Exposure initiates a call to action. My exposure to a global education through the Semester at Sea circumnavigation voyage sparked a passion for social justice and international human rights which inspired all of my professional and academic aspirations. The four months I spent encountering diverse cultures around the globe introduced me to people bound by constraints that forced them to make sacrifices rarely required in the United States.
In mid-February, we ported in Accra, Ghana for three days. Dirt coated my skin and aromas of smoked fish, sewage, Cayenne pepper, and fresh peanut butter engulfed my senses as I played with four year old Mariama. In the center of the Makola Market, we played hide and seek and danced to music only we
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I traced my fingers over walls that imprisoned thousands of people herded and auctioned as animals. Whether by the acrid smell of the subterranean dungeons or the injustice of it all, I struggled just to keep breathing. One concrete wall housed a quote. It read, “Until the lion has his historian, the hunter will always be a hero.” That evening, I watched Ghana fade into the horizon and I decided to dedicate my life to the pursuit of social justice.
Exactly one month later, I stepped out of a white Honda in Jaipur, India, to meet my host, Amit. Over homemade Basmati rice and Masala tea, Amit shared that years earlier he had left his village, and had a relationship with a woman in a lower caste. Amit’s father insisted that Amit end this relationship and agree to an arranged marriage with an appropriate woman. Amit agreed. I asked Amit how he felt about the arranged marriage. He spoke highly of his wife and said his father knew best. I met Amit’s father and his family when he invited us to visit his village. In order to reconcile my aversion to the caste system with the kindness of Amit’s family, I suspended my pre-conceived notions about right and wrong and examined the nuances of traditional practices within their specific cultural context.
The Semester at Sea voyage crystallized my passion for social justice and international human rights. Fueled by that
For the last 17 years my father has worked with nonprofits to bring education to refugee camps in the most forgotten places on earth. He goes where the most basic services that we take for granted are lacking. All his efforts are made under the premise that education is the most liberating assistance of all. This early awareness of the abysmal inequalities that exist in the world has profoundly influenced my character and worldview. I carried out a variety of service activities in high school, all focused on helping leverage educational opportunities. My volunteer work allowed me to put my
The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).
Hank’s physician assistant Divya Katdare, is of Indian decent, who’s parents to do not approve of her working in the medical field. Instead, her family sticks to the traditional Indian cultural roles of arranged marriage, which eventually falls apart and becomes shunned by her parents for a time for not obeying their wishes. In this instance, we can see the cultural values of the United States beginning to shine through. Freedom to choose and marry whomever a person wants is a cultural norm and something that is prided upon by Americans. As a culture, we tend to look down on cultural traditions where individuals are forced into arranged marriages. This also goes along with stereotypical views of Indian culture. If their children do not obey the parents, they suffer from being shunned by their
Senior Sela Davis decided to go on this trip because she knew this would have a bigger impact on her than going on another vacation. This experience was more than she expected it to be,
I failed a chemistry class, even with tutoring, meetings with the teachers, and at home tutoring from my roommate who was attending EWU as a Biology/Chemistry major. The disaster of that course, diminished my thinly restored confidence and I fled. I took up an opportunity to become an expat and live in Lebanon. The first summer I was there, I witnessed the war between Palestine and Israel, only a country away. The impact my experiences changed how I viewed privilege and what I had taken for granted back home. I felt ashamed at what I had so readily given up in self-pity and comparatively meager issues. Thus, after teaching English for a year and traveling, the profound realization of how imperative my education was towards helping the world become a better place sank in. I wanted to go farther than I ever had but this time I was going to do it right. My life became an awareness of the worlds pain, its need, and my insuppressible desire to solve it. I moved back to Chewelah after nearly a year and a half in Lebanon, and with a wholly renewed
These aspects in my life have fueled my love of international travel and inspired me to follow a career where I could help those who can’t help themselves. Inspired me to work for organizations such as the U.S embassies, or the United Nations, specifically UNICEF. Both serve different
As a first generation Indian-American, I am no stranger to being a part of a distinct community while observing two unique cultures. Traveling to India exposed me to a dynamic population with rich diversity comprising of numerous languages and differing religions. Though these individuals may have had differing customs from their neighbors, there were similar ambitions to conquer grinding poverty. This poverty can be clearly noticed by seeing citizens sleeping on floors of a railway station, or the lack of air conditioning in searing hot weather. The frailty and mortality of the human condition was starkly visible in India. As a fellow human, I was humbled not only by the lack of privilege and opportunity of many citizens, but also by their
Ali explained to me that in her Hindu culture and religion, it was custom to have a marriage between two people arranged by the parents. My shock turned to confusion; I had only heard of arranged marriages in movies and books. Not something seen in real life. I was used to a culture where the majority of the population is Catholic and Hispanic and couples choose each other. Since she’s my friend, my first thought was concern for her happiness in an arranged marriage after living in the United States for so long. How much of our culture and customs has she absorbed and what impact will it have on her “arrangement”? But, she then mentioned she was happy and excited because she knew and liked the person whom she is set to marry. My concern for her arranged marriage dissipated; I knew that what may not seem normal for me was normal for her. So, I also came to realize the important part here was that she was happy. I didn’t know it then, but those thirty minutes around lunch table altered my views and they were forever changed for the better. It also exposed me to a small part of the world outside of my non-diverse border
This joint family, like any social organization, must face problems such as acceptable division of work, relationships and specific family roles. These familial relationships are managed on the basis of a secular hierarchical principle. In fact, all Indians owe respect and obedience to the head of the family, who usually is the father or the oldest man of the family community. In The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder by Nanda and Gregg, it is explained that, “females [are] placed under the perpetual guardianship of first their fathers and elder brothers, then their husbands.” (Nanda & Gregg 22) Thus, all the spending decisions, studies and profession, or marriage, are exclusively the responsibility of the father after the possible discussions with the other men of the family. Age and sex are the basic principles of this hierarchical system. The eldest sons enjoy greater unchallenged authority than their cadets. Of course men have more authority than women, but older married women have an important role within the family. In fact, the authority of a woman depends on the rank of her husband inside the group. Traditionally, the wife of the patriarch rules over domestic affairs and has considerable power over the other women in the community, especially her daughters- in-law.
