Peace Corps in Turkmenistan

I figured I should add some details about the country I'll be spending the next 2.25 years in to my blog. Turkmenistan is located north of Iran and Afghanistan and east of the Caspian Sea. It gained its independance from the former Soviet Union in 1991. The population is estimated at just over 5,000,000 and the country is about the size of California. Nearly 700,000 of those people live in Ashgabat, the capitol. It is a country where the national language and main cultural group is Turkman. The religion practiced by most residents is Islam. 4/5 ths of the country is a large desert. I'm slowly learning more and more and if you have questions feel free to ask! History of the country can be found on Wikipedia. It is fairly in depth for a country that many have not even heard of.

Updates....

I would like to apologize again for my terrible sporadic nature in updating this blog. So, since I was in NOLA I graduated from Hamline with a double major in German (with honors!) and Biology. And this summer I've been working at an afterschool summer school program in Burlington. It is a position that I accepted through AmeriCorps VISTA. A super awesome program that aims specifically at the very low income families in our country. I am responsible for organizing educational fun activities for a classroom full of kids who have just finished second or third grade. It is a joy to work with all of these students and many times rather frustrating.
I am actually finishing up my last week with the students and will finish my position as a VISTA in a week or so.
After that I will be looking for another job and hoping that one finds me.
And I recently was informed of my location for Peace Corps. I am headed off to Turkmenistan (a country north of Iran and Afghanistan) around September 28th. I will be there for two years and three months working as a Health Extensionist/Educator. I am really excited to begin and to truly following my heart and my passions around the world. I am also very nervous about leaving my family for such a long period of time. I know they are supportive of me (willingly or unwillingly) but it is still a challenge to leave those I love.
I will hope to keep this blog updated while overseas but have been told my internet access will be limited. So I shall see. I will for sure be sending updates home via my family and I'm sure they will dutifully post my updates. And that way everyone keeping a watchful eye on this blog will be able to travel with me emotionally! I wish you all well and I thank you in advance for the letters and positive thinking and emotional support!

It has been a while

I am very sorry that it has been so long since I've posted. I thought I would let you know what has been happening since the return from NOLA.

The trip to NOLA was amazing this year! I had the most wonderful group and I think everyone took something significant from the experience. I learned how much fun it is to be with a group of students that are learning new things and changing every day!

There was something I wanted to add about a trip that was taken the weekend before spring break. The Wesley Scholars (a group of students who focus on what social justice looks like in the average persons' life through study, reflection and action) took a trip to Washington D.C. There we participated in a vigil for peace by participating in the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership's Peace Witness. We had a day of non-violent training and workshops about the war in Iraq and the possibility of Iran, supporting the troops, and many other really great subjects. Then each individual chose a worship service to attend based on their individual faith background. There was a woman in the service I went to whose son died in Iraq, he was in the Pennsylvania National Guard. Her words were truly powerful! We then proceeded to the vigil which was held at Upper Senate Park where we heard leaders from all kinds of religions, broke bread together and held up hundreds of feet of rope with prayer flags attached. Then we walked to the Senate Hart Building where we held a vigil outside the doors and then inside the atrium. 41 people risked arrest including nearly a dozen clergy members from nearly as many different faiths. All of the individuals were arrested. It was truly an amazing experience. As Martin Luther King Jr. said in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.” These ambulance drivers are people who are willing to break the law (run a red light) for the higher good. During the weekend we also visited the Vietnam War Memorial, The Museum of the American Indian, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Overall the weekend was truly powerful and absolutely something I wouldn't trade, ever.

The weekend after spring break I was able to take all three of my cousins to go to see Spiderwick Chronicles. It was a lot of fun to spend time with family and finally be able to start to connect with my cousins who I have always felt almost estranged.

