Hello Everyone!
Moving out of La Jolla
So, I've been spending the last few minutes in my apartment in La Jolla as I pack up my car with the last of my things and will soon be heading off to San Bernadino to visit my sister in the hospital before I make the long trek up to Atascadero to visit my parents before my flight to India at 5AM on July 5th.
Vaccinations
I had a bit of an ordeal getting vaccinated, but, I finally managed to get Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and Hepatitis A. I also received a prescription for malaria and a special prescription for the very feared and unwanted extreme cases of diarrhea and stomach "problems" that the other UCSD students and I must, unfortunately, prepare ourselves for getting.
Pre-trip Conversations with Indians and International Students
I keep noticing all of the collegiate Indians that are in San Diego and then I wind up talking to them about my upcoming volunteer project. The women have been more than supportive and it is such a joy to know that I am going to Dharamsala with the blessings of Indian doctorate students. And, after the heart of my gregarious and talkative grandfather Bill, I struck up a conversation with an Indian who is the leasing manager for the apartment in La Jolla that I hope to move into when I return from my summer travels. Our conversation started with India and ended with making comparisons between the concentration of wealth and overwhelming amount of poverty seen in India and Mexico.
Long Over-Due Appreciation for America
As I am quite hard to categorize because I have a light complexion and appear completamente juera but still can communicate well enough in Spanish, in addition to being a Mexican-American with roots all over the world, I am the quintessentially perfect example of what it is to be "American." As a country that has been founded by immigrants from all over the world, citizens of the United States are multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual. I pray that the United States continues to respect its very own essence and not only embrace cultural diversity but also cultivate and encourage it.
My Inevitable Soap-Box-Cameo Paragraph
We live in an international world and every country is interconnected through technology, politics, immigration; and most importantly, we are all connected through our shared humanity. India, China, North America, Africa, Central and Southern America, East Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Europe may be geographically separated land masses but there is a borderless flow of knowledge, technology, tourists, immigrants and refugees. As a Mexican American with grand-parents and great-grandparents spread out across the world (Mexico, Spain, England, Germany, Denmark, and Native Northern American soil to name a few), I am just one of the many millenials who exemplifies through the very blood flowing through me just how international this world has become. As such, I find it crucial to address the distribution of poverty and various concentrations of wealth across all of them--for they are directly tied to each and every one of us, whether we are aware of it or not.
So, as I step off of my Soap-Box, here's a hearty cheer to the young at heart, the hopeful and perhaps disillusioned generation that's dedicated to social change and proactive lifestyles that demand justice for all of humanity....
sábado, 28 de junio de 2008
jueves, 19 de junio de 2008
Why I'm going to India
Dearest Friends and Family,
Why a blog?
I've switched from mass emails to keeping this blog so that you can check up on me at your own leisure. :)
Quick Update
I have just finished my first senior year at UCSD and I will be heading off to Dharamsala, India at 3AM on July 5th, 2008 for a three week volunteer project. A team of UCSD students and I will be working up in the beautiful Himalayan mountains (right next to the Dali Lama!). The rest of this blog entry will address specific questions that you may have about my trip this summer.
The Purpose of my UCSD Volunteer Project
Alternative Breaks at UCSD (alternativebreaks.ucsd.edu) is the group that I am currently affiliated with which will be involved in this international volunteer project. We are teaming up with Cross Cultural Solutions (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/) and our statement and goals are to: "facilitate national and international service and learning trips that cultivate lifelong socially active and globally conscious leaders through direct service, education, diversity, reflection, investigation of social justice issues, and reorientation." Our student organization will be sending UCSD students to the following sites this year: India, Thailand, Ghana, Brazil, China, Russia, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, and the California National Parks in Big Sur.
Why India?: Social Issues: the Plight of the Untouchables and Unequal Gender Roles
India is a beautiful country and is different from anything I have ever experienced before. This, however, is the smallest of factors for my interest in going to Dharamsala, India. The Caste system has denied a majority of the population equal rights and the plight of the untouchables, also referred to as the "Dalits," maintains a strong presence in the country. Ghandi refused to call the untouchables "Dalits" because that word means "crushed underfoot" and "broken to pieces."Instead, Ghandi referred to them as "Harijan" which means "children of God." He once said "the taint of untouchability is an intolerable burden on Hinduism. Let us not deny God by denying a fifth of our race the riht of association on equal footing" (1958). Here's a little insight into the heart of a Dalit, through a Dalit Devotional Song:
I search for God, who shall I hear?
I made stone temples, carved God out of stone
But priests are like sone,
They imprison God.
Whom shall I hear?
We were born untouchables
Because of our deeds.
In addition to the untouchables, the treatment of women in the country is very different from what Westerners are accustomed to. Because of the dowry system, women are less valued at birth and infanticide is still a common practice. In some regions, men out-number women three to one. There have been about 200 reported rapes within on region of India within the last two years, not even to mention the assaults that have gone undocumented. (I will be in a safe region and our program is dedicated to ensuring our safety so there is no need to worry)
Spirituality in Dharamsala: I have been speaking with my Indian friends that live here in San Diego and several of them have explained to me that Dharamsala is a very spiritual place--which makes perfect sense considering that it is a place fostering Tibetian refugees and the Dali Lami. While Hinduism is the prominent religion in India, this region will have a hybrid presence of Buddhism and Hinduism, and I predict that there will be a strong sense of spirituality because the area is a prime destination for meditation. As a woman of faith, I am personally looking forward to experiencing the spirituality of this region of India and being able to see how Indians and Tibetans perceive faith, religion, spirituality, religious texts, religious institutions and organizations, and whatever else is there that I can't predict experiencing and noticing.
