Plan of Action Letter

This class has been so enlightening to me, I truly cannot think of another EWU course that has created the same energy as this one. The topics discussed, projects presented, and rich conversations we all had made this less of a college classroom, but more of a community of learners. As a learner in this community I was exposed to complicated subjects to analyze and study. The broad and immense topics we discussed of culture, family, geography and borders, and war and peace carried me to a new understanding on so many levels. We discussed the varying meanings or definitions we connected with this topic and how we see it in our world today. We spent several class periods gazing into the lives of the characters in our books and putting ourselves in their situations. This was probably my favorite aspect of this class, just delving into the literature and exposing ourselves to the heart wrenching events created through the pages. It is an eye opener and has pushed me to want to read more multicultural texts. The various projects we partook in the classroom opened my eyes to the wide range of people we encounter in our everyday lives. For example, the museum displays showcased every individual in our class personally. Just as one person in this large world, I feel that my participation and knowledge that I gained from this class will open many opportunities in my future success. Just being aware of new perspectives and canceling out prejudices towards others allows me to create a brighter and more open future.

 

My plan of action is to keep my place in the organization CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. The premise of this organization is to take court cases involving abused and neglected children and represent them in court by conducting home visits and phone calls to make sure the children are in the best care possible. At the beginning of the quarter, I was struggling to make the time commitment it took, yet I really needed to stick it out for the best interest of the children I was working with. I realized in this class, there is nothing more important than being a part of something bigger than yourself, so I have decided to take on another court case. It will be hard, seeing as I just got a new job, but I feel as if the commitment can keep me thinking about all the unfortunate cases around the world that we have spoken about this quarter. Overall, I am really appreciative of this course. It has been an eye opener and I am extremely fortunate I have been able to be a participant in this class.  

Artist Statement

 

 

In this blog post, I was able to find various pictures of graffiti depicting struggle and innocence, which in my opinion were a couple of the themes in this class. I was able to find pictures on Tumblr, which is a blog posting website. I decided on including the pictures with my artist statement, so people are able to see and understand why I picked the pictures I did. 

 

 

 

 

This is a picture that reminded me of all the lost families we create by putting up borders between our countries. This picture of a family fleeing the area they were in for a new one can dramatically change by adding a kite. By adding a simple children’s toy into the picture, the illustrator transformed the image of a frantic family running for their lives to a joyful family running towards their dreams. Everyone should have a chance at their dreams, no matter where they live or how they were brought up. When I looked at this picture, thoughts of Sold came to mind, as well as Crossing the Wire. All the children were doing was trying to find a better life to support their families, just like this picture depicts.

 

 

 “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence” is a phrase everyone has heard a countless number of times. This picture represents that quote with the representation of borders. Crossing the Wire is the book that came to mind when I saw this. The side that you’re standing on is dusty, full of weeds and remorse, but the other side is clearly where you want to be. Blue skies, nice water and a beautiful island. We have learned in the class that something like that isn’t what is always welcoming you on the other side though. Unfortunately it can be extremely backwards and something as horrible as never seeing your family again could be the outcome.

 

This one struck me, because I think it can fit with every single book we have read this quarter. The phrase “money makes the world go wrong” is the main focal point in this graffiti, but also in the books we’ve read. From Kampung boy, where they were trying to raise money for their child to go to a nicer school and receive an education, in Sold where a child was sold into sex slavery for money to “help” her family, in Revolution is not a Dinner Party when having money wasn’t something that was okay in the Cultural Revolution and you were beaten and taken away from your family, in Crossing the Wire where making it in the United States was going to save your family because you could send them the small rates you were making, and finally in A Long Way Gone where a child was to succumb to fight for a corrupt military revolving around the diamond industry. In every one of these stories money seems to be what everyone needs, yet has a very hard time achieving. Does money solve all of your problems? Or just like this graffiti, is it just wrong?

 

 

         With this piece of graffiti, I see the innocence of children. The child drawing the quote, “You’re never too young to dream big” looks to be very young with her stature and characteristics. I feel as if children need to remember this phrase and keep it with them always. This also correlates with the innocence of children, which I think is ripped away too easily, especially with all of the stories we have read this quarter.