The following weekend the Wesley Scholars took a trip to Anathoth Community Farm in Luck, WI. This was an awesome experience. Anathoth works on three pillars 1) environmental sustainability, 2) non-violence and 3) community. The community has been in place for nearly my entire life. We were able to spend a little time learning a lot about many of the simple technologies that they have put in place to reduce their footprint on this earth. Their goal is simple; to be prepared for the shift in culture that is going to come soon enough due to the extravagant use of fossil fuels and the way we use this earth, and to educate others on ways they can be prepared and things they can do to really make a significant difference. Perhaps I'll talk a little more about this experience later. It was a lot of fun and I hope to spend some more time with the wonderful residents at Anathoth.

Through all of this I have been working hard on my honors project. The project will allow me to graduate with honors in German (my second major). The project is on the Armenian Genocide and in it I focus on the influences of three major countries (America, Germany, and Turkey) on the genocide. It has been a lot of work but I'm hoping it will be worth it. I have had many bumps in the road on the way to defending this work however. The committee that I defend my work to must consist of four people. Three of whom must be Hamline professors and one who should be an expert in the field from outside Hamline. The first person who I was set on suddenly passed away which left us searching for another. The second person felt she could not participate in the committee due to a quote I included from an Armenian genocide denier, however this individual didn't inform me at all and only informed my committee two days before I was supposed to defend. Therefore my defense date was pushed back until I could find a third and hopefully final outside person. I have found that person and plan to defend this work tomorrow afternoon. It is very exciting and I look forward to updating you on the progress made. There are several possibilities for how tomorrow will turn out. Each honors defense can either be failed, passed with major revisions, passed with minor revisions, or passed with recommendation. I have never heard of anyone who did not pass with either major or minor revisions and I am hoping for minor ones.

Another really exciting endeavour that I undertook was to throw an art opening for my sister. This happened just this past weekend. There were over thirty people who attended and she made over $400 off of the evening. Overall it was a lot of fun to see all of her art on the walls in my apartment and a lot of fun to see my sister so admired. I think it was an opportunity for a lot of people to see what myself and my parents have seen for a very long time. I really enjoyed doing it and I hope she did as well.

I think that's all for now. I am down to 11 days of classes left and two finals and then it is graduation time for me! I am really excited but nervous about what it is I am going to be doing in the future.

New Orleans, LA Part 1

Hello from sunny NOLA!

Today is Tuesday the 18th and we arrived here Saturday the 15th - it already seems like an eternity! We have done so many things and accomplished so much!

I'll give a brief overview of the what part of what we've done and then I'll spend a little time reflecting.

Saturday - Picnic at Audubon Park with members of First Street United Methodist (we have 10 Hamline students there) then we were dropped off at the site we are staying at. There are 20 students here. We settled in and a few people went out to the French Quarter.

Sunday - Woke up early! Went to the French Quarter for a Historical Cemetery Tour. We saw the grave of the reputed Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau along with learning a lot of history from Ernie - our guide. Then we drove to the upper ninth ward and got out and wandered in the neighborhood, talked to residents, etc. Then we drove to the lower ninth ward and did the same except there were no residents - I'll get into this more in the reflection part of this piece later. We then changed clothes and went on a swamp tour in which we learned a lot about alligators and had a chance to hold an alligator named Fifi - I'm sure I'll post a picture at some point! It was a very long day but we returned and made ourselves an amazing dinner and had some time to talk. In the evening several people went to Cafe du'Monde for Beignets

Monday - We were oriented in the morning by UMCORE (United Methodist Committee On Relief Efforts) this is who my group and Alicia's group are staying and working with for the week. Then we finally got our assignment which was painting an iron fence that went around Ms. Louise's house. We also got to do some gardening but that doesn't happen till later. Monday evening myself and the other leaders staying here went to dinner.

Today (Tuesday) - We went back to Ms. Louise's house and finished the painting and scraping and made several beautiful flower beds for her.

Check back later for my thoughts on all of these exciting endeavors!

