"For the third year in a row, the Canterbury Speak Easy branch did a great job in seeking publicity for stuttering in Christchurch. About the time of International Stuttering Awareness Day, Dr Mark Onslow, of Sydney University, Australia, was in Christchurch, visiting the Speech-Language Therapy Department at the University of Canterbury. The branch arranged for Dr Onslow to appear on Robin Harrison's show on CHTV to talk about the Lidcombe programme for treating children who stutter. The branch also held a stall at the Christchurch Arts Centre, reporting some success in making people aware of Speak Easy and stuttering.

I met a student, Chen Chao, from a renowned Beijing University, who is a PWS. He offered to translate the E de Geus book "Sometimes I Just Stutter" into Chinese. In parallel, students at China Rehabilitation Research Center (CRRC) translated some leaflets of the SFA, which were combined in 1 small flyer titled "5 questions about stuttering". With the help of a layout company, that did not charge us any money apart from printing, we managed to issue 500 copies of the book and 600 units of the flyer for distributing and using at CRRC and other medical facilities. This material has been used so far in Beijing, Shanghai and some more cities, and not only by kids.

On October 23rd, the Beijing Evening News, a daily with 800.000 readers per day, ran an article about ISAD, which was followed by a enormous amount of telephone inquiries at CRRC, showing the huge demand in information and help. Also the newspaper's website ran this article and a science program on TV mentioned ISAD.

The ISAD posters were sent to various contact persons. I know that Chen Chao showed one poster at his university's "public corner", where all kind of announcements are made usually.

It should be understood that here in China public activities reaching out to the general population without involvement of official channels are difficult to manage. The limited scope of action so far should be seen in this context.

Part 1 Introductory lecture
Mr. W.Y. Tae, the president of the Korean stuttering association, welcomed all participants. This was followed by an introductory lecture on adult stuttering by President S. H. Lee (The Korean Academy of Speech- Language Pathologists and Audiologists).

Part 2: Stuttering classes for different groups.
There were three education classes: parents education, adult education and childrens education.

Part 3: Outdoor events
Half of the workshop participants walked through Ewha campus. This differed from last year when we walked through the streets in Seoul between two Universities. This year however, we organized a procession through Ewha campus with a group of traditional Korean musicians taking the lead. This enabled participants to meet with each other and discuss common interests along the way. The walk ended with a garden party and finger lunch. This allowed people to socialize, play games and participate in a lucky draw.ng The day's activities were concluded with the joint recital of ten statements on stuttering.

The first was an academic session in the Gothic Room of the Town Hall of Brussels on 17 October. About 100 Flemish and French speaking people attended this academic session. Alderman Mrs van Baerlem inaugurated the evening. Lucas Vander Taelen, a member of the European Parliament told his story as stutterer. He has faced and has won the challenge of stuttering. Mr. Ronny Boey, a speech therapist from Antwerp spoke about the way how parents and teachers can help children who stutter. Professor Van Borsel, neurologist at the University of Ghent showed us the latest developments in research. Miss Elisabeth d’Udekem d’Acoz, who is the sister of Princess Mathilde and who is speech therapist in Wallonia (the southern part of Belgium) gave her view about treatment of stuttering children. At the end we have seen the short film : "To Speak". It is an autobiography of filmmaker Eric Lamens, who gave his comments. This film has won various prizes abroad.

The 2nd ISAD activity was a weekend for stutterers. About 35 participants came together on 20-21-22 October. A producer team of the Belgian television was present as well during the workshops. They are making a reportage about stuttering. Therefore two young stuttering people, Evi and Ahmed, are followed during one year. Their story will be showed on the national television from October 2001. The final shooting is planned at the 6th World Congress of People Who Stutter in Ghent at the Closing Ceremony of the Congress on July 26.

ISAD 2000 in Belgium was a great success again.

International researchers and clinicians who come to Tel-Aviv University in Israel were invited to attend and lecture at Ambi meetings/conferences: Prof. Ehud Yairi (USA) spoke about the trends of research and the need and importance of genetic research. Prof. Nitza Katz-Bernstein (Germany) lectured and gave a workshop on the internal voices of PWS. Mrs.Lena Rustin(London) spoke about communication skills. We also heard a lecture about the McGuire program by a graduate of the program.

Nation wide expansion of the Ambi meetings not only in the greater Tel-Aviv area but also in Jerusalem and Haifa in order to reach out to those PWS who don't get to the Ambi center in Tel-Aviv.