"I know the biggest crime / is just to throw up your hands / saying 'this has nothing to do with me / I just want to live as comfortably as I can.
You got to look outside your eyes / you got to think outside your brain / you got to walk outside your life / to where the neighborhood changes." (From Willing to Fight, by Ani Difranco)

Thursday, December 25, 2008

We're on our way to India for Phase III!

Its December 25th, and I am in my office putting final touches on our preparation for India.

This is an exciting trip: we will be taking students to the capital city of Chennai to visit a university, an NGO, and do teleconferencing with folks in Riverside, CA. We will also continue our photography curriculum with the students, as well as initiate the new piece of the program in which we will deliver the 40 packages from students in the USA to their new pen pals abroad. I am excited to see how the students will react-- what they will have questions about, what they will assume to be true or untrue.

A student placed a VOGUE magazine in one of their packages. I was initially struck by this-- a little frustrated, as I feel I've been trying to show a different side of America that is not based in media, but in real lives of the people living here. But I guess VOGUE has a place in that-- it operates in our daily life. It operates in the way in makes people feel, dress, act, or think-- about life, themselves, or our world. One student wrote about how much they love education in the USA, although our curriculum will discuss obstacles to higher education faced by the communities who made the packages. There was candy. There were family photos. Sunglasses. A recorder. A camera. Books. College pamphlets. CD's. All of these are America, I am also learning this. VOGUE still functions strongly in my life-- it makes me act in a way that actively tries to reject something I feel VOGUE communicates. That action, that rejection and resistance, is also America.

This also provides a new curriculum opportunity: what is "high" media in India? I found a 50-pack of "Bollywood" Postcards at Cost Plus World Market and purchased them to do an activity... I don't know the activity yet, but I could see one like a bright aura around those cards. They will also be useful for the students to articulate their own ideas about media and photography and how it communicates "Indian-ness" to the rest of the world. They can use the postcards to write to their new pen pals. It was a good investment.

We also had a great blessing this week. To pay for another set of 20 cameras, we did a last-minute money drive via internet to get enough donations for our students. In 3 days, CLP supporters donated $250 to our camera-cause, which is MORE than enough to buy cameras and pay for developing. I feel so grateful to these individuals and their kindness-- I feel encouraged and supported.

But the blessings continue: the UU Church of Riverside has donated $1,000 to CLP. We were presented the check at their Christmas Eve Service/Fellowship with a great applause and wonderful show of energy and support from the congregation. They will be sponsoring a teleconference on January 5th, and the students and my team will speak the the community from their sanctuary in an international display of community.

I am frantically packing, and I'm hoping I'll be able to solidify things in India once I arrive. I am concerned about our ability to arrange all the meetings with the Universities on time, and we are certainly engaging in some last-minute space arrangements. I will keep you updated on how this unfolds, particularly because we have received such support from our Riverside community.

One meeting is for sure! We will be collaborating on a social justice component with RIDE (www.rideindia.org).

Happy holidays-- and happy New Year!

Samantha

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Patriot High School Presentations

December 17, 2008



“On the contrary, reflection—true reflection—leads to action. On the other hand, when the situation calls for action, that action will constitute an authentic praxis only if its consequences become the object of critical reflection.” – Freire 52-53, Pedagogy of the Oppressed


I am thankful to have finished my finals last week—but the work is never over, it only transforms. As Dr. Clarissa Estes says in my female-family-holy-text, Women Who Run with the Wolves, “If we realized that the work was to continue the work, we would be much more fierce and much more peaceful.”


I realize that the work is continuous. A continuous process and a serious of cautious and excited “Yeses!” to all the ideas and people and themes that emerge from the woodwork of the project.


This passed week, with the generous and outstanding help of UCR undergraduate Toby Walker, we made nine CLP presentations to the AVID and LINK Crew classes at Patriot High School in Jurupa Unified School District, speaking to over 200 students about CLP’s work in India, and challenging them to participate in their own community. Patriot High School (PHS), located in a predominantly Latina/Latino community, supports several programs that encourage high school graduation and higher education attendance with their students through AVID and LINK Crew organizations.



My experience was overwhelmingly positive: teachers were very encouraging and receptive to the project, asking questions and providing ideas on how students may participate.


Our “assignment” (or, as teacher Kristin Podgorski describes it, “our opportunity”) is to create an envelope that will speak to their experience as a youth in Southern California.


The “opportunity” is as follows (later adapted and improved with help from UCR undergrad, Kevin Eldridge):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Peer Leader Assignment #1

“My Life, My America” Envelope

With your individual student profile, you will create an envelope that will be hand-delivered to the student in India, and this student will get a chance to respond to your message this December and January.

This envelope should include the following:

1. Letter of Introduction: “My Life”

- Include your full name, age, grade

- Information about your family

- Your ambition (career) and higher education goals

- Your interests, hobbies, favorites

- Why do you want to go to college? Why is it important to you and your family?