More info on Kenya

The following is an excerpt from the paper I am writing as an independent study

Kenya gained its independence from Britain on December 12^th 1963. (Hassan) Since then Kenya has had three presidents. Jomo Kenyatta was president from 1963 until 1978, following Kenyatta’s death Daniel Arap Moi took over the presidency until 2002 when he was barred from running. Mwai Kibaki then won the presidency. And served one term then reran for the 2007 election. (Kenya)
In the 2007 presidential race the forerunners were Mwai Kibaki who is a member of the Party of National Unity (PNU), Raila Odinga a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and Kalonzo Musyoka who is a member of the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-K). (Kennedy and Hassan) Kenyan political parties are formed not necessarily around a set of beliefs as they are in the US, but around a candidate. (Matunga) New political parties are created every time there is an election. (Matunga)
PNU was formed in September of 2007 as a party for the current president to run under. PNU was created by combining several pre-existing parties, namely the Kenyan African National Union (KANU), National Rainbow Coalition – Kenya (Narc – Kenya), Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – Kenya (FORD – Kenya), Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – People (FORD – People), Democratic Party, and Shirikisho Party of Kenya among others. (Party of National Unity) Kibaki’s first term he ran under the NARC (National Rainbow Coalition). Since then NARC didn’t seem to want to support the president. And the newly formed NARC-Kenya was not well supported by various politicians in Kibaki’s cabinet. (Party of National Unity)
ODM and ODM-K were originally one party which was formed in 2005 as a result of the Constitutional Referendum. The party split into ODM and ODM-K in August of 2007. (Orange Democratic Party) Both parties retained the Orange Democratic Movement as a result of the Constitutional Referendum. On the ballot for the referendum a yes vote was represented by a banana which is also supposed to represent the number 1. (Hassan) A no vote was signified by an orange which also represents the number 0. (Hassan) The referendum failed by a mere majority of 58.12%. Thus the Orange Democratic Movement was formed to celebrate the win on the referendum. (Orange Democratic Movement)
Another interesting aspect of the election is that PNU only won 43 seats in Parliament. ODM won 99 seats, but if you count all of the seats won by PNU’s ‘co-parties’ PNU can control 78 seats. (Party of National Unity) Because ODM has the largest number of seats from any single party it is extremely important to develop a good relationship between PNU and ODM. (Matunga)
Another necessary understanding to the situation in Kenya is tribal differences. (Kennedy) Kenya officially has eight different tribes, unofficially the count is closer to eighty. (Odhiambo-Mabona ) The main tribes are Kikuyu – 23%, Luhya – 14%, Luo – 13%, Kalenjin – 11%, Kamba – 10%, Kisii – 8%, Meru – 8%, and Somali – 3%. Kenya is split up into eight provinces which are further divided into districts. (Odhiambo-Mabona ) It should not be surprising that the province lines lie extremely close to tribal lines. Also unsurprising should be the fact that different tribes support different candidates. Kenyatta and Kibaki are both Kikuyu while Moi was Kalenjin. Odinga on the other hand is a Luo. Most presidents then in turn favor their individual tribe providing more supplies, education, advancement, and better treatment. “Mwai Kibaki – whose policies of favoring his own ethnic group have marginalized about half the country” (Jettleman)

Next Instalment of Kenyan Politics

So, after Kibaki was illigally sworn into the presidency Odinga and his supporters were upset due to the suspected vote tampering and the illegal ceremony. Therefore Odinga called for rallies and demonstrations all around the country which were abruptly outlawed by Kibaki. Kibaki also is censoring all press. The Kenyan constitution allows Kenyans the right to peaceful assembly and free press as long as it isn't inciting violence.
There have been several attempts made to intervene and get these two people together to discuss options and it was looking like there was going to be a peace talk between Odinga and Kibaki and the African Union Chairman Ghanian President John Kufuor. These initial talks failed. More talks were scheduled but once again nothing seems to be working. One of the reasons these two men won't come together is that Kibaki appointed nearly all of his cabinet before the peace talks happened. One of the reasons for the talks was to get a government that had representatives from both PNU and ODM parties. Kibaki announced around 10 of the cabinet positions, the most important and powerful 10, and only 2 of those members were ODM party members. The vice president is ODM-Kenya (not at all linked to ODM - they are two completely different parties). Today is supposed to be the last day of the rallies Odinga called for and once again more people died. I read today in the Daily Nation (one of the Kenyan newspapers) six more people died, I believe this brings the death toll up to nearly 400 people since the 27th of December.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQuKg7iDvpo

This is a link to a video that aired on Kenyan tv on Wednesday, which was the first day (I believe) of the rallies and demonstrations called for by ODM and Odinga. I was in this area of Kenya on the 13th - three days before this video was taken. Kibera is partly inside partly a suburb of Nairobi and it is supposedly the second largest slum area in Africa with over 1 million residents in an area around 2.5 square kilometers (around 630 acres). That means the population density is around 300,000 people per square kilometer. If you've ever seen the movie The Constant Gardener Kibera is shown several times during the movie.

