 11th assembly in Jeju, South
>Korea.

As vice president, she will oversee the federation's U.N. program and
>studies program. 
Adjali had hosted the federation's officers when they met in
>New York a few years ago. "That's when the federation got the idea
>to concentrate on the millennium goals of the United Nations," she
>explained.

She also has been asked by the Women's Division to write a history of the
>United Methodist-owned Church Center for the United Nations and assist
>with resolutions for the 2008 General Conference, the denomination's top
>legislative body.

Like the United Methodist Boards of Global Ministries and Church and
>Society, the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Women has
>consultative status with the United Nations' economic and social council,
>which allows access to all U.N. meetings.

The role of such nongovernmental organizations in the international body
>is so important that they are part of the U.N. charter. "It wasn't
>just the governments that were discussing the founding of such an
>organization," Adjali explained. "The churches had an important
>role."

Acting as "megaphones" for the voices of people around the
>world, "NGOs, in many ways, are the ones that lift up the issues and
>remind governments of issues they need to be concerned about," she
>pointed out.

International background 

Adjali's own childhood reflected Methodist involvement in
>the world at large. Her parents, Mary and Hans Hansen (the family name
>was later changed to Aurbakken), were missionaries with the Methodist
>Board of Missions. After being trapped in Algeria during World War II,
>Adjali remembers tasting chocolate for the first time when the family
>finally gained passage in 1945 on a Norwegian banana boat.

After a brief stay in their homeland of Norway, her parents took a
>sabbatical leave at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. There, her mother
>died from complications of a gall bladder operation when Adjali was 7
>years old.

Eventually, her father remarried a family friend and they returned to
>Algeria, where Adjali finished primary school. She spent three years at a
>school in France before finishing high school in Hartford and then
>attending Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss.

Dick Celeste, a Yale student who later became the governor of Ohio, was
>in charge of the Christian Citizenship Seminar in 1959, organized by the
>Methodist Student Movement. The seminar brought students to the United
>Nations to learn about international issues and then to Washington D.C.
>to meet with legislators.

After that experience, a professor encouraged Adjali to change her major
>from sociology to international relations, and she took every course that
>Millsaps offered on the subject. Upon graduation in 1960, Herman Will of
>the Methodist Commission on World Peace -a predecessor agency of the
>Board of Church and Society - recommended her for a job with the U.N.
>office. 

Working for rights 

Adjali spent five years working as a seminar designer before
>becoming a staff executive with the Women's Division. In the early 1960s,
>the Methodists built the 12-story Church Center for the United Nations,
>directly across from the United Nations.

Margaret Bender, who led the office then, was an enthusiastic advocate of
>decolonization in Africa, according to Adjali, and the center's staff
>assisted those petitioning the United Nations from various liberation and
>human rights movements by providing space with desks, telephones,
>typewriters and access to copying machines.

 Many of those leaders later became prime ministers, presidents and
>Nobel Prize winners.  "We believed in the rights of people to
>represent their concerns and issues," Adjali explained.

An exciting moment involving what was then Southern Rhodesia (now
>Zimbabwe) occurred in 1980. "Just before independence ? the two
>parties were to make a joint presentation at the Security Council,"
>she recalled. "They sent their speechwriters to our
>office."

Adjali's assistant, Jennifer Washington, typed up the speeches, paragraph
>by paragraph, and they ran off enough copies for the Security Council
>members and other interested parties. Moments like that, she said, allow
>the Women's Division's U.N. office to feel "we really are giving a
>service here that we are privileged to give."

Life changes 

Even her personal life has been influenced by her career.
>She met her husband, Boubaker Adjali, while in Algiers in 1966 to plan a
>Women's Division trip. "We were engaged in five days," she
>remembered.

They married in 1967 and planned to move to Algeria, but for political
>reasons her husband was unable to do so. Boubaker Adjali, a filmmaker and
>journalist, also eventually became an adviser to two presidents of the
>U.N. General Assembly. Their son, Madani, will be 25 years old on Feb.
>1.

"Boubaker really knows the U.N. inside and out and has worked with
>the African diplomats," Mia said. 

Adjali does not know the new U.N. secretary general - Ban
>Ki-moon of South Korea succeeded Kofi Annan on Jan. 1 - but said she's
>heard he is a good manager. "They expect a number of changes in
>terms of management of the U.N.," she added.

Not surprisingly, she remains a staunch defender of the United Nations
>and believes much of the criticism surrounding its work is "a
>reflection of the incredible amount of misinformation about the U.N. or
>lack of information."

In Adjali's opinion, no other mechanism exists than this international
>body "for thinking and reflecting" on issues such as
>eradicating poverty, protecting the environment, improving health and
>offering access to housing and education.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New
>York. 

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
>newsdesk@umcom.org. 

******************** 

United Methodist News Service 
Photos and stories also available at: 
http://umns.umc.org


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