November 2012
3 posts
Progressive Transgressions: Shattering Gender...
After dinner with friends- two Rwandans, a Malawian and another American- a few nights back, the new Rwandan acquaintance (let’s call him Emmanuel*) inquired about the topics I write about in The Independent. I scurried into my apartment to snatch the latest issue where my piece, Accelerating Change, is featured in the Business section. In the article I highlight female motorcycle taxi...
“People tend to consider being vulnerable a bad thing. It’s not. Vulnerability...”
– Jodee Blanco (via internal-acceptance-movement)
October 2012
3 posts
Verifying Vote(r)s
The U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda recently popped my absentee voting cherry. Anti-climactic as it was, I now agree wholeheartedly that new voter ID laws in states such as Ohio, Arizona, Florida and Virginia are indeed to disenfranchise left-leaning American citizens rather than to mitigate voter fraud.
Conservatives sensationalize the threat of fraudulent voting on domestic territory despite the...
The Musliman in Rwanda: unrecognized heroism
Ishyo Arts + The Goette Institute is Kigali’s cultural hub. Weekly events range from film screenings to musicals and Brainstorming Sessions; all are free (musical notwithstanding) and open to the public. Thus far I’ve been blown away by Rwanda’s first live musical and impressed by Rwandese cinema as it grapples with state opposition and influence and limited technological...
Tutsi na Jehud (The Tutsi and the Jew)
Two days after arriving in Rwanda, my ThinkImpact peers and I were welcomed to our communities during a rather large community meeting. Local leaders discussed development objectives enshrined in Rwanda’s Vision 2020 and introduced the ThinkImpact team to the community members. Patrick, Audrey, Lazri and I briefly introduced ourselves and our backgrounds to our audience of 500+. We formally met...
September 2012
4 posts
Kibera's "Shining Hope"
Kibera is known as Africa’s largest slum, housing between 170k and 1M residents in makeshift homes along unpaved ground for miles. No one knows the official count because there hasn’t been a “legitimate” census attempt in decades. Ironically, the slum is located in the southern corridor of Nairobi, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Nairobi’s famed Silicon Savannah.
The matatu ride into Kibera...
Asha's Guide to Bucket Bathing
When was the last time you stripped down to your skivvies, bathed under the stars in the moonlight and prided yourself for conserving water? If you bucket bathed, you’d experience it much more often.
I understand that the idea of bucket bathing is daunting. When faced with the ultimatum, I asked myself: How am I supposed to fit into a little bucket? How can I feel clean by washing with a fraction...
Gender doesn't mean Women
I’ve been passing the time by reading the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2008-2012 for Rwanda (EDPRS). [Nevermind that it’s not normal for people to read national economic development plans for pleasure…] As I read, something caught my eye.
The EDPRS reports: ”Gender parity in net primary enrolment had already been achieved by 2000/01 and now the rate is slightly higher...
August 2012
9 posts
Context is Everything
I remember one day during my first week in the village my peers came to join us for lunch and my brother pulled me aside, informing me that lunch was ready. Since I was his sister, it would be my honor to serve my brother and our guests. Doing as I was told, I scurried along between the kitchen and dining room probably six times to deliver dishware and utensils; pots and pans full of rice,...
Bridge Through Rwanda
Bridge2Rwanda (B2R) is an organization that connects Rwandan students with American universities by preparing students for standardized examinations like the SAT, ACT and TOEFL. B2R also supports students with the application process, identifying and acquiring scholarships, linking accepted students with American churches and even families for homestays in some cases.
B2R’s scholars aspire to...
Manifesting Change
I will change the world. I will do so through passion, thoughtfulness, patience, compassion and critical engagement.
I will change the world through intention. By being mindful of my environment, my company, and what I represent (intentionally and otherwise) and by taking small, incremental steps towards my ultimate goals, my intentions will manifest in the people and processes with which I...
Hello Moto
From gripping my driver’s torso on a 0.5 km transfer in Kigali to a hands-free 5 km scenic ride from Butare (Huye) to Maraba, my first week of autonomy in Rwanda has brought about an affinity for Rwandan moto taxis.
