China: Shanghai
As a quick update, I went to China with a group of students and two professors from January 3rd through the 16th, we visited three major cities, to observe how the church and state function, observing communism and the new formation of the church of China.
We arrived after a long plan ride in Shanghai at about 8pm,we met our guides, Crystal and Cathy. Cathy was the official interpreter for the group, although Crystal had a great command of the English language. We drove for about an hour to our hotel, arriving and finally deciding that all of us would just crash, and see everyone in the morning.
The hotel was located about two blocks from a major shopping area, called "People's Park", which was basically a street blocked off from cars that held upper-class stores, very americanized stores, and nothing of true interest to any of us.
Our first full day in Shanghai was spent going to some of the more touristy spots in the city, and trying to obtain as much information and history as possible. We began our day at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is currently the tallest structure in the city, and has a observation deck at the top. The elevator races you to the 32nd floor, where the observation deck lies, as you travel around this 360 degree deck, you are free to see all of the city, including much of the Yangtze River. Upon looking out the windows we were quickly confronted with just how bad the smog is, as seen in this picture.
In the base of the Oriental Pearl Tower, was a museum full of Chinese history, briefly detailing much of the turbulent past of Shanghai. Following our stop here, we went back to the hotel for lunch in the hotel restaurant. Our first meal all together. We were confronted with a variety of foods, served family style on a lazy Susan, and shared by all. We had green tea with lunch, as there is no clean drinking water in China. Several foods included, lemon chicken, mushroom soup, blood soup (which had coagulated blood cubes in a spicy broth), rice, fish (with the head on or course), chicken (which has been boiled and cut into pieces leaving the head and feet in the bowl), and several other dishes. My only comment is that I survived, it was all delicious, and I am glad for the experience.
The afternoon was devoted to visiting a Buddhist temple, with the largest all white Jade hand-carved reclining Buddha statue. It was cool to see a different type of worship space, and to see the ritualistic bowing, lighting of incense, and praying to different statues that represent different aspects of Buddha. By far however the best part of being inside the Temple, was this: We all walk as a group into this quiet dark candle lit room,where there is a large Buddha statue and several people praying quietly to Buddha. Suddenly the Dean loudly says, "If you've seen one Buddha, you've seen em all." LOUDLY! I thought we were going to be killed right there. I was shocked by how undiplomatic he was for certain parts of the trip, but that is another story for another time.
The rest of Shanghai was great, we spent a lot of time touring the city, going to the headquarters of the Chinese Christian Church (CCC), going to East China Seminary, and also Fudan University. All were very enriching adventures, and we left Shanghai and headed to Nanjing by bus. It was a 5 hour long trip, as there is much traffic in China (over congestion of cars, trucks and buses- lots of migrant workers).
Life Update.
So I realized that I haven't actually updated on the millions (of course that is an exaggeration) of things that have gone on in my life over the past few months. I am going to list them here, and then tackle one each day for the next couple of days. Hopefully that will help me to reorganize my blog, and create a more functional view of everything that is going on in my life.
Here goes nothing...
1. China (done in three parts, one dedicated to each city)
2. Internship
3. Advocacy stuff
4. New Orleans planning/past
5. Summer plans
6. The Vagina Monologues and Week of Domestic Violence Awareness
Guess I should start today. :)
Labels: advocacy, china, internship, life, nola, summer, update
Human Trafficking [plug for the not for sale campaign]
Visit
The Not For Sale Campaign for more information on Human Trafficking and ways that you can make a difference.
Connections in Washington D.C.
It's all about the networking, not the Benjamin's.
I figured going to Washington D.C., for
Ecumenical Advocacy Days that I would recognize a few people, some of the other students I'm with would also know a few, and we would basically be making some contacts that could help us in the future. Little did I know, we would know a ton of people. I, unlike my colleagues, know the least amount of people here, but still somehow know a ridiculous amount of people.
I was able to reconnect with a bunch of contacts out of Albany, NY. Then I met people I know from home and from Gettysburg, plus there are the contacts that I have made thus far, conversations had with some lovely liberals, and the future of my ministry contacts has been forged.
So far I have made three really great contacts in the field of
human trafficking, plus another connection to the
World Council of Churches. I've talked to a ton of people who work in the
ELCA advocacy office, plus a bunch from
Lutheran World Relief,
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, and have gotten some ecumenical young adult connections. I'm excited about all of this for several reasons.
1. I'm writing my paper on Human Trafficking for my seminar on Human Rights.
2. I'd like to do some extensive work within the advocacy sector.
3. I think issues of social justice are what called me to ministry and thus I should be engaging myself in the world of advocacy.
The weekend was an eye-opening experience, lobbying seems to be almost a natural event in my life. It was awesome to be able to plan to talk to my representation, but a little overwhelming to have such a large agenda. Out of this weekend, I've realized I'd like to focus some of my attention and ministry to working with some NGO's about human trafficking.
I've been doing research for my final paper for the Seminar on Human Rights that I am in, but it seems to be drawing me deeper into the world of human trafficking, and advocacy.
