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Fellows > Blogging for Peace > 2007 > Fellows for Peace...

Fellows for Peace Blogs, Issue 5

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AdvocacyNet
Fellow Update, Volume 5 #5, July 11, 2007
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Fellows for Peace Blogs

Thirty Peace Fellows are volunteering this summer in 18 countries or
territories with community-based partners of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP
issues a weekly digest of their blogs.

Highlights:

• Sleeping on the Streets of Mugoya in Kenya
• Call to Jihad by Cartoon in Palestine
• Unbridgeable Gap Between Fellow and Dalit
• Illiteracy Destroys Hope in Bangladesh
• Not Tears of Joy on Wedding Day in Nepal
• A Prisoner's Words Speak Volumes in Sri Lanka
• Different Lenses, Different Dreams in Palestine
• Small World in Macedonia
• Teachers Close Schools Indefinitely in Peru
• Prostitution and Morality in Italy
• Caste Across Cultures in Nepal
• Difficult Business Decisions in Malaysia
• Indigenous Women Call for Judicial Justice in Guatemala
• Finding Gender Balance in Nepal

Excerpts from some of this week's blogs follow:

Sleeping on the Streets of Mugoya in Kenya

Jonathan Homer (George Washington University Law School) is volunteering for children's rights and issues to HIV/AIDS with Undugu Society in Nairobi, Kenya.
"I may have known it before I asked it, but I didn’t really grasp it until he told me. He sleeps on the streets...sleeps ON the streets...on the dirt...on pavement...under stairwells...under bus stops...in a field...in an alley...actually sleeps on the streets of Mugoya."

Call to Jihad by Cartoon in Palestine

Erin Wroblewski is volunteering for transatlantic cooperation in support of
global human rights with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in East
Jerusalem.
"Once a week on Al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas channel, a children’s show featuring a familiar mouse named Farfur has aired...In the last episode of his show “Pioneers of Tomorrow” the Mickey Mouse look-alike that has called Palestinian children to jihad is beaten to death by an Israeli. The narrator of the series is a young girl covered in a head scarf who announces that Farfur had become a martyr for the Palestinian cause."

Unbridgeable Gap Between Fellow and Dalit

Devin Greenleaf (American University) is volunteering to advocate for human
rights through the Jagaran Media Center in Kathmandu, Nepal.
"But as I sit across from a face of the exploited, learning her name and that she lost her husband last year because they couldn’t afford medication, I have no idea how to respond. I also know that as powerful as this moment is, just by virtue of being a foreigner, a man and an American, I am completely incapable of truly understanding this woman’s lot. No matter how long I empathize with her on the jagged banks of the Seti River, I can never understand what it's like to be shackled by caste."

Illiteracy Destroys Hope in Bangladesh

Caitlin Burnett (American University) is volunteering for the development and
protection of the disabled community with the Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO) in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
"Unlike the groups of Barisal who were optimistic in the face of the barriers they tackle, community members in Tongi appear worn down by the difficulties of their life. One woman, when I asked her what she would like to teach me about her life, simply told me in response, 'We are illiterate. We have no power to implement our knowledge.'”

Not Tears of Joy on Wedding Day in Nepal

Jeff Yarborough (Columbia University) is volunteering for democracy and human rights with the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) in Mahendranagar, Nepal.
"On the ride from Nepalganj to Mahendranagar our bus had stopped at a crowd of people on the roadside to pick up a hysterical, weeping girl who was violently pushed aboard by (as I later learned) her male relatives. One of the bus workers who I had been sharing conversation with nodded toward the girl and explained that it was her wedding day and she was being sent to her new husband's home."

A Prisoner's Words Speak Volumes in Sri Lanka

Madeline England (Columbia University) is volunteering for human rights and as an advocate for torture victims with the Home for Human Rights (HHR) in Sri Lanka.
"I wish I could tell you that this is the only letter of its kind HHR has ever received. Unfortunately it is one of many: 'My mother is expecting my release and she is waiting for me, I told her that I will be released soon she believes me sir so I cannot lie to her always it’s better to die. Now I am detained for more than ten years and now I am mentally upset.'"

