Yesterday was a wonderful day, full of community cooking and dancing especially by the Development Action team (Andra, Brian, Anna, Lilly, and our team leader Bia). There was two tremendous turkeys, green beans, stuffing, various Korean foods and every bit of it was scrumptious.
During dinner Andra started by recalling a family tradition where everyone around the table says what they are grateful for, obviously this was very heart warming especially because this Thanksgiving was also a celebration for the September Brazil/Belize Fight Poverty team that is leaving next week. Oh ya! Before dinner the the dining room was all decorated with candles and balloons (pictures will be up soon) and they formed a walkway to greet the September team to the dining hall. Upon there entrance the Africa team started singing "Hey Jude" it was so beautiful and sad *crying* haha.
After the dinner I presented the history of Thanksgiving. I only found out that I would yesterday so my preparation was very limited and I spent most of the day preparing for it (Below is a short outline of the presentation). It went very well. After that Trina (our Headmaster) gave a ten minute speech with song "Lean on Me" to tell the September Team that they could lean on IICD while there gone. Also that to make the best of their experience they need to throw themselves out of their comfort zone and into deep water to really learn, suffer with and help the community they will be living in.
It was a great experience but I missed my families very much. So I though this would be a great time to throw a shout out to the Winkler's who I know surely had a loud, exciting and loving Thanksgiving, it's always like that and something I love and miss very much. And to the Lowe's thank you for having me in your family, I love you all so much! I miss everyone, especially during the holiday's and I'm so happy I'll be there for Christmas!
I want to give a special shout out to my Auntie who has always been a shining light in my heart, thank you so much for sending IICD the cookies every person fully enjoyed them and the containers you sent them in are being put into use as we speak!
Below Thanksgiving Presentation Outline:
+Today’s Thanksgiving (tg) in middle class America- the tradition- the love and the misconceptions
A classic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS_R8eL_7WM
Macys balloon tg commentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APjZtqmzY3o
+Traditional view on the origin of Thanksgiving
Bland stereotypical tg just about original
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFDSobNnfQs
+Squanto and the Patuxet Extermination. 1605-1621
The Natives Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTuFKisYnm8&feature=related
+Some Comic Relief
Immigration with our founding illegals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJKpNlw0ef8&feature=related
+A Freedom Fighters words from Prison
Leonard Statement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s49BeBKMGoI
Friday, November 26, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
My Article About Serving Community Lunch in Dowagiac
Here it is, we will also be posting the actual newsletter when it is done. You can find past newsletters on the bottom of the right column under Further Reading.
At IICD, we spend a lot of time learning about the countries we will travel to and how we can help the communities we will be working with while we are there. We also recognize, however, that much help is needed in the communities here in the U.S. We have built relationships with many non-profit organizations that are doing truly amazing work in areas like Detroit, and we have also just teamed up with another great project happening right here in our town of Dowagiac.
A few of the local churches have come together and started offering free lunches to the community. They all pitch in buying the food, hosting the event, and securing volunteers to run it. At the end of October we were invited by one of the members of one of the participating churches to come and help out for one of these lunches. A group of us volunteers got up early Saturday morning (our usual day to sleep in a little bit) and caravanned into town. We arrived at the small but sweet St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, ready to cook.
Although the desserts were cooked and brought in by various members of the church and some of the prep work was done ahead of time, it was up to us and some of the church volunteers to prepare the rest of the meal, serve it to the community, and clean up afterwards. We made scrumptious Sloppy Joes and vegetarian Sloppy Joes, a fresh salad with lots of vegetables, and french fries which we fried ourselves! Once the food was ready to be served, we had volunteers to serve each of the dishes, some clearing and resetting tables so that more people could come and eat, some that were responsible for bringing more food out as we ran out, and others to sort the recycling and trash when people were finished. It was quite the system, and a very successful one at that, thanks to all of the volunteers’ hard work and cooperation.
It was really an amazing thing to be a part of. The volunteers from the churches that were there were so nice and so grateful for us being there and we all worked really well together, despite not knowing one another and coming from different backgrounds. I think we all felt a sense of camaraderie and togetherness as we worked together to pull off this really important event. The people who attended the lunch were of all different ethnicities and backgrounds and ages, and it was really humbling and fulfilling to have the opportunity to offer something to them. We served over 100 people, not including the volunteers themselves, and for some it was probably one of the only meals they ate that day. It was really a great feeling to be able to be a part of providing a hot, complete meal to people, and then to be able to sit down and enjoy it with them, all together as a community.
