Goodbyes

So, this semester has come to an end. It has been one filled with new people and new experiences! Spending the past semester in Washington D.C. has been fantastic and a wonderful change from the small college town I am use to. I have definitely learned a lot for this semester. Here are some of my favorite moments this past semester.

Favorite moment number one, meeting with so many different individuals who had different perspectives then my own was a great experience this semester; also well as being able to have academic conversations with them.

Favorite moment number two would be sitting on a grassy field in the sun surrounded by all the noise of the city.

Favorite number three would be going out in the capitol at night and experiencing the night life!

Favorite number four going out to eat to some many different places and eat so much wonderful food as well as getting to write blogs about them!

Final favorite moment would be the FDR memorial; it is one of the best monuments/memorial I have been to. I highly recommend going to visiting it, because it is one of the best I have been to. It is a bit hidden away, which is a shame because I think people overlook it. My favorite parts of the FDR memorial are the quote throughout the memorial.

But, now my time is over here in DC at American and it is time to go home. I hope that everyone gets the chance to visit this nation’s capital because it is honestly a great city and has a lot to offer!

Devotion

Today one of my mates presented on the Mennonite approach to peace. I really do not know a lot about the Mennonite faith so it was very interesting to learn more. There are similarities I believe in the Quaker faith. What was even better was we had a speaker come in who is a practicing Mennonite and certified mediator. He practices mediation and also serves as a mediator of issues within the congregation.

The approach of the Mennonites, from what understood, was a large support of nonviolence. They do not agree with military service because they preach nonviolence. Many did not serve in World War I and were imprisoned for it. When World War II and the Vietnam War came around the United States had implemented other options when drafter than military service. This other option than military service led many Mennonites to be working in metal institutions. The work which the Mennonites did in the mental institutions led to a push from the Mennonite community for reforms to be made to metal institutions. I found this very impressive since the conditions of the mental institutions were so deplorable at the time.

In the Mennonite faith there is such a large idea of passivism; which is one of the main pillars of the Mennonite faith. But there are many different denominations of Mennonites in the United States 28 to be exact and not all of them follow the idea of passivism in addressing the issues within their congregation. For instance the individual who spoke with us, his congregation follows a more aggressive track part of passive aggressive. His congregation addresses issues right out in the open rather than talking about it secretly and letting an issue fester. I think this may be a better choice.

For our speaker I got the sense that there is this ability to really follow your faith and your belief even if it is not the norm of society. I just always find faith so fascinating because people who have a faith are so devoted to what they believe most of the time and do not question it. I always find it so impressive to believe in something so much.

Coming to an End

The other day was the last day of my internship. Something I was not even expecting was the cake and goodbye party we received. One of my supervisors came in half way through the day and wanted to make sure we were available for a meeting at the end of the day. We all said yes, that we were free. Upon entering the board room our supervisors were all on one side of the table after taking our seats on the other side of the table one of the supervisors brought around a carrot cake and cards for all of us. The carrot cake was quite good and the cards were very sweet and had a pre-paid gift card inside of them! Which I thought was so thoughtful and something which they really did not have to do.

Looking back on my internship experience I would say it was a very good one. I really enjoyed the experience I had at TransAfrica Forum. I really learned a lot from my internship especially in regards to Haiti. When I first started I knew nothing about Latin America or Haiti but after this internship I had a wealth of knowledge. That is something great about taking an internship you get to learn so many new things but you get to learn even more when you take an internship on something you have no experience with you get to learn even more. That is something so wonderful about this semester how much I learned. It was great to have a good response from my internship since they said how happy they would to have me come back and intern with them again. It was also great to feel appreciated at my internship unlike the stereotypical ideal of being an intern.

It was also great to get to know the inner workings of a non-government organization. With how much everyone has to do, as well as how many different roles one has to play in a NGO. It really has been a great semester where I was able to learn so much.

Foodies back in DC

It has been quite some time since I did a food blog for DC, so here one is!

A great place to go for a quick breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert is Crepe’s A Gogo. It is around the Dupont Circle area. This place only serves crepes, but not only the dessert crepes they also serve ones filled with tons of other things such as grilled chicken with pesto, and tomatoes. I would suggest the grilled chicken one with pesto on a whole wheat crepe (which is a wonderful option to have!) The grilled chicken is fantastic with a perfect amount of pesto that was not overwhelming. For the dessert ones there are so many choice I do not know which one is best. I would recommend the banana and strawberry with Nutella, it is wonderful! But the ones without nutella are just as fantastic because sometimes the nutella makes it too sweet since they pack a lot in there! I suggest if you go with someone you should split with them so that you can one, try more and two, they are really filling so getting half of each is great!