I'll post more in a day or two.

Return from Kenya

I just returned from a very exciting and interesting trip to Kenya on Tuesday. I was there a total of 13 days. One of the reasons for the excitement was the violence throughout the country that began following the presidential elections on Dec. 27th. I arrived in Kenya on the 3rd and there were still many areas in western Kenya that were ravaged with violence - burning buildings, using machetes to hack up people, burning vehicles, gunning down police, and many other violent acts. As a visitor to this country I strove to find out why violence was the answer that people chose, why they were angry, and to understand something about the politics of the country. I learned more than I could ever have learned in a classroom. The main reason people were upset was because of the results of the elections. The two main contenders were Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. Mwai Kibaki was the president in the last term and he was going up for reelection. He is a member of the PNU party (Party of national unity). Raila Odinga is a member of the ODM party (orange democratic movement). As I understand it the ODM party was created as a protest to the current administration. Kibaki won the reelection and Odinga and the ODM party was upset. There is speculation as to vote tampering and many foreign ambassadors aren't willing to congratulate either party in the win. The other rather curious thing was that immediately upon the electoral committee announcing Kibaki's win he was sworn into office during a secret ceremony.
That should be enough to keep your attention until I get a chance to write again and give more detailed information.

Thanksgiving

This holiday that comes around once a year is one for which I am always at a loss of words. I feel that the holiday should be used to show your thankfulness to people who matter in your life. I know this is something I should do much more frequently than I do currently, but I wanted to take this special opportunity to thank my friends and family.
There have been many experiences that I've had in my life that have shaped the person who I am today. Most of these experiences I have had thanks to my family and friends.
The first of those experiences I'll explain was my trip to Kenya. When I was in 8th grade my parents took my sister and I to Kenya. During this trip my entire view on the world changed. I left the U.S. looking at the world as it concerned me and started the trip with this very me vs. them mentality. I left Kenya and returned to the states looking at the world as one in which my role was to show others what a connected world we live in. That was quite the task to explain to my peers.
The next I think is the relationship I have with Leah. She has been my friend since the first day of 7th grade when she approached me on the way from English to Science (we debate if it was this way or vise versa). Anyway, she approached me and said in a terribly high pitched and excited beyond all reason voice, "HI, MY NAME IS LEAH!!! WANT TO BE MY FRIEND!!!" It wasn't that blatant but it really is quite entertaining when I look back on it. Anyway Leah has been one of those people that are there for me for EVERYTHING! Together we've been through loss of relatives, mild to clinical depression, loss of pets, as well as some of the happiest times in my memory. I love you Leah! Thank you!
I suppose another person who battles with Leah for that number one spot in my heart is my sister. She is and always has been there for me regardless of whatever it is I'm going through. I love her more than I could ever explain. She is three years younger than me, but I'm constantly learning from her. She is usually the first one I call when I get either good or bad news. She is one of the most energetic people I know and I feed off of that energy she has. I am really proud of my sister and love her so much! Thanks Scramps!
Katie would be another one I feel very thankful for. Katie and I met in 3rd grade and she always challenges me in every aspect of my life and the person I'm becoming. We don't talk as much now as we used to but every time we do it is just like going back to the beginning. I have learned so many things from Katie and truly am thankful for the relationship. I love you Katie! Thank you!
These are just a few of the people that I feel I owe thanks to on this holiday. Hopefully I will remember to thank them as well as the numerous other people who have helped to create who I am today.

To everyone whom I've left out of this list and will thank personally later thank you!
And to everyone - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!