The U.S. government estimates that some 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually and millions more are trafficked within their own countries. They are coerced into indentured servitude or bonded labor, bought and sold into prostitution, domestic servitude or farm labor and captured to serve as child soldiers. Approximately 80 percent of transnational victims are female, and up to 50 percent are minors. Most females are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation.
(Quote from
U.S.Department of StateI'd really like to be able to use my talents to help those in trafficking situations, to help lobby congress and the senate, and also to spread the message and awareness to the huge issue of human trafficking.
Although this post will just focus on Advocacy Days, I will dedicate my next post to trafficking, information I've learned over the past few months, as well as organizations to look up. Also when I complete my op-ed piece as well as my final paper, I will include some nuggets of information for anyone who wants it.
Advocacy days was a really great event, and I recommend it to any Christian who wishes to engage their faith in the public forum. I think it is important, especially for young adults, to realize that there is a connection to our faith in daily life, in the organization of the government, and that we all have a voice, and a right to say how we feel that country is running. I challenge everyone to write a letter, email, and/or call their representatives and question their choices on votes/ideology or anything of the sort. The government needs to be questioned, that's why we are a democracy! The government officials should be forced to follow what the people want, but they can't do that unless we step up and tell them what we want. If the only people they hear from are the arms dealers that call twice a week to push their agenda, they have no other option then to think that the American people don't care about gun control laws, safety in schools, or American diplomacy in Africa.
It's time to stand up! Stand up and realize we are being held up, we are being forced to be a part of a country that is aiding in the deaths of millions of people around the globe. We need to stand up and say no to the increase in military spending in the middle east, stand up and declare a new definition of what true security is, stand up and say that we want to create a more humanity based diplomacy instead of a military based one. So stand up with me! Call your representative, call your senator, tell them how you feel, tell them to change the priorities of spending, and tell them you won't go away, you are their people, you are their constituent and you represent a lot of others who feel the same way. Tell them you want people to have a fair chance at happiness, freedom and peace, you want people to be treated humanly, and you want them to take action NOW! Look up contact info for your representatives
here, courtesy of
Bread for the World.I am more then willing to explain to anyone the intricacies of letter writing, calling or even visiting your representation. So please ask, please do, please stand up!
The UN Commission on the Status of Women/ ECOSOW
This last Wednesday and Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Commission on the status of Women at the United Nations for a few days out of their two month long commission. It was an amazing experience, full of information, resources, networking, and passion.
Some background before I give my personal reflections.
There are generally
around 3,000 people in town for this meeting including governments, UN
staff, and NGOs. Many NGOs come with the expectation to lobby their
governments on "agreed conclusions", this generally takes place during
the second week of the meeting, and is done in caucus groups.
The Commission on the Status of Women (hereafter referred to as “CSW” or “the Commission”) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
The Commission was established by ECOSOC resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946 with the aim to prepare recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. The Commission also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights.
The Commission the Status of Women, is an important world-wide gathering. The Commission this year is focusing on Economics and the Status of Women, having many resolutions and conclusions coming up for revision. The
Organization of Ecumenical Women has worked hard to alter some of the language of the decisions, so that more compassion is included towards women.
During the Commission, I had the opportunity to attend various sessions on a multitude of topics. Due to my research on Human Trafficking I choose to attend sessions dedicated to this topic or about violence against women. Attending these sessions will hundreds of other NGO representatives was a great opportunity to learn more information, find out what other organizations are doing to bring awareness to these issues, and how the advocating is occurring on a international realm.
Being privy to the inside areas of the UN building, it was an awesome time to see that so many people are involved from various countries in organizing laws and understanding surround such important issues for society, and especially for women. It was a blessing to have seen the inner-workings, and hopefully to have the opportunity to be in that format as an official representative one day.
Overall, although I didn't get the opportunity to see any friends that live in NYC, I had a great time. I stayed at the
Seafarer's and International House, run by the ELCA. It was great to view this vital ministry to the people that travel to NY and have to find somewhere to stay.
As far as more information on Human Trafficking, I will post more links when I have some, and will also post my paper in a shortened form when I complete it by the end of this semester.
Blessings.
Labels: advocacy, ELCA, seafarers, Trafficking, UN, women
Our first full day in Shanghai was spent going to some of the more touristy spots in the city, and trying to obtain as much information and history as possible. We began our day at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is currently the tallest structure in the city, and has a observation deck at the top. The elevator races you to the 32nd floor, where the observation deck lies, as you travel around this 360 degree deck, you are free to see all of the city, including much of the Yangtze River. Upon looking out the windows we were quickly confronted with just how bad the smog is, as seen in this picture.
The afternoon was devoted to visiting a Buddhist temple, with the largest all white Jade hand-carved reclining Buddha statue. It was cool to see a different type of worship space, and to see the ritualistic bowing, lighting of incense, and praying to different statues that represent different aspects of Buddha. By far however the best part of being inside the Temple, was this: We all walk as a group into this quiet dark candle lit room,where there is a large Buddha statue and several people praying quietly to Buddha. Suddenly the Dean loudly says, "If you've seen one Buddha, you've seen em all." LOUDLY! I thought we were going to be killed right there. I was shocked by how undiplomatic he was for certain parts of the trip, but that is another story for another time.
