The First 20 Hours

As summer is inching closer, we will soon have more free time --kind of. And before our practice experience, learning a new skill could be useful to prepare ourselves for the unknown future.

 I found this TedX talk interesting as it describes learning something new, which is what we do at Cal anyways, but learning about something you want to master is often forgotten as we become too busy balancing our academic and social lives during the school year.

The point is, learning a new skill can be difficult.  But how long does it take to master a skill?  According to Josh Kaufman, 20 hours of deliberate practice and learning to self correct is the key to learning a new skill.  20 hours is equivalent to 45 minutes a day for about a month.  It seems doable when described in this context.

Indian Development in the shadow of the 2014 Elections

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-development-for-whom/article5979241.ece

Currently in India there is a heated election for prime minister.  On one hand is the BJP's candidate Narendra Modi the Chief Minister of Gujarat and on the other is the Congress Party's Candidate Rahul Gandhi.  The Congress party that has been in power for more time has come to be seen as incompetent, corrupt, weak and focused on vote bank politics.  The BJP has come to be seen as less corrupt and far more competent but also more polarizing especially amongst minorities particularly Muslims.  A central topic in this debate is development particularly because of Modi's  track record of economic growth in Gujrat.  However, in this article the author points out how the debate on development lacks depth.  He lists various aspects that have not been included in the debate like participation of local groups, inclusive policies and how development is viewed.  The author claims because of this election cycles highly polarizing campaigns the divisions in India's societies along caste, gender and religion  are coming to head.  And all these divisions in society will translate to ultimately failed development policy because how can there be inclusive policies and enhanced participation of marginalized groups when people in these highly segmented groups see the government through such strongly held and divisive opinions.  This article is so relevant to me because of the political and cultural climate into which I will enter when I go to Mumbai for my PE.  It has also reminded me to take into consideration how inclusive and participatory my own PE is when approaching people along these divisions.

April 30, 1975

April 30, 1975.  This date has been engrained in my head since I was young.  Why?  Because it was the day that Saigon fell.  Viet Cong forces took over the city, and the country became communist.  Vietnam was a domino that fell.  And I honestly can’t write this blog without crying.

I remember that when I was young, I first learned about the Vietnam War when I was in the first or second grade.  Well, I’m pretty sure my parents told me stories before, but my memory fails me.  Anyway, I was sitting on the floor and my teacher was teaching about the war.  I don’t remember what exactly what she said, but I was left with the impression that Vietnam had “won.”  The Vietnamese army was smart with their tactics and used guerilla warfare to defeat the United States.  In my head, at that time, the War was between Vietnam and the United States, and I was proud that Vietnam had defeated the US.

[I know this is wrong, and this is most likely not how my teacher taught it to me, but this is just what I got out of it – I was still speaking a lot of Vietnamese at this time.]

I only learned later that Vietnam didn’t win.  It’s not that simple.  The Vietnam War was a war between opposing ideologies: communism and democracy.  And the United States had eventually withdrawn their support for anti-communism.

From a United States standpoint, the one I was taught in the American education system, it seemed that President Richard Nixon had no choice but to back out of the war.  American troops were dying and many citizens did not support the war.  People felt that too much money was being spent, lives were being sacrificed, and no progress was being made.  In addition, the United States was only there to train and support the South Vietnamese to fight their war on their own, so the US pulled when they felt the South Vietnamese army was “ready”.

But growing up, I learned a different perspective.  My parents were teenagers when the war was occurring.  My grandparents served in the war as a doctor, a nurse, and a dignitary of the state (that’s what my dad told me).  This war is a large part of their lives.  So, I learned from them that the US knew that they could not stand against the warfare of the Viet Cong, essentially the US was in a war that they could not win.  Therefore, Nixon decided that he just needed to cut his losses.  However, Nixon promised “peace”, and the United States was the most powerful country in the world, so this was easily thought as betrayal.

To this day, many people still feel this way.

Because when North Vietnam won and Vietnam was reunified, there was an exodus of people.  People left everything.  They had to.   And leaving was not easy.  Not under this new form of government.

My family members have their own stories, and they’re scattered in many places in the world right now because of it.  One of my uncles was caught on the shores of Vietnam twice and brought back to the city by force before he was lucky to be rescued by a Japanese ship on his third try.  He actually stayed in Japan for an entire year before making it to the States.  My aunt was pregnant with her first child and she actually gave birth to my cousin on a refugee island, officially a part of Malaysia or Indonesia (not quite sure which country it was).  Another one of my uncles was rescued by the United States, on a barge that looked like this:

Source: http://www.army.mil/article/81143/Vietnamese_DLA_employee_proud_of_heritage__U_S_/

I am not asking for anyone to feel sorry because countless other people have had similar stories like these.  I would just like to take a moment to remember.