First of all, they’re safe. Every approved moto taxi driver carries a helmet for his passenger. They also take heed of the speed limit and don’t take many risks or perform...
Little Balls of Energy
What is the solution when there is water to be fetched, a phone to pick up from a charging station, or an urgent message must be relayed while Mama cultivates or prepares a meal and Papa is working or playing igisoro?* The obvious answer: have the nearest child, who is often a family member, do it. In Rwanda’s rural villages, this is what happens when there is a deficit in technology and a surplus...
Until next time, nshuti!
Saying goodbye should be a celebration – a time to appreciate sharing perspectives and experiences with new (and old) friends, and be grateful for the opportunity. It should be an impetus for processing how others have impacted us and perhaps how we impacted them, regardless of whether our interactions transpired in a matter of minutes or were prolonged over years.
My two months in Nkomangwa was...
Mamas Rwanda
My mama wakes at 4:30am to pray, and begins cooking breakfast shortly thereafter. She prepares meals throughout the day for me and my brother, but also for a variety of family and community members who seem to drop by at random. Mama rarely joins us at the dinner table; rather, she sits in the kitchen or hallway by herself or with abana. In her lifetime, she put 4 of her 7 children (3 girls and...
Innovation as Spectacle
Innovation is breaking free of the status quo by doing something that hasn’t been done before. It is taking a new approach to a problem or opportunity, re-envisioning a process or identifying a new target market. Anyone can be innovative, but it is often helpful to engage many stakeholders with interdisciplinary experience.
The crux of innovation is actually being innovative, which is quite the...
Symbolism and Practicality
Weeks ago I arrived early to an open space, “the tree” we call it, to lesson plan and read debate material ahead of scholars. I was shaded by two large trees in a rather large patch of grassy space between homes and cultivated land. It’s a public space that doubles as a meeting center for our team as well as community meetings, where people gather, sit on the grass and discuss a variety of...
July 2012
3 posts
Quilting: One Patch @ A Time
Community is the essence of life in rural Rwanda. Social networks are the threads that bind the social fabric together, weaving people’s goals, desires, assets and needs. A patchwork of family, friends, and neighbors fabricate tailor-made systems of support that provide livelihoods, care, nourishment and enrichment. If someone is hungry, they must look no further than their neighbor’s kitchen;...
What Did You Learn Today?
Every afternoon my group of scholars meets to prepare for the following day, participate in workshops and information-sharing, and process the days’ events and their experiences. In an effort to organize their thoughts, each individual shares the activities they completed, fun facts they’ve learned and challenges they’ve faced. This cross-pollination of information bears many fruits by producing...
In Pursuit of Mindshift
Understanding what TI is requires one to know what we are not. We are not missionaries, a development agency, NGO, MNC or traditional study abroad program. We do not subscribe to the “aid” or “trade” paradigms – meaning, we do not focus on responding to needs and deficits, nor do we attempt to influence policy or exploit international trade inequities and dependencies. We are not experts or...
May 2012
3 posts
December 2011
1 post
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must...”
– Elie Wiesel
September 2011
3 posts
2 tags
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8 tags
“The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly...”
– Tom Robbins (via sunflower-soul)
August 2011
9 posts
2 tags
Political Language: Those Depraved Poors. →
ilyagerner:
What separates sophisticated conservative commentators/politicians from the hacks is the ability to re-frame a good old fashioned “screw the poor” agenda into the language of freedom, responsibility, and the American way. But that takes work! Which is why sometimes, the mask falls off and it’s…
1 tag
“There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a person being themselves. Imagine...”
– Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
3 tags
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Thoughts on... slouching towards beirut: reverse... →
We see rape used as a weapon of warfare. We discuss rape as sexual assault in cities and towns. We are often not confronted with contemplating how the threat of rape is used as a mechanism of control.