As poverty, terrorism, hunger, and economic crises escalate, I believe it is essential for me as a student to possess a deep human desire to contribute to my school, community, and ultimately, the world. Because of my profound attributes, I am able to promote leadership, develop character, and create enthusiasm for academic excellence. I was chosen as a candidate to display academic prestige but I perceive it as an opportunity to offer my exemplary efforts of scholarship, leadership, service and
To Americans, Africa is this enormous, frightening continent that is to be avoided like the plague, unless we want to look caring and knowledgeable. NoViolet Bulawayo provides several examples of such attitude in her award-winning novel. While still living in Zimbabwe as a young girl, Darling and her friends are often hounded by non-governmental organizations and news stations desperate for pictures of those starving African children everyone always hears about. They show up with cameras and apathy when Darling’s town is destroyed by bulldozers and when they hold a funeral for a man murdered for advocating change (p. 69, 137-138). And at one point in the novel, when Darling has already lived in America for a while, she is cornered by a sympathetic white woman in the bathroom of a wedding.
Over a million people continue to suffer discrimination, degrading treatment, and violence because of caste association. The caste system is based on structural inequalities between high and low cast untouchables involving social isolation and exclusion from participation in social, political, and economic developments of society.Dr. Susan Bayly, an expert in the field, defines caste as not the
In part one of the experiment, Flourene (0.1 g, 0.0006 mole) was measured and added to a 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask. Next, 10 M of NaOH (7 mL, 0.2 mole) was added to the flask with a ½ inch stir bar. The mixture was stirred until the fluorene dissolved completely. Then, Stark’s Catalyst, Aliquat 336 (5 drops) was added to the solution. The color of the solution turned yellow and two layers formed. The reaction was then stirred vigorously. Next, a comparison TLC was conducted against the starting material in a 20% dichloromethane and 80% hexanes solution. The reaction stirred for 5 minutes and after that a TLC was conducted. The mixture was not complete and after another 5 minutes another TLC was conducted. Next, the reaction was poured into a separatory funnel and the organic layer was separated from the aqueous layer. Then, 5% HCl (5 mL) was added to the separatory funnel to wash the organic layer, this was repeated two more times. Next, saturated NaCl, Brine (5 mL) was added to the separatory funnel and was drained. The organic layer was then poured to an Erlenmeyer flask and Na2SO4 was added to dry it. The organic layer dried for 5 minutes then a gravity filtration was conducted to remove Na2SO4. The filtrate was collected in a pre-weighed 100 mL beaker (46.7208 g). Na2SO4 was rinsed with toluene (3 mL) twice. The beaker was labeled and placed in the hood.
Nurses play a pivotal role in urban communities, when it comes to health care and disaster planning. Nurses need to comprehend their role in response to terrorist events, since they implement assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the victims of terrorism, as well as disaster planning and response, at both the individual and community level. (Gebbie, K., Qureshi, K. 2006) The threat of terrorism has become a major issue for public health systems across the United States, and teaching urban and rural communities to plan ahead has become an important factor in disaster preparedness. Community awareness, education, and engagement can be provided not only through formal public health and public safety mechanisms and the local media, but also through a range of unique ways such as community groups, health organizations, and religious groups. These groups provide not only information, but also social support for participation in the planning and response effort that will help individuals stay engaged over time, even during times of perceived “low risk” when preparedness can become pervasive and forgotten about. Communities should carefully examine their own assets, and use them to build and plan a system to use if they were to ever have a disaster occur. When disaster hits, its inevitable, which is why planning ahead of time within communities is important to implement. A key asset is the relationships that already exist among potential planning partners in the community; these
Any Christian who reads the Holy Bible and studies to Bible knows many of Jesus’s as parables. The new testament is filled with numerous amount of parables which seem to be stories that Jesus told in order to get his message across. The word parable comes from παροιμιαν which means a figure of speech., and this is the way that Jesus spoke. "I have spoken to you in figures of speech; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but tell you plainly of the Father."(John 16:25) When Jesus spoke to the people this is how he spoke to them However, while it seems that these were simple stories it is apparent from the reading that Jess’s parables were methodically thought through with each being very precisely accurate in the structure of the stories. Moreover, followers can seem to have a different meaning to these parables because depending on the situation and relationship with Jesus that a particular person had it is possible for the interpretation may not match the next persons. Yet, Jesus has used these analogy to illustrate his point, people of Jesus time may have understood him better when the parables could be related to their every day lives. In the new testament of the Bible there is an astounding 46 parables. Of the 46 parables in the bible some of those are repeated within the other gospel but one which is unique to all the others is one parable the good Samaritan And these were important information that was needed in order for the