 

           I love this quote. It is one of my favorites, even before this class. At this particular time, it reminds me of all the children we read about in our stories this quarter, who have had all of their goodness taken away from them. In my opinion, these children did not survive. They will have something haunting them for the rest of their lives. They will always be cautious on what they do, and when they do it, rather than have the free spirit like this quote implies. I could also see this as maybe speaking to the children who grow up too fast, like a most of these children in the stories as well.

               

 

 

 

 

A Long Way Gone

It was really hard for me to read about child soldiers because as an advocate for children, I never like to read about children struggling or losing their innocence, which I have done this entire quarter. I could never imagine risking it all for the thought of a corrupted government, and seeing as a child was put out there to do just that is mind blowing.  A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah was an extremely graphic and depressing story of children put into the Sierra Leone Civil War. Before researching this story, I didn’t have any background of how being a child soldier was like, let alone the dangerous country this story took place in. One of the many issues I had with this story was how the soldiers became so dependent and addicted to marijuana, cocaine or any other forms of drugs. Ishmael is only twelve years old! Yet he has a dependency issue of a middle aged man. To see a child struggling with an addiction was really hard for me, seeing as I have never seen a young child participate in such risk taking behaviors. He was becoming just another dangerous killer in the war. The way he thought the war and all the horrifying things that come with it is simply the way of life was heart breaking.  The brainwashing that went on throughout this story was upsetting. I also was really upset that he had no recollection if his family was alive or dead after the RUF destroyed his village. I may have my difficulties with my family, just as anyone would, but to never know if they were alive or dead after something like that happens would be the end of my world.

I was really excited once the story took a turn for the better, as UNICEF rescued the boys and placed them in rehabilitation centers. I feel as if this wasn’t available for the boys, there would have been no way of changing their ways of thinking about themselves or the war. Ishmael was able to realize that the war wasn’t his fault, and was trapped in a position of tragedy. He is now able to contact and spread the word to others and educate on the war plus the effects it played upon him growing up.  

My ending thought is the fact that these things all went on, and when I grew up, I had a very easy life in comparison, though I would always complain that my life was difficult. I could never imagine being put in any of the shoes we’ve read about this past quarter, and knowing that these things are going on today make my stomach ache. I have a lot to think about before our final project, and I hope to be able to wrap my head around all the stories we’ve read to make an honest decision on how I would like to live the rest of my life.

Sierra Leone

              Sierra Leone is a country bordered with Guinea, Liberia and the Atlantic Ocean. The Capital is Freetown with the official language being English. The 2013 estimate of population is 6,190,280 people. Education in Sierra Leone is legally required for all children to at least have six years of primary level school, and three years in junior secondary education, but since there has been a shortage of schools and teachers, it has been near impossible to implement those regulations. The Sierra Leone Civil War resulted in the destruction of 1,270 schools and left 67% of children out of school. Something I found interesting is the government has instituted free health care for pregnant and lactating women, plus children under the age of five. Seeing as the infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, the health care can help and save children from dying. During the Civil War, many soldiers took part in atrocities and many children were forced to fight. This left them traumatized, with an estimated 400,000 people (by 2009) being mentally ill. Thousands of former child soldiers have fallen into substance abuse as they try to blunt their memories. Mental health care is still not a service offered in the country five years after the Civil War ended in 2002. Mental healthcare in the country is almost non-existing; many sufferers try to cure themselves with the help of traditional healers, some of whose practices can be useful.

