Amid All the Work, a Timeout for Fun

DM2009 is a lot of hard work, but on Tuesday night, finalists and other participants had a couple of hours to relax at a reception.  The welcome was given by Michele de Nevers, Senior Manager of the World Bank's Environment Department.

The musical highlight was a performance by Jim Morehouse, playing his American Indian flute.  Morehouse was invited to perform by Habiba Gitay, Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank Institute.  Gitay met Morehouse at a climate change discussion at the Soka Gakkai International-USA Buddhist Culture Center in Washington.

Morehouse told the Tuesday night audience about the 3,000-year-old history of the six-hole American Indian flute.  A player for 13 years, Morehouse said, "The hardest thing is getting over the fear of making a mistake."   Judging from his audience's reaction, he made no mistakes Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, it's back to work, with the 40 jurors of DM2009 beginning their morning-and-afternoon evaluations of the 100 finalists' projects.