Would I Be Enchanted with Obama if he was White/Beige?

I was thinking about this tonight as I watched the tail-end of his acceptance speech.

Never before (except when I watched West Wing and that wasn't real... right?) have I cared what happened in politics in the 'states'. (Alright, alright, I admit it, I watched to learn who would win the second time GW won - what a sad day that was, for me, in Angola).

I've watched Hillary R-C and her husband speak and have been impressed by their poise and ability to rise to the higher purpose. All might not be forgiven or forgotten but they're all rowing in the same direction. Time will tell what difference that makes.

So back to the question. Some would say that we live in a world that has gotten past race/colour/ethnicity. But my experience in the world is that not everyone has moved past or come to terms or made their peace - whatever string of words you want to use for describing living in a post-race world. Have I moved past it is the more interesting question.

So how much does Obama's colour, his heritage make me follow his candidacy with such interest? Not too much, I think. I think it isn't his colour that attracts me to his ideas. Maybe at first it was.

How many of us were pleased when that 'great' nation to the south finally demonstrated that women and non-EuroCaucasian people are capable of becoming president? I know I was happy to finally see the nation live up to its rhetoric. But I remained captivated because of the message of Obama's campaign. It wouldn't matter if he was white (EuroCaucasian for those academically inclined readers;), beige, purple or green or if he was a woman or a man. What he talks about is what I miss from the leaders of the world.

Hope.

The ability to work together to overcome our common problems. Change for the higher good, not just the individual one. Hope that we are capable of making the world better and more just for more people.

It is the same message that Nelson Mandela provides; the same one that underlies what Al Gore has to say; the same message that Aung San Suu Kyi keeps alive for her nation (she is so patient!) and the same one that the Dalai Lama asks us to consider in his wonderfully gentle way. They know and believe that the same people who have worked together (consciously or unconsciously) to create the challenges we face are exactly the same people that are capable of coming together to create the solutions we will need.

So do I like Obama because he is black (African-American)? No... I like what he has to say and I want to believe that he will do as he says when he lives in the big white house. That is the challenge. Can he live the beliefs in a system that is not built for vision, for change?

I HOPE so.

Now if we could only find political leaders in Canada that were worth listening to (before we even consider believing in them). So much money wasted for so little meaningful change. (Sigh)

Real Life

I opened the blog this morning and realized that the 'ant picture' shouldn't be so all-defining.

Today we are all getting ready to depart Plaridel. Most of us have said, in one way or another, that we can't believe four weeks passed by so quickly. It has been an incredible experience in so many different ways. I'm sure all those ways won't be clear to us until after we've had some time and space to reflect.

Reflection has been a part of this course. We will (by the time we hand everything in) have written six reflective journal pieces and they will be worth 20% of the total mark. It has been interesting to attempt to be reflective in any meaningful way while in the midst of the whirlwind that has been this course. I hope our output has been interesting and useful for Nora. It has been great to have a small way to let off steam in the midst of the 'furnace'.

Here are some photos about how much fun this has been. Thank you to my eleven classmates and my small but terrible professor (I want to be YOU when I grow up!) for a unrepeatable experience!

Ingat!

ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, before we get too far, this is NOT a picture of

my arm and hand.... I just wanted a picture to

illustrate my story.

Our presentations went very well yesterday. It was an extraordinarily long day, probably due to lack of sleep than anything else. We went out afterwards for a farewell/birthday dinner celebration hosted by the mayor. The band sang Happy Birthday, danced, sang out loud and received a lovely chocolate cake (with another happy birthday rendition). It was a tiring, overfilled, overwhelming, wonderful, joy-filled stupendous day! And at the end of it I spoke to my friends in Toronto which was like a HUGE strawberry on top (don't much like cherries, esp. those nuclear preserved ones:).

I was in bed by one and woke up feeling refreshed.

When I was up I noticed everyone was still asleep and thought "maybe I'll go back to bed". I decided to take this very wise advice (I gained wisdom at the turning of the clock on my years) and returned to bed. I was straightening the sheets and pulled a loose cloth (that I keep on my pillow, as my hair makes my head sweat) off the pillow and underneath was a scene from SWARM! Teeney-tiny ants, just like the picture ALL OVER MY PILLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must admit, I lost it. I didn't scream or anything (everyone was still asleep) I shook my pillow, banged it against the wall to dislodge the ants and then actually started killing a few through my rough attempts to get them OFF MY BED!