             The Sierra Leone Civil War that took place from 1991 to 2002 when the Revolutionary United Front intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. Joseph Momoh was the president of Sierra Leone from 1985 to 1992, where he pretty much destroyed all of their economy. Sierra Leone got to the point where they could not afford to import gasoline or fuel, which resulted in the country looking electricity for months at a time. Momoh efforts did nothing for the country and he was overthrown in 1992. During the first year of the war, the Revolutionary United Front took control of large portions of territory in east and south Sierra Leone. There were various changes in the war, especially the South-Africa based private military company which was hired to in March 1995 to repeal the Revolutionary United Front. In March of 1996, Sierra Leone installed an elected civilian government and signed the Abidjan Peace Accord. There was so much danger going on in the country, over 50,000 people have been killed to date and over one million have been displaced. Each side has used a large number of children soldiers. As a possible, but fragile, peace deal had been agreed to in 1999, this made a bit of media attention. The UN-brokered peace deal however fell under much criticism. Human Rights Watch, for example condemned the UN on this peace deal because it would give amnesty to the rebels for their human rights abuses. Even Kofi Annan tried to clarify that while peace may have been agreed to, this does not give amnesty to anyone for human rights abuses. However, the Sierra Leone government has the "sovereign right" to do this, leaving the UN with a weak excuse to concede that it is not a perfect situation, but it is all that can be done to prevent the war from continuing.  At the beginning of July 2000, the United Nations Security Council decided to impose an 18 month ban on diamond imports from Sierra Leone, since diamonds have been fueling the conflict. I read that Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet it has the richest natural resources and minerals.

Revolution is not a Dinner Party

             As someone who has very little knowledge of Asian history and backgrounds, Revolution is Not a Dinner Party came as an incredible shock to me. This is the case with all the texts we have read so far, but this one in particular really struck me. Familiarizing myself with the time period and culture of the area was a challenge for me. Also I found myself sympathizing with several characters in the text, but could not truly visualize the events happening. Yet, Ling’s relationship with her family, classmates, and revolutionaries in China showcase her growth as a young child, struggling through this intense time in Chinese history.

            Recognizing this setting that Ling was in, was extremely difficult for me. I found myself involved in her story, but could not completely understand. I tired to familiarize myself of this history through the help of Google, but I still got lost. Though I had this challenge, I still read this book as the young adult fiction book that it is. Realizing Ling’s perspective of her surroundings allowed me to further feel her pain. For example, when Ling makes the connection between her mothers long white rope, and the long white rope around the baby doctor’s neck she fears for her mother’s safety. This then leads to a commitment to protect her mother. Again, the same theme follows where the child is looking out for the parent and it truly breaks my heart. This challenge led to yet another challenge of visualizing the surrounding of the text.

            I enjoyed Ling’s nicknames for certain people in the book such as Chopstick, Short Legs, and Mouse Eyes. It gave me the insight to her innocence, which I feel as if she was trying to hold on to that for as long as she could. Since so much of reading comprehension develops through visualizing the story’s world in one’s head, the story became more of a challenge. Though I had this struggle, I overcame it when discovering the varying relationships Ling had with the people around her.

            Ling has a distinct relationship with her father that shows how much this country is struggling. Honestly, when a doctor can be thrown in jail, but still be kept close because of his impeccable surgery skills, there has to be something wrong. So Ling’s relationship with her father develops and when he is snatched away from her, her world is turned upside down. Now feeling like she needs to take care of her mother, she does things such as lie to get meat. Survival is a great theme across many of the titles we have read, but this one especially. More people that Ling has good relationships with have been taken away from her such as Mrs. Wong and Nui. She also has a difficult relationship with her classmates; she has difficulty socially in school with fitting in. Violence ensues when her peers push her over the edge, which causes more trouble for Ling and her mother. Fortunately, Ling gets to reunite with her father and the story has a sense of closure.

            Overall, Revolution is Not a Dinner Party showcases several historical hardships that Ling struggled with, but it happens to be that it helped reach the destination of some sort of peace within herself and family. Though I had challenges with this book, I mainly feel that it is a great selection for children to take part in reading. It gives insight to a preteen’s life that is unlike many that we encounter in our lives.

           

           

China and the Cultural Revolution

                Quick Facts

                -China’s Capital – Beijing
                -Official Language – Chinese
                -Population – 1,350,695,000 people
                -GDP – 9.182 Trillion