I think all of us got a lot out of the entire event, even the long clean up at the end. This was the beginning of a new tradition for IICD and we will be continuing to help out with these community meals once or twice a month. It is so important to be a part of change all over the world, locally and abroad.
At IICD, we spend a lot of time learning about the countries we will travel to and how we can help the communities we will be working with while we are there. We also recognize, however, that much help is needed in the communities here in the U.S. We have built relationships with many non-profit organizations that are doing truly amazing work in areas like Detroit, and we have also just teamed up with another great project happening right here in our town of Dowagiac.
A few of the local churches have come together and started offering free lunches to the community. They all pitch in buying the food, hosting the event, and securing volunteers to run it. At the end of October we were invited by one of the members of one of the participating churches to come and help out for one of these lunches. A group of us volunteers got up early Saturday morning (our usual day to sleep in a little bit) and caravanned into town. We arrived at the small but sweet St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, ready to cook.
Although the desserts were cooked and brought in by various members of the church and some of the prep work was done ahead of time, it was up to us and some of the church volunteers to prepare the rest of the meal, serve it to the community, and clean up afterwards. We made scrumptious Sloppy Joes and vegetarian Sloppy Joes, a fresh salad with lots of vegetables, and french fries which we fried ourselves! Once the food was ready to be served, we had volunteers to serve each of the dishes, some clearing and resetting tables so that more people could come and eat, some that were responsible for bringing more food out as we ran out, and others to sort the recycling and trash when people were finished. It was quite the system, and a very successful one at that, thanks to all of the volunteers’ hard work and cooperation.
It was really an amazing thing to be a part of. The volunteers from the churches that were there were so nice and so grateful for us being there and we all worked really well together, despite not knowing one another and coming from different backgrounds. I think we all felt a sense of camaraderie and togetherness as we worked together to pull off this really important event. The people who attended the lunch were of all different ethnicities and backgrounds and ages, and it was really humbling and fulfilling to have the opportunity to offer something to them. We served over 100 people, not including the volunteers themselves, and for some it was probably one of the only meals they ate that day. It was really a great feeling to be able to be a part of providing a hot, complete meal to people, and then to be able to sit down and enjoy it with them, all together as a community.
I think all of us got a lot out of the entire event, even the long clean up at the end. This was the beginning of a new tradition for IICD and we will be continuing to help out with these community meals once or twice a month. It is so important to be a part of change all over the world, locally and abroad.
Water Tank Article Part 1
Below is my first article for the IICD Newsletter, and I'm sure Andra will post hers promptly:
Today the world’s resources are being depleted on a mass scale. Our reliance on electric and water companies to provide us with the resources we need to live takes away the need to rely on ourselves and our community, therefore depleting the important need to be self-sustainable. At IICD we are committed to sustainability and a healthy environment around the world and at our school, dorms and gardens in Michigan. With this mantra IICD Michigan has been recycling at home since its foundation and in neighboring states on a mass scale with clothes collection.
In this last year there has been a push to go farther and produce our own energy and to store natural rain water to feed our gardens. This first step is to build a water tank that will feed our garden which will then feed us and also our neighboring communities when we go to the farmers market. So below is part one of the steps we have taken to make this vision a reality.
At IICD we realize education comes from learning and doing, this is obviously very empowering and is the driving force in making change for yourself and the community you live in. So of course we as a community have been building this tank for nearly three weeks not including the tremendous effort it took to build a five foot deep hole in the ground which is also six feet wide. Currently we are nearly half way finished. The steps we have so far taken are as follows:
Building a wooden base whose purpose it is to hold the cement and also to hold the skeleton of rebar (metal poles) which strengthens the concrete walls (but that explanation will come later).
Bending and fitting sixteen rebar poles into L shapes. Then connecting the sixteen rebar’s with multiple rebar rings to strengthen and hold the form. After this was completed it looked like a mini prison cell.
Placing the wooden mold in the pit and fitting the rebar cage in the mold. This is when we started to mix the concrete and pour it into the hole, but just enough to where it didn’t surpass the top of the wooden mold.
The walls were the next step. This consisted of particle board cut into thirty-two pieces all eight feet tall by approximately six inches wide. We had to secure the boards together with U shaped nails and screws across metal strips. This reinforcement will be vital for when we pour the concrete into the wooden walls.
Our next step will be to build another wall but with less of a diameter which will be the inner wall, then the concrete will be poured, then the first tank will be finished!
