is this an end or a new beginning?
I have most definitely reaching a new landmark on this journey of mine, and thus I would like to take this opportunity to do a quick recap on what has been and how I got myself to this spot.
I am impulsive, I like to dive into things (with some logic and a lot of heart) and make action happen. Thus when I applied to be in the Beyond Borders program I was doing just that... DIVING IN, again with some logic and a lot of heart. I still have no clue what part of my interview made our program director decided to accept my application. Was it my previous travel experience? My interest in helping others? My interest in working with people with disabilities and making prosthetics? I am not sure I will ever know, but I would like to think that she saw a glimpse of great potential for positive change within myself that would benefit from some direction. When I look at the other members of the program I see great diversity among us but perhaps that thread that ties us all together is the interest in developing our natural gifts and selves so that we can better serve others.
One of my fellow students once asked me (for a video he was putting together) what were three words I would use to describe the Beyond Borders program, and I think I came up with something like this...
- Connections
- Insight
- A-breath-of-fresh-air (I know not quite one word)
... looking back I might also say.... A-lot-o-hurdles (one word)
This program really has been a lot of things to myself. It's focus started on the issues of the past and some present around us in the world. While these things were complicated they were also for the most part historical fact (although in some cases intertwined with bias) and thus were easily tangible. As we continued to read through the course material, lead presentations and discuss what we had read we began to see gaps and areas of improvement both locally and abroad. These gaps seemed often vast and solutions were less tangible and hard to fathom. Following, we saw the development of red tape, not so much in the bureaucratic sense but rather red tape created by cultural norms, varying opinions, values ect. Will there ever be a solution that is acceptable to all and effective? That is hard to say, but what most people strive to find when attempting to make change.
I began to understand the world around me and value not only the 'doing' and act of making action but the value of learning and understanding the process and letting your understandings and your formation of solutions naturally evolve from the world around you. I can't deny the fact that I really do not enjoy reading about things... but I have seen its value and will strive to involve it continually in my learning process.
While this stage (which was pretty much our first term) was interesting I have a very hard time committing to it and immersing myself in it... although I knew the placement abroad which I wanted so much was riding on my mark from this course. There were a couple road blocks in my way in this stage of my journey. Firstly, was my self induced stress and lack of time. This passed fall term myself and a couple other students from uWaterloo started up a club, Right to Play, where I became the lead, during this same period of time I was working a full time job and volunteering as a coach with Special Olympics. Being busy seems to be my nature but mid way through this term I was quite aware I had overexerted myself. In the span of about 10 days I was overseeing/running Think Pink activities, the lead organizer on a fundraiser for RTP and assisting in our Beyond Borders Music for a Mission night. E GAD. I had taken on a lot of responsibilities and was in deeper than I had been for a long time. The other reason that I had a hard time committing myself to the first term of Beyond Borders class was that I didn't want to risk investing myself in a cause that I might never get to experience. I really don't fully understand my reasons for this but I think I just didn't want to get my heart broken if it didn't work out.
The second term was a term of experience and more self discovery. We spent out time volunteering and blogging primarily with some group discussions here and there. Our volunteer placements were at the working center (a place I have grown to absolutely love and respect) in various areas. I was stationed at the Queen St. Common's Cafe. I can see reasoning behind the inclusion of a local volunteer aspect of the portion: learning about stepping outside of our comfort zone.. and the now famous phrase 'getting comfortable with being uncomfortable'. I think one of the things that really sticks with me about my time with the working center is the new prospective I was given from my time there. What do you think about when you think of Kitchener? I think a lot of people, especially those who were raised in Waterloo, see Kitchener as a run down and slimy. While some of this may be due to town rivalry but i think a lot of this stems from the fact that there are a lot of people who are begging on the streets. I saw that as a bad thing as I am sure a lot of other people did... but from my volunteer time with the working center I saw this situation in a totally different way. These people are in Kitchener because they have people in Kitchener who see them as people and open their doors to them and thats a beautiful thing. I think its interesting how we judge who is deserving of love and appreciation and who is not. I started thinking about this more to while at the working center and talking to my Beyond Borders friends about my experiences and theirs. Just because people may have mad some wrong choices, been taken down the wrong path or had unfair road blocks or experiences thrust into their life doesn't make them less worthy of love and appreciation. Our worries and insecurities should not keep us from reaching out to others who are different than us.
After all, as they say in Kenya "mtu ni watu" (a person is people)
I am very in tune with my emotions and accepting and understanding of them, however looking ahead the thing that worries me most is how my low moments will be interpreted by others. I hope that like I try to be, others will understand that I have my imperfections and that makes me no less of a person.
-------------------------
on another note
-------------------------
with the help of LOTS OF AMAZING people I have not only raised the $2000.00 to the Beyond Borders program I needed to go on this international placement but I have raise an additional $1400.00 !
I am VERY proud of everyone who made a contribution and happy to say your money will go towards great things for people who are in great need.
With this additional money I have been able to purchase a bunch of sporting equipment (jerseys, balls, pumps, pillions, goalie gloves) and equipment for the rehab clinic I will be volunteering at (braces, bandages, gauze, assistive devices, tensor bandages, resistance bands). I also have received a huge pile of shoes, some rugby balls and jerseys and shirts from special olympics. I also still have $300 which I will be using where I see fit while in Kenya. I really hope that we find a great way to use these materials fairly and in a way that is as sustainable as possible.