Rape is one of the most penetrating of violations. In the aftermath, often survivors retain psychological scars much deeper than the less permanent physical ones, which effect their daily...
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank...”
– Invictus by William Ernest Henley.
7 tags
WatchA pithy introduction to our (well, my) very serious internships and work in Beirut.
*Be forgiving when watching my clip :)
beirumi:
Here is the CityAsLab class trailer I edited for Adriana.
CITY AS LAB is an interdisciplinary graduate course and field program that hybridizes social science and design research methods to read, map, and shake up the urban fabrics of Beirut and New York...
"Gender Equalizer" Entry - City as Lab Course...
Graduate Program in International Affairs
Concentration: Development
Educational Background: B.S. in International Business, Psych Minor
Professional Background: Project Manager, Rainone Enterprises; Board Member, The Eli Home
Favorite Food in NYC: Dosa
Favorite Food in BEIRUT: Kibbeh & Tabbouleh
CAL Project
I <3 PROSPECT HEIGHTS BECAUSE__________ BUT IT COULD BE BETTER IF...
July 2011
17 posts
The Lebanese Madam / Mister Training Academy →
Nasawiya and the Migrant Worker Task Force team up to bring Lebanese Madames and Misters the opportunity to undertake training for the proper treatment of their domestic laborers - genius! I wonder what enrollment will be like…
“The Lebanese Madame/Mister Training Academy seeks to teach Madames and Misters how to treat a domestic worker who comes to live in their home with respect...
Researcher Beware ->The Inca Paradox: did they... →
MDF’s article brings to light the complications associated with cultural assumptions, innovativeness and creativity. In other words, cultural relativism often blinds us from the nuances of a foreign culture but also its more blatant and obvious characteristics like the development and use of written language.
meredithdf:
It has long been thought that the Incas did not have a written...
Male Feminist & Ally - Lessons from Cairo →
Alex Shams is a friend of mine who I was introduced to through Nasawiya and their Migrant Worker Task Force campaign. He also administers the Qaweme Sexual Harassment Blog.
He concisely expresses his inspiration for beginning the Qaweme SH blog- an epiphany on the streets of Cairo in the middle of the night, realizing that his friend- a female- was unable to experience the freedom he felt...
Lebanon Think Tank Solutions - Ghana Think Tank →
I’m proud to have had lovely participants for the Ghana Think Tank’s Lebanon Think Tank, finding solutions for problems in Corona, Queens, New York!
Founded in 2006, the Ghana ThinkTank is a worldwide network of think tanks creating strategies to resolve local problems in the “developed” world. These think tanks analyze the problems and propose solutions, which we put into...
29 Life Lessons →
Really fantastic commentary about life and lessons learned while travelling over a period of 8 years.
Read. Internalize. Evolve.
“I don’t know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is trying to...”
– Bill Cosby
Bananas and Boda-Bodas: Visitors are gifts,... →
“I slowly realized that everything we had eaten had come from her garden and was prepared outside. All the veggies, fruit, juice, and stews. It made me think how urban farming and “slow food” movements are so trendy right now in America when people in other countries adopt these habits out of tradition, lack of formalized food systems, lack of money, and convenience. I’m not saying we...
“A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will...”
– Greek proverb (via abrindisi)
WELCOME to Lebanon: A new user's guide
I recently realized how accustomed I have become to the Lebanese way of life. A friend of a friend was in town and myself and my friend found ourselves repeating “Weeelcome to Lebanon” in response to our friend’s experiences that highlight instances that may be considered novel elsewhere but are in fact part of daily Lebanese life. Just a few examples to illustrate:
Blackouts...
Every tribe, every tongue, every nation: Ubuntu →
A beautiful and concise delineation of Ubuntu.
This entry captures the most integral aspect of my ink. The colorful tattoo on my hip- a symbol of Ubuntu incorporated into snowflakes- depicts my uniqueness and the beauty of being an individual distinct from anyone else; yet I am inextricable from my fellow humanity. “I am because we are.”
latikaaaa:
“If I diminish you, I diminish...