Nearly everyone in the community has chipped in to build this great structure. The measurements and brains behind the operation has been from Anthony one of our teachers. We still have more to do and surely it will be covered in the next newsletter.
This tank is just one of two to be built until we can fully harness rain water to grow our vegetables. We should have the tank finished in a matter of a week or two and will not be able to start the next one until spring. Of course the winter won’t stop the activists at IICD from struggling to become more sustainable and the next project after the water tank will be to start to build our own SOLAR PANELS!!! Then GE will have to pay us for our energy!!!
Today the world’s resources are being depleted on a mass scale. Our reliance on electric and water companies to provide us with the resources we need to live takes away the need to rely on ourselves and our community, therefore depleting the important need to be self-sustainable. At IICD we are committed to sustainability and a healthy environment around the world and at our school, dorms and gardens in Michigan. With this mantra IICD Michigan has been recycling at home since its foundation and in neighboring states on a mass scale with clothes collection.
In this last year there has been a push to go farther and produce our own energy and to store natural rain water to feed our gardens. This first step is to build a water tank that will feed our garden which will then feed us and also our neighboring communities when we go to the farmers market. So below is part one of the steps we have taken to make this vision a reality.
At IICD we realize education comes from learning and doing, this is obviously very empowering and is the driving force in making change for yourself and the community you live in. So of course we as a community have been building this tank for nearly three weeks not including the tremendous effort it took to build a five foot deep hole in the ground which is also six feet wide. Currently we are nearly half way finished. The steps we have so far taken are as follows:
Building a wooden base whose purpose it is to hold the cement and also to hold the skeleton of rebar (metal poles) which strengthens the concrete walls (but that explanation will come later).
Bending and fitting sixteen rebar poles into L shapes. Then connecting the sixteen rebar’s with multiple rebar rings to strengthen and hold the form. After this was completed it looked like a mini prison cell.
Placing the wooden mold in the pit and fitting the rebar cage in the mold. This is when we started to mix the concrete and pour it into the hole, but just enough to where it didn’t surpass the top of the wooden mold.
The walls were the next step. This consisted of particle board cut into thirty-two pieces all eight feet tall by approximately six inches wide. We had to secure the boards together with U shaped nails and screws across metal strips. This reinforcement will be vital for when we pour the concrete into the wooden walls.
Our next step will be to build another wall but with less of a diameter which will be the inner wall, then the concrete will be poured, then the first tank will be finished!
Nearly everyone in the community has chipped in to build this great structure. The measurements and brains behind the operation has been from Anthony one of our teachers. We still have more to do and surely it will be covered in the next newsletter.
This tank is just one of two to be built until we can fully harness rain water to grow our vegetables. We should have the tank finished in a matter of a week or two and will not be able to start the next one until spring. Of course the winter won’t stop the activists at IICD from struggling to become more sustainable and the next project after the water tank will be to start to build our own SOLAR PANELS!!! Then GE will have to pay us for our energy!!!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
More Than Corn in Our Hair
Recently Brian and I watched a movie called King Corn. Its a documentary that I accidentally came across in IICD's movie library while I was trying to find Food Inc. The movie follows two young men who decide to grow an acre of corn to see first hand the process of corn farming and where the corn goes after visiting a scientist who, after sampling a strand of each of their hair, finds that they are basically made up of corn. The movie discusses farm subsidies and the incredible amount of corn that is produced in this country. This large amount of corn is then used in, well everything. It goes to feed cattle which is bad for them and ultimately bad for us when we consume the meat. Beef that comes from cattle that is fed corn is around 9 grams of saturated fat where beef from cattle fed grass is 1.3 grams of saturated fat and ground beef or hamburger meat contains 65% of calories as fat.
A huge part of the corn produced gets processed into High Fructose Corn Syrup. This is made my breaking down the corn into practically nothing, adding a lot of dangerous chemicals, and coming out with a product that can be produced at really low cost, thanks to the subsidies that pay for this large amount of corn to be produced. It has no nutritional value, and is put in to so many foods. At one point the two men in the documentary go into a gas station and have a hard time finding a product that doesn't contain HFCS.
Most of the corn grown in this country cannot be consumed as it is, it has to be processed in order to be edible and it lacks many nutrients because it has been genetically modified to be grown in a certain way for a certain purpose.
I really recommend watching this movie yourselves, it is really enlightening and really well made.
Here at IICD, I have had so many conversations and so much education about food and nutrition and both Brian and I have been eating relatively healthy food, at least when we don't go out (fast food is bad!).