---------------------------
on another note
---------------------------
The one thing that I am still most worried about is how I will act to the ill treatment of people who I will grow to care about or even to people that I don't know at all. As I felt before I feel as though my approach will be to empower those who are being dis-empowered to the best of my abilities rather than confront the people who are dis-empowering these persons. There will be lots of updates on this topic to come.
Flying out in 2 days :)
Cannot wait to experience the world.
See you soon Kenya
- Connections
- Insight
- A-breath-of-fresh-air (I know not quite one word)
... looking back I might also say.... A-lot-o-hurdles (one word)
This program really has been a lot of things to myself. It's focus started on the issues of the past and some present around us in the world. While these things were complicated they were also for the most part historical fact (although in some cases intertwined with bias) and thus were easily tangible. As we continued to read through the course material, lead presentations and discuss what we had read we began to see gaps and areas of improvement both locally and abroad. These gaps seemed often vast and solutions were less tangible and hard to fathom. Following, we saw the development of red tape, not so much in the bureaucratic sense but rather red tape created by cultural norms, varying opinions, values ect. Will there ever be a solution that is acceptable to all and effective? That is hard to say, but what most people strive to find when attempting to make change.
I began to understand the world around me and value not only the 'doing' and act of making action but the value of learning and understanding the process and letting your understandings and your formation of solutions naturally evolve from the world around you. I can't deny the fact that I really do not enjoy reading about things... but I have seen its value and will strive to involve it continually in my learning process.
While this stage (which was pretty much our first term) was interesting I have a very hard time committing to it and immersing myself in it... although I knew the placement abroad which I wanted so much was riding on my mark from this course. There were a couple road blocks in my way in this stage of my journey. Firstly, was my self induced stress and lack of time. This passed fall term myself and a couple other students from uWaterloo started up a club, Right to Play, where I became the lead, during this same period of time I was working a full time job and volunteering as a coach with Special Olympics. Being busy seems to be my nature but mid way through this term I was quite aware I had overexerted myself. In the span of about 10 days I was overseeing/running Think Pink activities, the lead organizer on a fundraiser for RTP and assisting in our Beyond Borders Music for a Mission night. E GAD. I had taken on a lot of responsibilities and was in deeper than I had been for a long time. The other reason that I had a hard time committing myself to the first term of Beyond Borders class was that I didn't want to risk investing myself in a cause that I might never get to experience. I really don't fully understand my reasons for this but I think I just didn't want to get my heart broken if it didn't work out.
The second term was a term of experience and more self discovery. We spent out time volunteering and blogging primarily with some group discussions here and there. Our volunteer placements were at the working center (a place I have grown to absolutely love and respect) in various areas. I was stationed at the Queen St. Common's Cafe. I can see reasoning behind the inclusion of a local volunteer aspect of the portion: learning about stepping outside of our comfort zone.. and the now famous phrase 'getting comfortable with being uncomfortable'. I think one of the things that really sticks with me about my time with the working center is the new prospective I was given from my time there. What do you think about when you think of Kitchener? I think a lot of people, especially those who were raised in Waterloo, see Kitchener as a run down and slimy. While some of this may be due to town rivalry but i think a lot of this stems from the fact that there are a lot of people who are begging on the streets. I saw that as a bad thing as I am sure a lot of other people did... but from my volunteer time with the working center I saw this situation in a totally different way. These people are in Kitchener because they have people in Kitchener who see them as people and open their doors to them and thats a beautiful thing. I think its interesting how we judge who is deserving of love and appreciation and who is not. I started thinking about this more to while at the working center and talking to my Beyond Borders friends about my experiences and theirs. Just because people may have mad some wrong choices, been taken down the wrong path or had unfair road blocks or experiences thrust into their life doesn't make them less worthy of love and appreciation. Our worries and insecurities should not keep us from reaching out to others who are different than us.
After all, as they say in Kenya "mtu ni watu" (a person is people)
I am very in tune with my emotions and accepting and understanding of them, however looking ahead the thing that worries me most is how my low moments will be interpreted by others. I hope that like I try to be, others will understand that I have my imperfections and that makes me no less of a person.
-------------------------
on another note
-------------------------
with the help of LOTS OF AMAZING people I have not only raised the $2000.00 to the Beyond Borders program I needed to go on this international placement but I have raise an additional $1400.00 !
I am VERY proud of everyone who made a contribution and happy to say your money will go towards great things for people who are in great need.
With this additional money I have been able to purchase a bunch of sporting equipment (jerseys, balls, pumps, pillions, goalie gloves) and equipment for the rehab clinic I will be volunteering at (braces, bandages, gauze, assistive devices, tensor bandages, resistance bands). I also have received a huge pile of shoes, some rugby balls and jerseys and shirts from special olympics. I also still have $300 which I will be using where I see fit while in Kenya. I really hope that we find a great way to use these materials fairly and in a way that is as sustainable as possible.
---------------------------
on another note
---------------------------
The one thing that I am still most worried about is how I will act to the ill treatment of people who I will grow to care about or even to people that I don't know at all. As I felt before I feel as though my approach will be to empower those who are being dis-empowered to the best of my abilities rather than confront the people who are dis-empowering these persons. There will be lots of updates on this topic to come.
Flying out in 2 days :)
Cannot wait to experience the world.
See you soon Kenya
Emma this is an amazing post! I can see that you have grown so much over the past few months and I am so grateful I got to know you while in this program. You will do absolutely incredible things over the summer and I can't wait to read/hear about them!!! Good luck and keep smiling!
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