Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

At its first annual fund-raiser Monday night, the Fort Greene, Brooklyn-based nonprofit Witness showcased its human rights work across the globe, with a particular focus on the civil war in Sierra Leone.
The actress Angelina Jolie was on hand to introduce a brave and intelligent man who managed to escape the chaos of his country: Sierra Leonean Ishmael Beah, whose parents and two brothers were killed in the war when he was 11 years old. Two years later, he joined the army and fought for almost three years.
In 1998, at age 18, he came to America, where he was adopted and nurtured. In a short time he has achieved what most young American men dream of: He is publishing a book about his experience with Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2006. Last year he graduated from Oberlin, where he majored in political science.
Ms. Jolie is a friend of the group, having traveled to Sierra Leone with executive director Gillian Caldwell to urge President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to make reforms. A bill is pending in the Sierra Leonean Parliament.
Founded in 1992, Witness deploys video and technology to human rights defenders as a tool in their advocacy. With a $2 million annual budget and a staff of 17, the group has trained and equipped 430 human rights defenders in more than 100 countries.
The event at the Supper Club brought out the organization’s co-founder and chairman, singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, as well as Ralph Fiennes, Suzanne Vega, Paul Simon, and Tim Robbins.
***
Petra Nemcova saw darkness when the tsunamis hit last year. She was injured badly and her boyfriend, Simon Atlee, was killed when they were swept up while on vacation in Thailand. But on Monday night, Ms. Nemcova sparkled in order to raise money for victims of the disaster.
There was her smile, of course, and her spirit. But she had help from the diamond house Graff, which made an exception on its no-loan policy to outfit one of its first models.
What she wore: a heart-shaped diamond ring of 8.74 carats, matching earrings and necklace, and a platinum and diamond bracelet of 1.47 carats. Ms. Nemcova tells her story in the new book “Love Always, Petra” (Warner).
***
The Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter; the editor in chief of the New Republic, Martin Peretz, and the New York hedge fund wunderkind William Ackman gathered an upscale crowd Monday night to raise money and awareness for the two-year-old private-public partnership StartUp Jerusalem.
The organization, based in Jerusalem, is devoted to stimulating business development in one of the world’s most impoverished cities. The poverty rate is 37-38%, and half of the city’s residents are unemployed.
“I admit I was skeptical when I first heard of the concept of StartUp Jerusalem, but it was so enticing. If it works, if the societies that live there can work and prosper together, just think what that would mean,” Mr. Porter said.
Mr. Porter was so excited by its prospects that he became its honorary chairman and regularly advises the group, which uses his competitive strategy principles.
The man who initially made the case to Mr. Porter was StartUp Jersualem’s founder, Nir Barkat, a retired entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is nearly obsessed with creating new jobs and new business in his native city.
One of the group’s obvious strengths so far is its focus. It is starting with business development initiatives in three areas: health and science, for which it looks to San Diego as a model; tourism, based on initiatives employed in Toronto, and outsourcing, with Ireland as its example.
The challenge right now “is to get the first deals done,” Mr. Barkat said. “We’re looking for help from government, and from our friends in the U.S.”
The budget is modest, about $800,000.
Having built businesses himself, Mr. Barkat knows there are no short cuts. He hopes his group can help businesses start and grow smartly.
“It’s all about execution. We are the facilitators. The think tank. We do the handholding,” Mr. Barkat said.
The hosts employed a novel tactic to ensure high attendance: They billed the event as a singles party as well as a fund-raiser (the invitation suggested $1,000 donations).
“It’s amazing what happens when you combine a not-for-profit with art and sex,” Mr. Ackman told guests.
Mr. Peretz thanked the Salander-O’Reilly Gallery for offering the space for the party. The gallery had an exhibition in June of paintings by his wife, Anne Peretz.