After watching this movie, and realizing how much corn is in everything we eat: meat, candy, crackers, soda, etc., I started to feel a little disturbed; I would like there to be more than corn in my hair!
So, I have decided to try to tackle this dilemma one step at a time, starting with the most evil form of corn: High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Starting today, Brian and I are going to try to go 28 days without eating anything containing HFCS. After watching this movie, we were both really disturbed by how much corn we consume without actually eating corn. We agreed that if we did the test on ourselves, we would really love for there to be more than corn in our hair.
Because HFCS is in so many things and does nothing for you nutritionally, but does spike your blood sugar, eliminating this from our diets is a healthy decision. It is also a good way to consume less corn. It will be a challenging mission however, because HFCS is so many things, things we wouldn't even expect it to be in. This will force us to read the labels of foods carefully before we consume them and I hoping it will further enlighten us both about what we are putting into our bodies.
These days, its so easy to just pick something up and put into our mouths, not even questioning what is in it or what effect it has on us. We would love to invite anyone else who is interested in becoming more aware of what we are consuming and to try to eliminate some of this nutrient-free corn from our diets, to join us in this endeavor.I think it is so important to at least be conscious of what we are putting in our mouths!
Now, let's be clear- we are not eliminating sugar all together- we are only eliminating one type: High Fructose
Corn Syrup. If you do want to join in, lets share ideas with one another on how to satisfy our love for sweets with things made from real sugar or other sweeteners like honey, yogurt, or fruit.
I personally have been really hooked on dark chocolate- I love it because it actually has some health benefits to it, and I can eat one little square and be completely satisfied! I just bought a Pear and Almonds chocolate bar that is to die for! and no HFCS!
We will keep you posted on how it is going, and please let us know if you want to join in!
A huge part of the corn produced gets processed into High Fructose Corn Syrup. This is made my breaking down the corn into practically nothing, adding a lot of dangerous chemicals, and coming out with a product that can be produced at really low cost, thanks to the subsidies that pay for this large amount of corn to be produced. It has no nutritional value, and is put in to so many foods. At one point the two men in the documentary go into a gas station and have a hard time finding a product that doesn't contain HFCS.
Most of the corn grown in this country cannot be consumed as it is, it has to be processed in order to be edible and it lacks many nutrients because it has been genetically modified to be grown in a certain way for a certain purpose.
I really recommend watching this movie yourselves, it is really enlightening and really well made.
Here at IICD, I have had so many conversations and so much education about food and nutrition and both Brian and I have been eating relatively healthy food, at least when we don't go out (fast food is bad!).
After watching this movie, and realizing how much corn is in everything we eat: meat, candy, crackers, soda, etc., I started to feel a little disturbed; I would like there to be more than corn in my hair!
So, I have decided to try to tackle this dilemma one step at a time, starting with the most evil form of corn: High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Starting today, Brian and I are going to try to go 28 days without eating anything containing HFCS. After watching this movie, we were both really disturbed by how much corn we consume without actually eating corn. We agreed that if we did the test on ourselves, we would really love for there to be more than corn in our hair.
Because HFCS is in so many things and does nothing for you nutritionally, but does spike your blood sugar, eliminating this from our diets is a healthy decision. It is also a good way to consume less corn. It will be a challenging mission however, because HFCS is so many things, things we wouldn't even expect it to be in. This will force us to read the labels of foods carefully before we consume them and I hoping it will further enlighten us both about what we are putting into our bodies.
These days, its so easy to just pick something up and put into our mouths, not even questioning what is in it or what effect it has on us. We would love to invite anyone else who is interested in becoming more aware of what we are consuming and to try to eliminate some of this nutrient-free corn from our diets, to join us in this endeavor.I think it is so important to at least be conscious of what we are putting in our mouths!
Now, let's be clear- we are not eliminating sugar all together- we are only eliminating one type: High Fructose
Corn Syrup. If you do want to join in, lets share ideas with one another on how to satisfy our love for sweets with things made from real sugar or other sweeteners like honey, yogurt, or fruit.
I personally have been really hooked on dark chocolate- I love it because it actually has some health benefits to it, and I can eat one little square and be completely satisfied! I just bought a Pear and Almonds chocolate bar that is to die for! and no HFCS!
We will keep you posted on how it is going, and please let us know if you want to join in!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Miracle of Google Translate, and its down falls.