- Ask questions to them based on the profile you are given

What is similar? What is different?

What questions do you have for them?

What are you curious about based on their student profile?

What makes you curious about India?

Feel free to write more if you would like! Be sure to ask questions you would also feel comfortable answering.

2. “My America

Your task is to “show” this student what you think America is. What is America to you?

a. Write one short paragraph about what you love most about your community and your life in America. What do you love and what do you want to share about your culture, your community, and your school? What makes it special or different? What should someone in India know about Jurupa, California, or USA?

b. Write another paragraph describing what you feel should be changed about your community, your city, your state, your country, or your government. What flaws do you perceive in the USA? Often times the most pressing problems are the strongest sources of motivation. What do you feel motivated to transform about this country?

c. Include any photographs, items, notes, pictures, collages, stories. Teach them new words, show family photos, or describe your favorite things! Be creative!

* Please include your Indian student’s name on the outside of your envelope.

** On the back of the envelope, include your contact information at PHS (Full name, teacher’s name and period)


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We may have over 90 of these returned to us for our students in India! Wow!


We also had several students approach after class and express interest in participating in a more concrete way. This may result in a possible student organization on campus and a fundraising event with the students there.

In other news, we’ve purchased our domain name (www.childleaderproject.org), have new webmail accounts for our workers (samantha@childleaderproject.org), and a PayPal account where you can donate to us directly!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

A New Era of Updates

Hello CLP-Supporters,

Welcome to a new era of posting by Samantha Wilson.

I notice that I am reluctant to post here-- I only want to post the most professional, most polished, most accomplished statements, when, in reality, life is not like that, let alone attempting to start an NGO.

I pledge to post more regularly, particularly during this "Holiday" season which will consist of reflection, analysis, and new actions for CLP. We have taken many steps forward over the last 10 weeks, and I am eager to reflect on those steps here and post as often as possible.

In the meantime, I'd like to post my "Heck yes! I'm a professional NGO-Woman!" photograph, compliments of UCR Media Services:


"Whoo-hoo! I'm excited to post more frequently!"

This evening has been spent organizing the home office. This is the process by which I realize how much this little proposal has grown into a fledgling organization. I smile at a particular folder I had purchased with my friend Hannah last April 2008, where we stood together in Office Depot and debated whether or not to get the "1.5 inch" binder or "3 inch" binder.

"Do I really need all that space?"

"Probably-- if we know anything about you."

I definitely did need that space-- and then some. I have taken over the entire office desk in my family's home (with gratitude to my mother and step-father for their generosity), filling the drawers with papers and articles and curriculum and emails and notes from meetings.

This Winter we have some exciting things to do:
- Finish all the Non-Profit and 501(c)(3) paper work (signatures!)
- Start our newsletter
- Execute the second India-phase of the project (Dec. 26th-Jan. 10th)
- Strengthen our connections to UCR through on-campus involvement in "UCR-CLP"
- Strengthen our connections to communities of faith and social justice
- Seek new partnerships and programs with AVID classes in the Inland Empire

I must express immense gratitude to the help of Theresa Gilbertson and Emily Nudge-- two women who have been my greatest blessing in this ongoing process.

More on the way as I continute to clean. We also look forward to a new website around the corner!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

To 501(c)(3) or not, that is the question.

"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart,

and try to love the questions themselves...

The point is, to live everything.

Live the questions now.

Perhaps, then, you will gradually,

without even noticing it,

live your way into the answer."

- Rainer Maria Rilke


We are on the eve of something new in CLP: I have researched and discovered the path by which we can incorporate as a Non-Profit in California, and then become tax-exempt as a 501(c)(3) organization. This process, however, takes anywhere between $700-$1200, and I am beginning to realize that my physical, mental, and emotional investment in this project will be represented within this moment of financial need.

Where will this project go with 501(c)(3)? This project will go for grants to continue its work. This program would find a little office somewhere, or it would be the main source of income for a little apartment that belongs to Samantha Wilson (while she simultaneously does something else in order to live). This program would raise the money so that those individuals who can't afford to go to India CAN afford to go to India. This program would expand to Mali or Nigeria. This program would develop internships with the UC system to host university students to work at these schools across the globe. This program would bring international awareness into US classrooms. This program would develop a scholarship fund for its international participants.

This program would invest its life into relationships of mutuality and respect. This program is an "investment" program-- it are no concrete, measurable short-term effects, nor does it seek to achieve any.

CLP Short-Term Effects:
- Students are engaged with local and international peers through art, academia, and service
- International relationships and organizational partnerships and exchanges is established
- New ideas are discussed and new modes of learning are practiced by both parties
- Hope for the future is encouraged and given importance and legitimacy

Long term? We are developing a program that invests in everyone it comes into contact with. A program that writes letters to its student, that sends thank-you notes to its sponsors, that works diligently to place real directional power into the hands of those citizens it is trying to invest in. This program invests in its relationships. This program is about people in relationship with one another. This program is about whole-humanity and honoring all that is human within other individuals. I want a program that doesn't feel like a machine. I want a program that feels like a group of individuals working on behalf of the better good, in relationships of real exchange, of humility, of eagerness to serve human beings in their entirety.