Many of my family members have escaped Vietnam, but I am sure that there are people that want to leave but can’t.

On April 30^th, 2014, it was the 39^th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, a day that changed the lives of millions of people.  I was slightly peeved that many people here were more concerned about the 10^th Anniversary of the release of Mean Girls, but that’s okay.

But, on that day, my parents went to participate in a parade that celebrated the soldiers that were in the war and are alive today.  In addition, my dad went to protest against the Vietnamese government and Chinese influence.   They chanted, “Freedom – for Vietnam”.  I am so inspired by my parents and other family members that are still involved in things like this.  Even though they have been away from Vietnam for many decades and haven’t returned, they still have a sense of belonging to the country.

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/vietnam-612168-saigon-westminster.html

Many people still don’t know that Vietnam is constantly under pressures of imperialism.  There is constant worry and concern about whether Vietnam will be taken over by China.  This is why it is so important to have a strong economy and strong military.  My dad says that Vietnam could go to war at any time against China.

As of now, I would take to take a moment to remember the day that has been an integral part of my life (as it affected the people I love and I may not be here had it not happened), and the country I will traveling to for my practice experience.

The Posture to Learn

I started my practice experience at St. Anthony’s Medical Clinic on Friday morning.  I was not able to officially start because it was an orientation and info session as to what I will be doing.  When I entered the clinic, I was surprised.  I had only been contacting my coordinator via email, so I had never actually been in the clinic until then.   The clinic is one floor and tiny but comfortable enough that it won’t feel too crowded.  No one had visited the clinic that day, so it felt emptier than I expected.  I felt like it was going to crowded and somewhat hectic. When I realized I was surprised, I thought about what my expectations had been. Had I expected to see numerous patients? Had I expected the clinic to be larger?

In retrospect, I did expect the clinic to be smaller and I expected the patients to come nonstop.  I was making so many assumptions on how many people needed health care, and how many people were actually willing to seek it.  It’s sad to know that even though we try to keep an open mind as much as possible, there are always these subtle assumptions we don’t realize we’re making.  There is always going to be something we won’t understand, or something we haven’t considered because it’s impossible to know everything.

Somewhere along the way, as I emerge myself in a different culture, I know I will mess up. I’ll probably say or do something to offend someone because I didn’t realize the impact of my actions/words/thoughts/etc.  No one wants to acknowledge that they messed up, that they didn’t think it through, that what they did or said wasn’t out of line. It’s easier to ignore it and move on with your life. Sure, maybe no one really cares what I said.  However, forgetting to repent for what you did contributes to a system (a system of power, privilege, oppression, etc) that actively ignores its own flaws. Failing to recognize and apologize for the offense you’ve created means you become a part of a system that refuses acknowledge its inequality.

With that being said, I believe that entering a new space with the posture to learn is the most important mindset.  In order to do the work I do, I must accept the fact that I will most likely make a mistake or incorrect assumption, but this discomfort is where change can happen, it’s where learning happens. Apologize for the offense, hold yourself accountable, learn from the experience, and use it to make better choices. As I continue my work at St. Anthony I must learn to be comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable.

What GPP 105 Meant to a South Korean Girl

Since my GPP 105 course is coming to an end, I find it is necessary to conclude some thoughts on my experiences with this course. I was born in Incheon, South Korea, but began attending a boarding school alone since 10 in the states. And, I have been working with Women's Economic Agenda Project  (WEAP) in Oakland, California. WEAP is a non-profit organization that works with females from low-income background. 

Taking Prof. Robert Reich's Wealth and Poverty class during my first year at Cal had introduced me to the severity of inequality throughout the globe. Every time I set in his lecture, my mind was busy working with the concepts he introduced. However, working with social and economic justice advocates, and males in the feminist realm of urban development had taught me physically of how gender is imbedded into the structure of urban poverty. I began my practice with an initial understanding of the relation between gender and urban poverty, but the insights I gained from working with WEAP had taught me something new, and different from the countless scholarly readings I had done in my Feminist Theory class or in GPP 105. 