The promotion room consists of our team leader Bia, Lauren who works here, Anthony and Mette the two teachers, and then the DAs ( those of us who got scholarships and are doing promotions to work them off). The two other promoters that we are working with are Ana Paula from Brazil and Lily (English name) from Korea. They also happen to be our suite mates and the two people I am closest too here at IICD, despite the fact that they speak very little English. Although they are learning and quickly improving, Ana and I especially rely on Google Translate to have conversations. We have had much success with this method, sharing about ourselves and our lives, discussing what brought us here, etc.
Ana has also become my work out buddy and we attend Anthony's hard core aerobics classes together on Thursdays and Sundays (there is one on Tuesday too but I miss it because of clothes collection). Last night when we returned to the school, I was trying to ask Ana if she still wanted to come to the class tomorrow(today). She said yes and then asked me a question which I didn't quite understand. So, we whipped our computers and turned to good ol' google to help us. When she typed her question in Portuguese, the English translation popped up next to it, asking something about if I wanted to be calm today. I asked if what she meant was if I wanted to just relax today, pressed translate, and got the most unexpected reaction.
"NO, NO Andra!!" Ana yelled. I was completely taken aback and right away I knew Google translate had let us down. I still didn't know what I had just asked her but I was pretty sure that when I typed " do i just want to relax today? is that what you are asking?" that wasn't the same message that Ana received. We both started laughing, realizing that there had been a clear miscommunication and that whatever she thought I said to her wasn't what I meant.
Talita, another Brazilian who speaks pretty fluent English came into the room so Ana told her the message she received from me and boy did it change. Talita explained that Google had told Ana that I was asking if she wanted to come to bed with me. Not the message I intended.
We both laughed hysterically, and the rest of the people in the room joined us. I feel like we learned a valuable lesson: Although Google Translate helps in many situations, it cannot replace person to person to conversation, and that "direct" translations are not always so direct.
Thank goodness we all have a good sense of humor.
Ana has also become my work out buddy and we attend Anthony's hard core aerobics classes together on Thursdays and Sundays (there is one on Tuesday too but I miss it because of clothes collection). Last night when we returned to the school, I was trying to ask Ana if she still wanted to come to the class tomorrow(today). She said yes and then asked me a question which I didn't quite understand. So, we whipped our computers and turned to good ol' google to help us. When she typed her question in Portuguese, the English translation popped up next to it, asking something about if I wanted to be calm today. I asked if what she meant was if I wanted to just relax today, pressed translate, and got the most unexpected reaction.
"NO, NO Andra!!" Ana yelled. I was completely taken aback and right away I knew Google translate had let us down. I still didn't know what I had just asked her but I was pretty sure that when I typed " do i just want to relax today? is that what you are asking?" that wasn't the same message that Ana received. We both started laughing, realizing that there had been a clear miscommunication and that whatever she thought I said to her wasn't what I meant.
Talita, another Brazilian who speaks pretty fluent English came into the room so Ana told her the message she received from me and boy did it change. Talita explained that Google had told Ana that I was asking if she wanted to come to bed with me. Not the message I intended.
We both laughed hysterically, and the rest of the people in the room joined us. I feel like we learned a valuable lesson: Although Google Translate helps in many situations, it cannot replace person to person to conversation, and that "direct" translations are not always so direct.
Thank goodness we all have a good sense of humor.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Where I Need to Be
These past few days have offered opportunities for some truly amazing conversations both between just Brian and me, as well as with some of the staff here at IICD. It has offered a much needed reflection of why I have ended up where I am right now. I don't say 'much needed' because I was doubting whether I should be here, but just the opposite of that- because I have been feeling that this is exactly where I should be.
It is really refreshing to be in an environment that promotes individualism but within a community- where people are appreciated for their own knowledge and ideas and talents and that everyone shares and contributes with everyone. No one is worried about protecting their good ideas out of fear of someone else making money off them, instead we all share and learn together as we do it. No one is exempt from hard work and yet by everyone contributing a little bit, we all have plenty of delicious, nutritious food to eat, a beautiful building and campus that is becoming more sustainable and self reliant, and we are able to give so much to others.
Everyone is challenged physically, emotionally, intellectually, and in every other way you could possibly be challenged. And we all support one another in embracing those challenges, knowing this is the only way to learn, and to grow. This is truly an environment for thriving, not just living.
Its a challenge even to accept the challenges for what they are- to realize that even the littlest of things is truly an opportunity to change and to want that change. Change is almost always scary, and almost never easy. Every day I am here I feel not just accepting of these challenges but welcoming of them, wanting them, awaiting them, and to be so very thankful for them. Rather than avoiding certain situations and taking the route that is comfortable, I am searching for the unknown, for the things I have never tried and never wanted to try.
