Thursday, March 24, 2016

Faces of Islam

Living in Ethiopia for over two years now has really opened my eyes to both the great opportunities in America but also to some great flaws of our country. One of those flaws in my eyes is the way the American Media portrays the outside world, or in reality doesn't portray the outside world. When was the last time you turned on the news and saw a story pertaining to any country outside of Europe? We have by now all heard of the terror attacks in Belgium but how many knew of the attacks in Turkey that just happened a week before? Or how many knew that in its last election cycle Saudi Arabian women were allowed to vote for the first time? Mind you I'm not giving any credit to Saudi Arabia for women's rights but the only stories we ever hear in America about Islamic countries or Muslims from any part of the world is that of terror attacks or ISIS. We rarely hear of the Muslims who are working to improve their communities or fight for human rights. Too many Americans have a limited image of what it means to be Muslim and that is:

Islam is scary.
Islam is terrorism.
Muslims are terrorists.
I do blame our media for only showcasing the negative side of a religion and exploiting the fear of the unknown. 
I believe that fear often comes from a lack of exposure. If you don't personally know or haven't personally been exposed to something it is common to feel fear towards it.
Living in East Africa for the past two years has granted me the opportunity to be exposed to many ideas and religions that are different than my own. I have seen communities work together disregarding religion all together.
I wanted to share with you some pictures of what a Muslim community I recently traveled to for work looks like. I wanted to give you a different view from what our media in America is constantly showing you.
For me Islam doesn't mean terrorism it means:

Curious children.

Moms learning about nutrition to improve their families livelihood. 

Acceptance of people who are different from you.

Laughter.

Smiles.

Children playing.

Education.

Take the time to educate yourself outside of what the media tells you to think. You never know what you might learn and who you might meet. 


Friday, March 11, 2016

Who run the world?

This past weekend I was lucky enough to participate in a Women First 5k run here in Addis... and by run I mean walk... Lets be honest...

The walk was completed by more than 10,000 women both Ethiopian and foreigners who hope to create more awareness about the problems women face in Ethiopian society.
Can you imagine 10,000 excited and energetic young girls and women all joining together for this great cause?
How could you not feel inspired walking/ running with all these incredible females?
Well let me tell you how....
Here in Ethiopia, as is in much of the developing world men seem to be feed with a silver spoon... meaning they think they can talk and treat women however they please.
Now mind you this is not all men here. I have met some amazingly kind men in this country.
The problem is the assholes are louder than the good guys.
Street harassment is a huge problem that women face here in Ethiopia.
I guess calling it street harassment makes it sounds like in only happens on the street which is not the case.
Mini buses,
compounds,
schools,
work,
stores
really anywhere you can think of women are facing harassment.
So here, as we banded together to show our pride and strength as women men were lined up along the way... you guessed it harassing us.
If you aren't used to dealing with people yelling comments about your body at you daily you might not understand what this can do to your self esteem and how you see your self worth.
Living in the city the harassment is greatly increased as compared to my village.
But as difficult as it is for me I can only think about the women here who don't speak out against it, who can't simply leave if it gets to be to much, and who don't have anyone they can talk about it with.


So now many NGOs are working to empower women, which is great don't get me wrong but when will start looking at the root of the problem?
The boys who think it is okay to treat girls this way. We need to begin to also educate and empower them to think of woman as more than just an object.

Please take the time to watch this short video that highlights the day in a life of a woman here in Addis. Mind you this is EVERYDAY life here.

That being said. Thank you to all the amazing men I have meet here who give me hope for the future. Who have showed me that there is so much good here.

Also a thank you the ladies I know who keep fighting for their rights and their dignity.
 

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Full Circle.

I have delayed writing this post for some time now.
Not because its not important but because it’s a difficult thing for me to write about.

As much as I love new adventures and new experiences saying goodbye is not something I’m particularly good at. To be frank I suck at it. All the feelings and emotions and the blah blah blah… Im just plain not good at it. I knew it was something I was going to have to do but to be honest I thought I would have a few months in which I could slowly start to take people to buna, thank everyone who has made my two years the best time in my life, and get to celebrate my time in Chitu. I thought “Three months to start goodbyes I can do that. I can process things in that amount of time.
So when I was told in the middle of January that I officially was not allowed to return to my site due to forces outside of my control I knew I would not have the time to process the feelings and emotions that I had been wanting to avoid.'

Let’s take a step back to May 2014 when we swore in as volunteers. The day we took the oath to become volunteers I was told I wouldn’t be going to site, due to protests that were happening in my region of Ethiopia. Peace Corps put those of us who would have to wait at Ras hotel in the center of Addis. At the time we didn’t think too much of it considering we had been in the country for a total of three months. Most of us were pretty happy to get to eat pizza and lounge around. One night stands out in my head. A group of us were sitting in a friend’s room eating misc. snacks from care packages when we heard a wedding outside.  We stuck our heads out the window just in time for some small fireworks to come flying towards our room. We quickly closed the window just in time for the fireworks to bounce off the glass. Around 11 days later we were given the all clear and allowed to go to our new homes.

Fast forward 19 months to December 2015. At this point I am 22 months into my 27 month service which is usually the time volunteers begin to wrap up projects and slowly start to say their goodbyes.  I was called on Dec 8th and told that I would need to come to Addis due to some protesting that was happening around my region.  PC had told me they were sending a car and would try to get to me that day. The following day they were able to pick me up from my site and bring me to the Capitol, Addis Ababa. Those of us who had been consolidated before figured we would spend a few days sitting around Addis eating pizza and would be going back to site the following week.  A month later still sitting in Addis… still eating pizza we began to wonder what was going to happen.  Would we be going back soon? Volunteers began going back to site as things calmed down and schools began again. Things were going back to normal in a lot of places. There just a few sites that were taking a little longer. Mine being one of them. After about a month and a half I sat down with the Country Director who told me it might just be a better option for me to begin my extension early.

It was such a mixture of feelings hearing I most likely wouldn’t be going back to where I called home.

I wouldn’t get those months to slowly start to say goodbye.

To have the buna with friends.

To have my farewell celebrations.

To explain to the kids on my street that I was leaving.

I didn’t get that.

I got three hours of frantically packing my house. 
Three hours of my neighbors helping me shove things in misc. oil boxes. 
Three hours of my mom shaking her head saying she wants me to stay. 
Three hours of kids in and out of my house asking when I would come back. Four days? Five days?
Three hours of my neighbors saying goodbye and hoping me the best.
I barely had time to run to my ag office and explain that I had to leave that day.
No real thank yous to my counterpart who always tried his best to include me.

I had three hours.

As those three hours came to a close and I drove away the children that I spent every day walking past, a few months teaching English, countless games, countless hellos, and countless smiles followed the car. Running after the car they yelled for me not to leave.
That moment was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. Try having 30 children run after a car begging you not to leave. When you yourself aren’t ready to leave anyway.

As I was sitting back at Ras hotel  consolidated for the second and last time I couldn’t help but think back to 19 months before that. How then I couldn’t wait to go to site… and now I wasn’t ready to leave. I was excited for my next year in Ethiopia and the challenges it would bring but also felt robbed of my goodbyes.


January also happens to be wedding season here in Ethiopia. I sat in my room listening to the chants of the wedding party outside of my room. As the chants continued I heard the sound of fireworks begin. A moment later I heard a bang and looked up in time to see a firework crash into my window. 

It was then I knew my service had come full circle. 
I was ready to begin the next adventure.