The second place which I would recommend going is a frozen yogurt place in Bethesda. I cannot remember the name of the place but it some of the best frozen yogurt I have ever had! All the flavors are very good but the best flavor, in my opinion, is mango. It actually takes just like real mangos have been mashed up into frozen deliciousness! Then all the wonderful toppings you can add to your frozen yogurt, my personal favorites would be the addition of fresh strawberries, blackberries, and just a scoop of mini chocolate chips. Now, the reason why I am so blown away by this frozen yogurt place is because in Vermont we do not have just frozen yogurt place, we have Ben & Jerry’s because it is originally from Vermont. I mean of course Ben & Jerry’s serves frozen yogurt but nothing like this place!

Unknown Disparity

A group of student from my class did a presentation on DC disparity. Something which this presentation did for me was reminding me how passionate I can get about two things, inequality and education.

In a really weird way it is normal to hear about disparity in other countries but when you hear about disparities in the United States it seems odd, because honestly how could disparities happen in a place where the American Dream was formed with a white picket fence? Isn’t the United States supposed to be the place where dreams come true not shattered?

I really cannot stand to see or hear about large inequality in the United States education system because I see education as a way to change the social/economic class you are in, so when that is taken away from the individuals who need it the most it makes me so angry. How can the government district schools in such a manor? Public education is free so it should be a good and equal one. There should not be equalities caused by the division of districts which are created by the government.

Something which I had never considered when looking at disparity was the access to food. Now this is not in reference to lack of money causing people not to have food it is about not having grocery stores in areas of poverty. I never knew that this occurred; it was something I never even considered. So many poorer communities are left with small convenient/liquor stores which also sell groceries to shop at for groceries but the issue then is the quality of food and the high price of food at these convenient stores. Area lacking a grocery store would be called a food desert. I also cannot believe that society does this, creates a food desert for those who need affordable food. I mean this is ridiculous for a society which preaches not to have inequalities but then creates them.

There is a shocking amount of disparity here is in Washington DC, the nation’s capital, which is unknown to many people.

Learning New Things

Something I was uninformed about was female genital cutting. A classmate of mine did a presentation on female genital cutting, but do not worry I do not get explicit about the process.

So, some things I did not know about FGC, one there are different versions of Female Genital Cutting. Two it is normally largely celebrated in the villages or communities of an entrance into womanhood. Three it is led by females in the villages and the communities. Four some girls, who are old enough to choose, really want to have FGC performed on them.

I was very surprised to learn the social factors which o along with FGC. This was portrayed very well in a documentary we saw directed by a woman who returned to her native area of Africa to partake in a FGC ceremony. I learned a lot from the presentation but my opinion I drew from it was some reforms should be made to the process of FGC in my personal opinion. Such as having the procedure of FGC postponed until girls are of an age where they fully understand the procedure and what it means and then make the choice themselves if they want to go through with the procedure. Secondly I feel the procedure of FGC should be medicalized. What I mean by this is that it should be done as a fully medical procedure with sterilization and proper medical tools etc. Now for both these things to be accomplished they cannot be just imposed on a society. It has to come from the community; there should be educational services about child rights and also about health issues related to FGC so that it can be the community’s choice to implement these reforms not imposed from outsiders onto their society.

Now I do not want you thinking this was a one sided panel with only supporters of FGC there were also two speakers present who opposed FGC. Honestly I found these speakers to be attacking and not open to ideas or opinions outside of their own. I felt they were very stuck in their own ideas without being open to other. I see this attitude to be very detrimental to having change actually occur in the world because people will not accept something forced upon them. But all in all it was a great presentation which I learned a lot at!

Child Soldiers

For a class presentation I studied the issue child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One of the biggest issues facing the DRC other than the actual issue of children being used as soldiers is the issue of disarmament, demilitarization, and reintegration. I feel the reason why there is so much failure in the DDR programs is because there is such a push from the western worlds on what they think the children need. Where rather there should be discussion with locals and formal soldiers on what they think former soldier reintegration programs need.

One thing I think is needed is forgiveness and love. I think forgiveness and love allow someone to go back into society and be able to cope with the actions or crimes which the child soldiers committed.

The entire act of children being taken to be soldier is really horrible. It honestly makes me so angry because it is taking the innocence of a child can be one of the worst crimes.

Something I learned from this project was how there really is not discrimination against taking girls too. For some reason I felt girls were raped and then left not take as sex slaves or into the militia. It is upsetting how much information is out there about boy child soldiers but how little information out there on female child soldiers. I just wish there was not such one side of a story told but both sides and everything is exposed.