I found a spider smushed and stuck to the bottom of my foot, inside my sock that I had been wearing all day and laughed-yes laughed about it! In the same 24 hour period I had a huge wolf spider hitch a ride on my towel and join me in my shower, and tried to pick a scab off of Brian's back not realizing it was a tic, and then removed the tic, pulling it out and being painfully aware that it was a living thing that was half way inside of his skin and half out. Completely disgusting. I have had to cook meals for large groups of people who all have different tastes, being terrified of burning it, not making enough, making way too much, and making something completely disgusting.
One of the biggest challenges I have faced while being here so far is the constantly changing environment. Usually I am a little shy and reserved when I first meet people, and I look forward to spending time with them as a group and as individuals and that is when I become more confident, more comfortable, and start to open up and show more of who I am. Here, groups of people are arriving and leaving ALL of the time. The groups are always changing, not allowing me to do my normal adaptation routine. I am having to work on getting to a place where I can feel comfortable in all different groups with different dynamics, much faster than I am used to. Sometimes it is me and 5 Korean girls, or me and a bunch Brazilians- sometimes its a huge group and other times its only 3 or 4 people.
These situations also challenge me to face stereotypes-some that I knew I had, and others I am just now becoming aware of. This too is quite an interesting process. Often when I think of stereotypes it is a negative thing. There is good reason for this of course, because stereotypes are generalizations and you just can't put everyone into any one group. I thought that stereotypes were all bad, and therefore must all be wrong. While I don't want to generalize and I always want to remember that there are exceptions and contradictions to EVERYTHING in life, it is funny to come face to face with a stereotype, ready to move past it because I believe it must be false, only to find that it is actually true in many cases! It is then a whole other challenge to move forward with this finding in a compassionate, understanding, and loving way. This requires some processing of course.
There is really nothing routine or ordinary about the life we are living for the next year and not even two weeks in, I can tell that this will be an experience to remember.
It is really refreshing to be in an environment that promotes individualism but within a community- where people are appreciated for their own knowledge and ideas and talents and that everyone shares and contributes with everyone. No one is worried about protecting their good ideas out of fear of someone else making money off them, instead we all share and learn together as we do it. No one is exempt from hard work and yet by everyone contributing a little bit, we all have plenty of delicious, nutritious food to eat, a beautiful building and campus that is becoming more sustainable and self reliant, and we are able to give so much to others.
Everyone is challenged physically, emotionally, intellectually, and in every other way you could possibly be challenged. And we all support one another in embracing those challenges, knowing this is the only way to learn, and to grow. This is truly an environment for thriving, not just living.
Its a challenge even to accept the challenges for what they are- to realize that even the littlest of things is truly an opportunity to change and to want that change. Change is almost always scary, and almost never easy. Every day I am here I feel not just accepting of these challenges but welcoming of them, wanting them, awaiting them, and to be so very thankful for them. Rather than avoiding certain situations and taking the route that is comfortable, I am searching for the unknown, for the things I have never tried and never wanted to try.
I found a spider smushed and stuck to the bottom of my foot, inside my sock that I had been wearing all day and laughed-yes laughed about it! In the same 24 hour period I had a huge wolf spider hitch a ride on my towel and join me in my shower, and tried to pick a scab off of Brian's back not realizing it was a tic, and then removed the tic, pulling it out and being painfully aware that it was a living thing that was half way inside of his skin and half out. Completely disgusting. I have had to cook meals for large groups of people who all have different tastes, being terrified of burning it, not making enough, making way too much, and making something completely disgusting.
One of the biggest challenges I have faced while being here so far is the constantly changing environment. Usually I am a little shy and reserved when I first meet people, and I look forward to spending time with them as a group and as individuals and that is when I become more confident, more comfortable, and start to open up and show more of who I am. Here, groups of people are arriving and leaving ALL of the time. The groups are always changing, not allowing me to do my normal adaptation routine. I am having to work on getting to a place where I can feel comfortable in all different groups with different dynamics, much faster than I am used to. Sometimes it is me and 5 Korean girls, or me and a bunch Brazilians- sometimes its a huge group and other times its only 3 or 4 people.
These situations also challenge me to face stereotypes-some that I knew I had, and others I am just now becoming aware of. This too is quite an interesting process. Often when I think of stereotypes it is a negative thing. There is good reason for this of course, because stereotypes are generalizations and you just can't put everyone into any one group. I thought that stereotypes were all bad, and therefore must all be wrong. While I don't want to generalize and I always want to remember that there are exceptions and contradictions to EVERYTHING in life, it is funny to come face to face with a stereotype, ready to move past it because I believe it must be false, only to find that it is actually true in many cases! It is then a whole other challenge to move forward with this finding in a compassionate, understanding, and loving way. This requires some processing of course.