Different Lenses, Different Dreams in Palestine

Eliza Bates (Columbia University) is volunteering to support and foster a
democratic labor movement with the Democracy and Worker's Rights Center in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory.
"Likewise, it takes incredible chutzpah for Israelis to challenge the actions of their government. Those in the heart of Israel have the capacity to impact the policies of occupation and the Zionist agenda in ways that no one else can. All it takes is one glimpse through the lens of the Palestinian people for the Zionist dream to turn into a nightmare."

Small World in Macedonia

Katie Wroblewski (Indiana University School of Law) is volunteering with the
Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) on their Civil Society Strengthening Project (CSSP) with the Youth Cultural Centre (YCC) in Bitola, Macedonia.
"Once, while wearing a University of Michigan T-shirt, a teen working at one of the local internet cafes asked me if I had ever been to Petoskey. She explained to me that she had visited northern Michigan while on vacation with an uncle who lives in Detroit. She then rattled off six or seven recommendations for ice cream parlors in Traverse City and on Mackinac Island."

Teachers Close Schools Indefinitely in Peru

Jessica Boccardo is volunteering for children's educational rights with
Supporting Kids in Peru (SKIP) in Trujillo, Peru.
"From the 5th of July the Teachers' Union declared 'Huelga Indefinida,' which basically means that teachers are protesting, not working, until they get what they want. I told the director of the school that it was a pity for the kids, but he started telling me about a similar protest some years ago and how it had lasted almost all year. He looked proud of his and the rest of the teachers' fight."

Prostitution and Morality in Italy

Michelle Lanspa is volunteering to prevent and protect victims of human
trafficking with the Transnational AIDS Prevention among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Projects (TAMPEP) in Turin, Italy.
"...being a prostitute does not equal being a moral monster. Trafficked or not, having chosen the profession or not, sex workers, and dare I say it, even their clients, are still human beings. The bigger point being that addressing questions like whether to legalize prostitution or not, how to stop trafficking and violence against women, or how to cure the male clients and society of their psychological and/or physical need for love with a stranger, according to me, requires realism."

Caste Across Cultures in Nepal

Mark Koenig (Tufts University) is volunteering for democracy and human rights with the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) in Nepalgunj, Nepal.
"After a brief greeting, she quickly and directly asked me 'What is your caste?' I have never been asked this question before so I did not have an immediate answer ready. Taking a moment to think I tried a joke first. I explained that my last name, Koenig, actually means ‘king’ in German. So perhaps I come from the caste of the kings. Loxmi got the joke and offered a sympathy laugh. Santi did not quite grasp the humor."

Difficult Business Decisions in Malaysia

Mariko Scavone (Georgetown University) is volunteering to empower women with eHomemakers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"It just wouldn't make business sense, and we don't have the organizational capacity to arrange such an endeavor. Moreover, the disabled are not our target. But you try looking into Mr Lam's hardened face, and saying so. It's not easy. It's damn near impossible. And it's absolutely heart-wrenching to say no when you believe you could do something."

Indigenous Women Call for Judicial Justice in Guatemala

Abby Weil (American University) is volunteering to support victims of the Rio
Negro Massacre with ADIVIMA in Guatemala.
"This past week I was lucky enough to have been able to attend an indigenous women’s summit on access to the judicial system here in Guatemala...The presentation was wonderful, and their suggestions were certainly valid, but the representatives of the local government and judicial system did not seem to take them to heart, or even pay attention. It made me so sad to see these wonderful and intelligent women working so hard while the men at the front of the room seemed distracted and bored."

Finding Gender Balance in Nepal

Nicole Farkouh (UC Berkeley) is volunteering for peace and democracy with the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) in Gaighat, Nepal.
"Arjun-dai squatted with Indeera serving food onto our plates then handed them out with a flourish, proclaiming “gender balance” in case we hadn’t registered his application of the concept of which many of the men I work with are vocal advocates...At which point, without missing a beat, Arjun-dai reached to a nearby ledge grabbed the soap and mangled brillo pad and handed it to me with a grin. We all started to laugh as I began to scrub and Ajay looked at us both, slightly dejected. 'Here, you can rinse,' I said, and followed with a wink and, 'Gender balance.'"

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