What I can't understand is why they were underneath the cloth on my pillow? Mostly ants like to get something to take back to the nest. What is on my pillow that they want? I don't wear hair products, I don't use fragrance in this weather, my creams are with no fragrance..... And they weren't on my head (well, maybe a few) or on my body (again a few), they were on the pillow case of the pillow..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Maybe my sweat is that sweet? Isn't that a symptom for diabetes? JUST what I need!!!! No, I'm sure I'm fine but it is most perplexing. I also wonder if there is a nest near or in my bed frame. They enter into a small crack in the bed frame but I didn't pay much mind since they hadn't actually attempted to conquer/colonize my bed. But maybe that is it. I'm on their home.

Anyhow, whatever the reason, it ended my wonderful idea of going back to bed and I headed to sitting hunched in a plastic chair attempting to work on THE REPORT (I'm thinking of it in capitals now).

Each time I tell the story I shudder. A different shudder than the shudder that the flying cockroaches elicit but a shudder all the same.

Eeeeuuuuuue (how does one spell that?).

Hugs.

Reality and my Birthday

Today, in about four hours, we begin the end of our time here in Plaridel.

I woke up about an hour ago but two of my friends were up already, never having reached their beds last night! I like being up before everyone else. It is often the only time I spend on my own.

We will begin the morning at 8 am with prayer and the national anthem and then the "Municipal Development Planning Seminar" will begin!

Raquel and I are last, at 2 pm! We realize that, by that time, folks will be tired, hungry and ready to stop listening to us speak in English. Our presentation is short and sweet and involves a participatory exercise. Just to get people up and moving and to make a point about collaboration.

Last night (this morning?), at two minutes after midnight, everyone came to me singing "Happy Birthday"!!!! It was so lovely! Especially given how tired and stress people have been. It was a great way to begin this shiny new year.

This is a group photo we took after our presentations on Saturday. Just so you can meet the whole group! Our professor is the one in the middle with the long necklace.

Wish us luck!

50 Youth Shaken and Stirred

On Sunday R. and I put on a workshop for the various youth groups and organizations in Plaridel. In our research we were finding that it is not common for youth or leaders to collaborate, coordinate or socialize across group and organization 'boundaries'. We wondered what might happen if we invited 50-odd youth (no adults allowed) from a variety of organizations and across socio-economic layers to participate in a day long workshop to be held on Sunday.

The municipality/school system allowed us to use a large room at a local elementary school and we collectively (all of the UBC students) or we, Raquel and I, funded the supplies, drinking water, lunch and merienda (2 snacks). Food is important, here and everywhere.

40 youth showed up and it was like 'sock-hop' day (do they have those anymore?) in any elementary school - clusters of people standing close together, stealing glances at each other (and of course their cell phones as this is the texting centre of the universe). We eventually persuaded them to join one of the four circles around the room and the adventure began.

We had promised them fun because we wanted to demonstrate that you can learn and laugh/have fun at the same time. Some of the youth haven't been in school for a time and all of them spoke Tagalog better than English (if not only Tagalog!) and all of them were smarter than us in terms of what works in the Philippines.

Our objective was to mix it up as much as we could and have them participate in substantive exercises so that they would hopefully break down some of the barriers that seem to exist. We also wanted to collect information FROM them so the morning was split into four topic areas (Transportation and Land Use, Sustainable Livelihoods, Solid Waste Management and Informal Settlements) and the youth were consulted by our fellow students (7 of 10 of them were part of the day and we COULD NOT have done it without them!).

We made sure that all the exercises were participatory. I even transformed the 'Build a Racist Community" exercise into "Build the Cleanest/Most Polluted Community" for the Solid Waste Management group - it worked like a charm!!!

This is a picture of the Most Polluted Barangay (Neighbourhood) and the youth who participated in creating it. They are explaining to the group how rules, institutions and structures support the neighbourhood to be polluted.

There were some highs and of course, some lows. Trying to conduct a training in a participatory way is much harder when interpretation is involved. And even with interpretation, the exercise might not work. Roleplaying games were the most challenging to implement.

One of the fun games that was also about collaboration and teamwork was "Knots". If you've played it, you know what I mean, if not, try and imagine being in a circle with five to ten people

holding the hands of two different people across from you and then trying to untangle yourself without any hands getting unjoined!

The youth told us after that it was the first such training they had ever been to and asked if we would provide other training. They said they enjoyed meeting their peers but that this was only just the first step. They told us that they wish they had the skills to be as involved as they'd like to be in their country.