There is really nothing routine or ordinary about the life we are living for the next year and not even two weeks in, I can tell that this will be an experience to remember.
GAIA Action Saturday
Today was the first GAIA Action Saturday(GAS) for myself and Andra. GAS is a day in which everyone in IICD works doing upkeep of the complex. For example today I helped with chopping up all the various goodies that go into compost, stacking and storing the picnic tables for winter and working on the water tank. Nothing is as satisfying for the soul as hard labor!
Once everything is finished the rest of the day is ours to work, play, explore or sleep. I think I will satisfy my needs by walking endlessly to wherever I please once I'm finished with this post.
Lately I have fallen in love with Woody Guthrie, he was a hobo, socialist, and known around the world for his most famous piece "This Land is Our Land". Below I will post some of my personal favorites. I think his music is inspiring and for those who are less educated in the history of the USA(not the slanted views we learn in primary school) it's important to listen and research into the struggles he sings about. We owe everything to those Americans that stood up, struggled, died or survived in the face of oppressive circumstances (and the few who still do or the youth that will in the future). Woody was a hobo and an American jewel who sung about those struggles. I plan to be a part of those few, I guess it's not a choice but a living consciousness that any critical individual can obtain on various levels when you open your mind to knowledge and the infinite ways of analyzing situations in the world. I'm going to work on a presentation to give to the school about this American jewel, I'll post the power point on the blog for the world to see as well.
It's nearly been two weeks since I arrived here! I've been leaning a lot about myself and my abilities. I really miss my family (Winklers and Lowes and all the doggies) and I can't wait to see everyone around Christmas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDd64suDz1A&feature=BF&list=QL&index=21 (About Colorado strike)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbulO_FB2ZI&feature=BF&list=QL&index=19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNKg54bvObQ&feature=BF&list=QL&index=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcKwGS7OSQ&feature=BF&list=QL&playnext=1
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=EDS00Pnhkqk&p=C425022EBD3EACB0&playnext=1&index=4
Friday, November 5, 2010
Check it out!
Hey everyone! Check out the September and October Newsletters- they are posted under Links for Further Reading on the bottom of the right side.
Also, check out IICD's new website at http://www.iicdmichigan.org/
at the very bottom there is a logo that says GSCC- I HIGHLY recommend that you click on that link and visit the website. Its a non profit in Detroit that is doing some amazing work. IICD has a great relationship with them and we do volunteer work with them sometimes. I literally can't wait to go! there is also a music video posted on the left side of the page that was shot at the community garden and below it is the making of the music video which is really good too.
There is another logo that says YDB, click on that one too.
There is just so much good stuff!
Check it out!
More to come soon!
Also, check out IICD's new website at http://www.iicdmichigan.org/
at the very bottom there is a logo that says GSCC- I HIGHLY recommend that you click on that link and visit the website. Its a non profit in Detroit that is doing some amazing work. IICD has a great relationship with them and we do volunteer work with them sometimes. I literally can't wait to go! there is also a music video posted on the left side of the page that was shot at the community garden and below it is the making of the music video which is really good too.
There is another logo that says YDB, click on that one too.
There is just so much good stuff!
Check it out!
More to come soon!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Clothes Collection
Brian and I have been given a new responsibility- doing the clothes collection for GAIA!
Every Tuesday for the next two months that we are here doing promotions for the scholarship we received, we will be in charge of collecting the clothes from all of the drop boxes and then taking them to the thrift store that buys them from us. Here is what the whole journey looks like:
Tuesday morning we leave by 7 am (we are going to try to leave by 6 because, as you will see below, its a LONG day and we want to finish earlier). We drive from our school to the GAIA warehouse in Chicago. From here we pick up the truck (pictures shown below, better ones to come after next week!) and the keys for all of the boxes and leave our van there. We then drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana and drive to, I believe, 28 locations where we have boxes and we empty the bags of clothes into our truck. A full box holds around 300 lbs. of clothes and at many of the sights we also have to pick up mattresses, couches, and even toilets that people leave there. We obviously can't use these but we have to take them with us and empty them into the dumpsters so we can keep the area looking clean.