I couldn't understand what had been the difference between physically observing or listening to the cases involving gender, and scholarly reading about them, until I heard the news. The one about South Korean ship sinking. Yes, the one that still remains in the sea with corpses of innocent teenagers. 

It was my gender, race, educational background, and ethnicity that had made the difference. When I was at WEAP's meetings or trainings, I experienced how my appearance as an Asian girl from a renown university affected my work in this field. I was the only Asian present in trainings and meetings, and I felt as the minority within a crowd of colored and white advocates. And, it was not the first time. I had experienced something similar when I worked weekly as a economic advisor in homeless shelters including the one that only had females. To make things worse, I lived alone for the most of my life in cities with high crime rates. With all these experiences and courses I have taken on gender issues, I could not help but to become conscious of the remarks or comments I get from the individuals based on my gender or race. And, what the literature could not provide me was this communication. 

The South Korean ship tragedy demonstrated the epic fail of communication. It was actually a nightmare to watch the news. I often slept with my South Korean news channel played live 24/7 with a hope to hear something better than what I had heard in the previous days. And, I realized I was a South Korean working with issues that seemed to be mainly focused in foreign countries. I could not figure out what I had gained that reflected by nationality. And, I, as a South Korean student completed elementary, middle, and high school curriculums in the U.S., was not happy and confident about my progress in the foreign field. 

I was wrong. Taking GPP 105, interning at WEAP, and exploring my interests in a foreign country was a great way to navigate where I seem to standing in different societal structures. Without this course, I would not have accomplished certain types of self-evaluations within different society. And, GPP 105 was an opportune for me to not only gather qualitative or quantitative data of global poverty and inequality, but also to interact with these issues. I was constantly opening up dialogues about the issues within myself. And, it was GPP 105 that allowed me to do so.

Is Life Worth It?

I want to share a quick story about how I experience the effects of rising health care costs in my line of work.

I work as an EMT (emergency medical technician) responding to emergencies, stabilizing patients, and transporting them to emergency rooms. Getting people to definitive care at a hospital for trauma accidents, cardiac conditions, strokes, seizures, etc. is imperative to their survival and long term-health, however, it is often very costly. As we know, not everyone has insurance but emergency responders will never turn a patient away. Those same people are generally impoverished, and ultimately more vulnerable to disease compared to wealthy individuals who can afford preventive care and quality insurance.

That being said, I remember a specific patient experiencing an ischemic stroke (block of blood vessel in brain) and needed to be taken to the closest stroke center. My partner and I stabilized the patient as much as we could and transported the patient immediately. The patient was an elderly, lower-class Hispanic male without insurance. My partner drove while I monitored the patient in the back while questioning the wife who rode in the back with me. She mourned. She was afraid. I assured her that we were doing our best and that her husband was in good hands. After a while, she explained that it was his third stroke and that they weren't even done paying for the first treatment. She was afraid for her husbands health, but at the same time, she was afraid to think about how they would pay off the hospital bills for a third round. I don't know if he passed away after dropping him off in the ER, but I know that his wife would be left the pay for the bill either way.

With the cost of health services and the current health care system, people can't even concentrate on wishing their loved ones to get better soon. People resort to questioning if being saved is even worth it. Some people disproportionately more than others. How can we let this happen, even in a "developed" society?

Poverty and Photography

     The week we analyzed photography and the ways we can frame a story was really intriguing.  I decided I wanted to do more research on other photographers who tried to tell the story of poverty.  One artist I found was Stephen Shames through an article by the New York Times that was reviewing his photographs.  According to the New York Times article, it was reviewed positively, stating that that his pictures were able to capture the condition of poverty with children (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/30/arts/review-photography-poverty-among-america-s-children.html).  The article argues that Stephen Shames had successfully portrayed children in poverty because he had separated himself from the photographs and had not tried to impose his individual feelings in the photo.  After I read this article,  I decided to look up some of his photos and use a GPP perspective to analyze his photos and make conclusions for myself.  I decided to analyze this photo (6^th photo when you scroll down) by Stephen Shames in following website:http://www.arsivfotoritim.com/yazi/stephen-shames-ruyanin-disinda/.  The photo is three poor children sharing a mattress.  Initially, my first thought was how he had permission to get a photo of them sleeping, and how having a photo of them sleeping portrays poverty.   If I had seen this photo in a different context, I may not have thought it had to do with poverty.  In this respect, it makes the photo interesting since it isn’t the obvious “photo of poverty” that is often portrayed on TV asking for donations.  Maybe the point of the photo was not to present poverty in the opposite way or a way that does not sensationalize their condition.  Through a new GPP lens, I feel as a viewer I’m able to be more aware and more cautious of what story people are trying to portray. 