Random: Here is a video of youth associated with an "Out of School Youth" organization (some of them pictured above). They performed a number of dance numbers as part of our welcome (last week). I include it because they are so good and they only had a few days notice to create this.

I started this post on Sunday and I am finishing it on Wednesday. Today we had a meeting/workshop with the adults involved in youth development planning - municipal staff and NGO staff/volunteers were invited. It was a very good afternoon. I think we moved forward a few steps, both in understanding and planning.

None of the other groups are holding workshops or coordination meetings. R. and I have decided that the insanity that is this course has infected our brains, especially the self-preservation area. Seriously, how else to explain participating in a four week, six credit (one years' worth of credit in FOUR WEEKS!!!!) in a foreign country to conduct community-based research that results in a report to the municipal government AND then to hold two workshops for over 55 people! Given all of that, we are still pretty tickled to have gone "above and beyond" and know that what we learned from the workshops will ensure we write from a more informed perspective.

We present our reports to Mayor and Council on August 13 (my birthday BTW) and the actual reports are due on August 15 so the pressure is on! Everyone is being extra kind and gentle to each other because nerves are frayed and very few of us are sleeping well. Thankfully the weather hasn't been in extremes, we had a tropical depression turned cyclone for a few days but today was largely overcast with hair-curling humidity.

Stay well and let me know what you think!

Ingat (take care in Tagolog)!

Creepy Crawlies

If you've travelled, or listened to traveller stories, you know that bugs (along with food and bodily functions) are one of the mainstay conversation topics. I'm going to regale you with a few tales.

Along with bats (not really creepy crawlies) and ants (tiny microscopic ones and regular ones that are EVERYWHERE), this past week has seen the emergence of cockroaches in our room. We are in a 400+ year old church in the tropics so I think they were lurking around anyway but we started to see them in the past few days. Along with the normal creepy crawly ones there are big a** flying ones. In North America, if you live a relatively comfortable life, you probably have not run into these creatures. Those living in poverty and other conditions know well of what I speak.

Here, the ones I have seen are about the size of a tablespoon or bigger (described later), brown, with antennae and move quickly. The quick movements are part of the reason I personally don't like them. And the flying ones. I don't like anything that can land on my head. (big shudder)

My way of dealing with bugs is to always use a mosquito net. That way, I will always get a good nights rest knowing the creepy crawlies are only circling my bed and are not IN my bed. Once I am awake, I can deal. Usually I just absent myself from where they are, if at all possible.

In Vietnam, I had two that lived under the stairs. In the morning, I used to stomp, loudly, down the stairs and then stomp loudly nearby. They respond to vibrations and since they don't much want to be around humans, I figured that I was giving fair warning. Given my upbringing and belief in karma, I hate killing bugs unless there is no other choice or if I am completely freaked out. This happened the other night.

For someone who loves sleeping with a mosquito net, I don't have my own. I had planned to buy one but ended up borrowing one from one of the other women until she needed it and then borrowed one from another until everyone needed their nets and I was without one. With a plan to buy one the following day, I was being brave and hoping for the best. Until the TWO-tablespoon-sized flying cockroach landed across from my bed. In a few short minutes I was covered up, cowering (bravely, of course) under my sheets as one of the other women tracked and killed it (with many high pitched screams - HIT it again!!! It's still moving! Oh no, it's over there - QUICK!!!! I slept well knowing I was safe for the night (or so I told myself).

Another way to deal with them is to block up where they might live or come from. Duct tape works well (thank you Red Green!). My first night in Luena (Moxico, Angola) I got up to use the bathroom, flashlight in hand as the generator was off, I opened the door to my room and there were FIVE cockroaches on my door! (amazing what you can see in a split second) I shut the door, none too quietly, all need to relieve myself gone, tucked myself into my mosquito net and went to bed. The next morning I learned they might live in my door as there were several large (fist-sized?) holes in my door. So I did what all good Canadian girls do - I taped over all the holes with industrial duct tape! Never again did I repeat that exact experience. Of course I saw them elsewhere....

Last night two of the other women hunted several down with Death-in-a-Can. Considering we can quote chapter and verse about sustainability and environmental protection and the evils of aerosols and using chemicals, etc. it was slightly ironic :)

This morning I woke with the teeny tiny ants in my bed. Not sure how to deal with them. I make sure there is no eating in my bed space but who knows what I bring to bed. or is blown onto my bed If anyone has an idea of how to gently get rid of them, I'd appreciate it!