India and my Future
Being involved in AB:India@UCSD has allowed me to encourage undergraduate students to be global citizens and to be informed about international social issues. I have been able to join the collaborative student effort which proactively promotes cultural diversity and global awareness. At the student level, I believe that investing into this community is also investing in the enrichment of the rising leaders of the United States through helping them gain international perspectives. In addition, I will soon be a college gradate and wondering what to do with my bachelors degrees in International Language Studies and Human Development. I hope that this experience will help me to decide if I would like to base my next few years in another country working with an NGO or living abroad while getting a Masters in International Relations or Social Work. Likewise, my previous experience in Spain has remained with me throughout this past year and I am considering starting a life for myself back in Barcelona in which traveling to India will me more accessible and establishing ties with India this summer may become a lifelong partnership working towards promoting social justice in India.
That just about wraps it up folks.
I love you all and thank you all for the roles that you have had in shaping me to be who I am today.
....until the next blog entry.....
Irene Lynette Trevino
Why a blog?
I've switched from mass emails to keeping this blog so that you can check up on me at your own leisure. :)
Quick Update
I have just finished my first senior year at UCSD and I will be heading off to Dharamsala, India at 3AM on July 5th, 2008 for a three week volunteer project. A team of UCSD students and I will be working up in the beautiful Himalayan mountains (right next to the Dali Lama!). The rest of this blog entry will address specific questions that you may have about my trip this summer.
The Purpose of my UCSD Volunteer Project
Alternative Breaks at UCSD (alternativebreaks.ucsd.edu) is the group that I am currently affiliated with which will be involved in this international volunteer project. We are teaming up with Cross Cultural Solutions (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/) and our statement and goals are to: "facilitate national and international service and learning trips that cultivate lifelong socially active and globally conscious leaders through direct service, education, diversity, reflection, investigation of social justice issues, and reorientation." Our student organization will be sending UCSD students to the following sites this year: India, Thailand, Ghana, Brazil, China, Russia, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, and the California National Parks in Big Sur.
Why India?: Social Issues: the Plight of the Untouchables and Unequal Gender Roles
India is a beautiful country and is different from anything I have ever experienced before. This, however, is the smallest of factors for my interest in going to Dharamsala, India. The Caste system has denied a majority of the population equal rights and the plight of the untouchables, also referred to as the "Dalits," maintains a strong presence in the country. Ghandi refused to call the untouchables "Dalits" because that word means "crushed underfoot" and "broken to pieces."Instead, Ghandi referred to them as "Harijan" which means "children of God." He once said "the taint of untouchability is an intolerable burden on Hinduism. Let us not deny God by denying a fifth of our race the riht of association on equal footing" (1958). Here's a little insight into the heart of a Dalit, through a Dalit Devotional Song:
I search for God, who shall I hear?
I made stone temples, carved God out of stone
But priests are like sone,
They imprison God.
Whom shall I hear?
We were born untouchables
Because of our deeds.
In addition to the untouchables, the treatment of women in the country is very different from what Westerners are accustomed to. Because of the dowry system, women are less valued at birth and infanticide is still a common practice. In some regions, men out-number women three to one. There have been about 200 reported rapes within on region of India within the last two years, not even to mention the assaults that have gone undocumented. (I will be in a safe region and our program is dedicated to ensuring our safety so there is no need to worry)
Spirituality in Dharamsala: I have been speaking with my Indian friends that live here in San Diego and several of them have explained to me that Dharamsala is a very spiritual place--which makes perfect sense considering that it is a place fostering Tibetian refugees and the Dali Lami. While Hinduism is the prominent religion in India, this region will have a hybrid presence of Buddhism and Hinduism, and I predict that there will be a strong sense of spirituality because the area is a prime destination for meditation. As a woman of faith, I am personally looking forward to experiencing the spirituality of this region of India and being able to see how Indians and Tibetans perceive faith, religion, spirituality, religious texts, religious institutions and organizations, and whatever else is there that I can't predict experiencing and noticing.
India and my Future
Being involved in AB:India@UCSD has allowed me to encourage undergraduate students to be global citizens and to be informed about international social issues. I have been able to join the collaborative student effort which proactively promotes cultural diversity and global awareness. At the student level, I believe that investing into this community is also investing in the enrichment of the rising leaders of the United States through helping them gain international perspectives. In addition, I will soon be a college gradate and wondering what to do with my bachelors degrees in International Language Studies and Human Development. I hope that this experience will help me to decide if I would like to base my next few years in another country working with an NGO or living abroad while getting a Masters in International Relations or Social Work. Likewise, my previous experience in Spain has remained with me throughout this past year and I am considering starting a life for myself back in Barcelona in which traveling to India will me more accessible and establishing ties with India this summer may become a lifelong partnership working towards promoting social justice in India.
That just about wraps it up folks.
I love you all and thank you all for the roles that you have had in shaping me to be who I am today.
....until the next blog entry.....
Irene Lynette Trevino
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)