After hitting all of the sights, we stay the night in a Motel 6 who we have a relationship with and who has agreed to give us a special rate of $35 a night. The next morning we get up and drive to Merriville Indiana, where we unload the bags of clothes into "skids", big cart things on wheels, at the second hand clothes store there. They weigh each skid and GAIA gets paid per pound of clothes. From here we have to drive back to Chicago to empty all of the trash we collected along the way and to return the truck. Then we take our van and drive back to the school.
This past Tuesday was our first run and we ended up leaving the school at 7:30 in the morning and didn't get into our room until 8:30 that night, and we didn't get back to the school until around 5:30 Wednesday evening so its a pretty long two days of work. It was pretty fun though and very satisfying. Its hard work throwing bag after bag into the truck and cleaning, etc. To give you an idea of how many bags of clothes we collect, this last trip our total weight was 4,800 lbs.
It was great to put in a good days worth of hard work, knowing it was for a good thing. The money that comes from this helps to keep the school running because the tuition we pay is so low and doesn't cover everything, and it also supports GAIA which works on sustainability in impoverished countries.
This time, because we had never done it before, Anthony came with us. It was really great to have someone sort of show us the ropes and all of the driving gave us a great opportunity to have some awesome conversations about the world, and about the organization and all of the work it does and the obstacles it has had/has to overcome.
It was a very successful trip and I think we are both excited to do it again next week!
Every Tuesday for the next two months that we are here doing promotions for the scholarship we received, we will be in charge of collecting the clothes from all of the drop boxes and then taking them to the thrift store that buys them from us. Here is what the whole journey looks like:
Tuesday morning we leave by 7 am (we are going to try to leave by 6 because, as you will see below, its a LONG day and we want to finish earlier). We drive from our school to the GAIA warehouse in Chicago. From here we pick up the truck (pictures shown below, better ones to come after next week!) and the keys for all of the boxes and leave our van there. We then drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana and drive to, I believe, 28 locations where we have boxes and we empty the bags of clothes into our truck. A full box holds around 300 lbs. of clothes and at many of the sights we also have to pick up mattresses, couches, and even toilets that people leave there. We obviously can't use these but we have to take them with us and empty them into the dumpsters so we can keep the area looking clean.
After hitting all of the sights, we stay the night in a Motel 6 who we have a relationship with and who has agreed to give us a special rate of $35 a night. The next morning we get up and drive to Merriville Indiana, where we unload the bags of clothes into "skids", big cart things on wheels, at the second hand clothes store there. They weigh each skid and GAIA gets paid per pound of clothes. From here we have to drive back to Chicago to empty all of the trash we collected along the way and to return the truck. Then we take our van and drive back to the school.
This past Tuesday was our first run and we ended up leaving the school at 7:30 in the morning and didn't get into our room until 8:30 that night, and we didn't get back to the school until around 5:30 Wednesday evening so its a pretty long two days of work. It was pretty fun though and very satisfying. Its hard work throwing bag after bag into the truck and cleaning, etc. To give you an idea of how many bags of clothes we collect, this last trip our total weight was 4,800 lbs.
It was great to put in a good days worth of hard work, knowing it was for a good thing. The money that comes from this helps to keep the school running because the tuition we pay is so low and doesn't cover everything, and it also supports GAIA which works on sustainability in impoverished countries.
This time, because we had never done it before, Anthony came with us. It was really great to have someone sort of show us the ropes and all of the driving gave us a great opportunity to have some awesome conversations about the world, and about the organization and all of the work it does and the obstacles it has had/has to overcome.
It was a very successful trip and I think we are both excited to do it again next week!
Monday, November 1, 2010
IICD/HPP Program (Part 3)
Teachers in the Villages
Throughout Africa there are millions of children who don't attend primary school simply due to the fact that there isn't any to go to. In Mozambique, Angola and Malawi HPP has setup many schools for these children. Teachers who have gone through teacher training colleges get mobilized to areas in which there aren't schools to literally build schools from the ground up.
The teachers mobilize the surrounding community by starting classes with little material or funding. As students get organized and the community rallies to the call for knowledge everyone chips in to construct make shift schools and eventually progress to permanent foundations for schools. HPP wants teachers to create their own development which is the mantra that is eventually passed on through example into the community.
Teachers use the Modern Determination Method(MDM) to teach the school children. MDM consists of three parts: Studies-tasks are given to students that are designed by the teacher (2/4 of the school day), Courses- teacher led sessions (1/4 of the school day) and Experiences- formulating the individual students thoughts and feelings (1/4 of the school day). MDM's mission is to teach the student to be the creator and produce of her/his development.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)