                Off of the top of my head, I do not know much about China, but with research I was able to gain knowledge that I was unaware of. First of all, it’s not just China, it’s the People’s Republic of China. I found it interesting that China is governed by the communist party, with the government city being Beijing. Since the economic reforms, China has become one of the world’s fastest growing major economies. It has the second largest GDP and it is also the world’s largest exporter and importer of most goods. Also, it has been recognized as a nuclear weapons state and has the world’s largest standing army with the second largest defense budget. I found that crazy, and as a good rule of thumb, don’t mess with China. I looked into the schooling regimen of China, which is composed of primary and junior secondary school which lasts together nine years. About 82% of students continue their education at a three year senior school, which I would think would be comparable to the United States High School. In February 2006, the government pledged to provide a completely free nine- year education, including textbooks and fees. I thought that was great, seeing as families struggle to send their children to school, this wouldn’t be a problem anymore. I found it interesting that the life expectancy is about 75, but the infant mortality rate is 12 per thousand. That is getting better since the 1950’s, but they all seem to gravitate around malnutrition and stunting. China has a horrible pollution problem which doesn’t help that most of the population engages in smoking cigarettes. The air pollution has caused the population to become densely populated and in 2010, air pollution cased 1.2 premature deaths in China.

                I learned a lot from researching the Cultural Revolution, seeing as I didn’t know much before. The Cultural Revolution was a social-political movement in 1966. The goal of the revolution was to enforce communism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society and of course, impose Maoist orthodoxy within the party. Mao alleged that bourgeois elements were infiltrating the government and they needed to restore capitalism. Millions of people were persecuted in the violent factional struggles that ensued across the country, and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and seizure of property. Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of the military leader Lin Biao in 1971. After Mao's death and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976, reformers led by Deng Xiaoping ended the Maoist reforms associated with the Cultural Revolution. In June 1981, the Central Committee announced the official verdict: "The 'cultural revolution', which lasted from May 1966 to October 1976, was responsible for the most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the Party, the state, and the people since the founding of the People's Republic." Overall, I think this sets up the book “Revolution is not a Dinner Party,” really well and I can’t wait to discover the insight of a family who had to go through such a horrific thing in culture.

U.S. Immigration Policy

Let me begin by stating: Immigration & the whole system behind it is completely foreign to me. Fortunately, all of my family is here in the United States, and my heart breaks for the families that are separated by borders. I found a really great website that gave some insight of how the U.S. immigration system practices, and to my belief it’s a lot more complicated than I thought it was. There are six different categories people can fall under.

1-      Family Based Immigration- This allows U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents bring certain family members to the United States. Unfortunately you must be an immediate family member, and there are different requirements the person in the United States must uphold. One thing I found interesting is that you must be 21 or older to petition for a parent to come to the U.S. What happens if the child came over legally, but the parents had to stay in their home country? That child is without parents until their 21^st birthday. That is a ton of milestones missed out on.

2-      Employment-Based Immigration- These types of visas are temporary, allowed for people to come to the U.S. on employment. There are various types of these employment-based visas, ranging from visas for athletes, to diplomatic employees to migrant workers. There are only 140,000 visas per year, and they are divided into five categories depended on the job you are providing. I thought it was weird that there is a cap on how many people can come into the country. I didn’t know that before, and I still find it odd.

3-      Refugees and Asylees- I thought this category was thought provoking. This allows legal admission for people who are fleeing persecution or are unable to return to their homeland due to life threatening conditions. The different ways you can define those conditions are persecution due to race, membership in a social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Each year, the president determines how many refugee admissions they will allow. It has seemed in the last 3 years refugees admitted in the U.S. have fallen dramatically.

4-      The Diversity Visa Program- This was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act which was a channel for immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. I found the way they choose who comes over with a diversity visa a bit strange; you must have a high school diploma or have a minimum of 2 years working in a profession requiring at least 2 years of training or experience. Then a computer generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for the visas. They are split up into six geographic areas with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration.

5-      Other forms of Humanitarian Relief- Temporary protected status is granted to people who are in the United States, but cannot return to their home because of a natural disaster, extraordinary temporary conditions, or ongoing armed conflict. The visa is granted to a country for six, 12 or 18 months and has the ability to be extended.

6-      U.S. Citizenship- I think this is by far the hardest to get. You must be 18 years old, demonstrate continuous residency, demonstrate “good moral character”, pass English and U.S. history and civics exams, and pay an application fee, among other requirements. I don’t even think I would be able to pass a history exam, let alone display good moral character. (just joking, I’m a pretty good person)

 

Overall, I think the immigration policy is confusing, However, I see that it is necessary to have in this country. I can’t wait to dive deeper into this subject in class, and learn more about the people this effects all around the world.