2014 FIFA World Cup

http://www.survivalinternational.org/worldcup

As the World Cup quickly approaches, many are excited to watch the games and celebrate one of the biggest international sporting events in the world. While I myself am a soccer fan, I think it is important to also be aware of the controversies that are involved in this year’s World Cup in Brazil, especially for indigenous peoples. Hosting the World Cup is a huge commitment and planning begins many years before the start of the tournament. One of the biggest complaints has been the large public expenditures by the Brazilian government, which are likely to benefit few of the general population. The 2013 Brazilian protests, while focused on a number of issues, shed light this huge expenditure despite high rates of poverty and inequality in the country. Another cause of protest has been the forced relocations of thousands of people to build the stadiums, including approximately 30,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. Finally, organizations such as Survival International have begun to campaign for the rights of indigenous peoples, whose voices are often lost in the excitement of the World Cup. When attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists ready for an Amazonian adventure, it is essential to give a voice to those who continue to survive off the land.

The struggles of indigenous peoples in Brazil are similar to those of many around the world, including in Chiapas where I will be doing my practice experience. Development initiatives and infrastructural projects continually dislocate people and their resources, causing further marginalization and inequality. While I don’t think it is possible to challenge the World Cup in Brazil at this point, I think it is important to at least be aware of the many issues involved and to recognize the impact on indigenous people. If anybody is lucky enough to be able to watch a game, I think that you should at least have the knowledge to make an informed decision of whether or not to attend.

Solution to Global Poverty = Improved Global Health?

Did you know that “Between 2000 and 2011, about 24 percent of the growth in full income in low-income and middle-income countries resulted from [Value of Life Years] gained" (Global Health 2035)? This means that nearly a quarter of the growth these countries experienced over a decade came from better health of their people!

I've been asked several times if whether my interest in public health work counts as poverty alleviation. Sure, I'll be improving access to much-needed health services that impoverished communities may simply be unable to afford, but does that really count as improving their overall state of poverty?

I know that the answer is yes, but expressing it in an intellectual manner has been somewhat of a challenge. I was never quite able to place my finger on the necessary arguments to support my case.

But this Humanosphere article has provided me with some important resources to not only educate me on the ways that health is directly involved in poverty alleviation, but also allow me to explore important aspects that I had never really considered!

While the author argues that improving global health is the best solution by miles when compared with other aid and development programs, I believe that the latter are equally crucial supplements for bettering a developing country's conditions. Being constantly concerned by a child's chronic diarrhea or one's own tuberculosis can no doubt take away from a person's focus on earning a living or contributing to the country's economy. But even if health concerns are removed as a factor, the conditions for other socioeconomic inequalities would still exist, which would continue to render the healthy individual's opportunities limited. But he still has the right idea, in that global health has been severely neglected and its progress could have been much higher in the last few decades had more attention been paid to related endeavors. Thankfully, it is a rapidly growing field and I'm excited to see what opportunities await me!

Cultivating Fear

As our last blog entry I want to share one of the most interesting reports I have read all year. It comes from the organization I work for and it really resinated in me. Every day, farmworkers awake at the crack of dawn and head out to the fields to harvest the fruits and vegetables that feed our nation. It is a grueling, backbreaking, seasonal job, one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. The vast majority of farmworkers in the United States are foreign born, looking for opportunities that are not available in their countries. Because so many of them are undocumented they are particularly vulnerable to abuse from people that have power over them in the work place. Through the lens of structural violence, specifically the axes of gender and race, it is clearly evident that these agricultural employees are being exploited and are suffering from serious abuses such as sexual violence. It is a true horror, female farmworkers are experiencing various forms of sexual violence, this includes rape, assault, and harassment and cannot go to the police due to fear of being deported.

With no one speaking out for the rights of these farmworkers, the abuse continues. I actually had the honor of meeting an amazing woman named Alina Diaz. Alina Diaz created Alianza Nacianal de Campesinas. Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, is a national network founded to advocate for the rights of farmworkers, especially women. They have various campaigns and programs that help farmworkers in a plethora of ways, from reporting abuse to teaching them their basic rights. With the aid of organizations such as Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, this silent disaster is being exposed in hope that they will serve as a voice for those that are unheard.

I encourage you all to check out the amazing report by HRW by clicking here.