Wholeness. Relationships. Investment.

THAT is social change.

And THAT is the Child Leader Project.

And thats why we're going after 501c3.

***Note: Italicized words are ideas that will be elaborated on later.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Update 3: August 30, 2008


Our first day

Hello everyone!

Just another update from India!

We finished our work at the school! The program went well and the kids enjoyed it: they described us as "kind of like teachers... but kind of like us!" And this is exactly what we wanted: something dialogue-based where the thinking and doing was in the hands of the students. They studied conflict resolution, values-based leadership, higher education, and a service project!

For their service project, we cleaned the steps of a temple on the top of this beautiful, green hill. The kids carried brooms and baskets and spent an hour in the sun cleaning the steps. It ended in a water-fight of sorts-- which was a blast! The kids were really taken back by the experience: many had never done a "service project" before, and many were talking about social work by the end of the week.

The Leadership Team: "LIGHT OF INDIA!"

I will return to the school in two or three weeks and do more planning with the students. They will be operating as a leadership organization until I return in December. The name of the organization (they voted) is "The Light of India." They will be focusing on environmental issues (planting trees and awareness programs on plastics), distributing free note books to poorer children in the area, and cleaning public spaces.

But, for now, we're going to the coast! We need a break! We will be spending three days in Pondicherry before Aniee and I return to help the bank and finish up our meetings. After Aniee leaves, I will be focusing entirely on my thesis research on micro finance as a platform for social change.

I love you all-- again, thank you for the emails! It is such a joy to open my account and see your names! Really-- thank you.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

With love,
Samantha

In our classroom, last day.

Update 2: August 27, 2008

Hey all,

We're still alive here out in Madupai, Tamil Nadu! Whoo-hoo!

The kids here are super polite. Too polite. British polite. When you ask, "How are you?" they stand up and say, "Fine, ma'am."

I've beaten that out of them. When I walk into the classroom and I ask, "How are you?" they stand up and say, "We're FANTASTIC!" I love it!

Anyways, a few useless updates:
1. The kids are beautiful. All 20 of them.
2. I'm in love with them.
3. I'm getting better learning all of their names, but only short names, because I'm terrible with names.
4. Today we did higher education planning-- the principal spoke for awhile, then we did some talk about service work. Tomorrow we do a community service project at a temple!
5. My co-coordinator in India, Mr. Arumugam, is amazing and I'm alittle in love with him, too. He studied social work, so you can see in his freakin' eyes that he loves doing this stuff.
6. I'm so thankful for Eamon Conklin. I'm glad he is on this trip. We've been taking film and photography like crazy-- lots of good photos to be seen when we return. He's sitting next to me now, singing Bright Eyes. Good traveling companion.
7. Internet is sketchy as hell. So is international calling.
8. Indian food is growing on me. So are saris.
9. Mosquitos are NOT growing on me. I'm really bitten up. C'est la vie.
10. Again, kids are incredible. So much to say.
11. We had an hour long prayer service this morning. It hurt to sit for that long. Felt frustrated that I couldn't do the cross-legged thing so well, but, c'est la vie to that, too.
12. They opened student canteen today! AND they let us be the "special guests" at the opening ceremony! AND they let me cut the ribbon!

Thanks for all the kind emails and "inspiration." I have so many pictures I want to show-- sometime soon, I hope.

Love and faith your way!

-Samantha

Update 1: August 23

Dear Friends, Family, and Mentors—

Hello from Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India!


The team (Eamon and Aniee) and I have arrived here safely—we spent a rather rushed day in New Delhi/Agra, and had the opportunity to see the Taj Mahal. It was incredible.

India is so different this time. This time, there is a feeling of being armed with purpose. Not only am I free of culture shock (how easy I slipped right back into my pseudo-Indian-accent and my head bobble), but I also feel like I’m here for a reason. Having purpose removes so many obstacles and fears. Furthermore, what else could the “divine” throw at me? Last time in India, I had a terrorist attack AND malaria! If I can handle that, I can handle this!

The bank we are working with is incredible. They have been so helpful and so kind—and very prepared. They have obviously read everything I have sent them, and they have placed it into report-form! Today was our first meeting at the bank: there were about 10 people total, including the Chairman of the bank, Mr. Devaraj. We had a three-hour briefing on the project and the programme for next week. Eamon was able to film the entire meeting for us to review later and take notes on.

We went to the Taj! (Click to enlarge to Taj size)


Mr. Devaraj has been working on this project for over 30 years—Activists for Social Alternatives (ASA) was the original program, based entirely on development programming (schools, public health, etc.) Devaraj then moved to North America to do schooling, learned about credit, and returned to India—right about the same time microfinance was happening in Bangladesh with Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Devaraj spent 10 days in Bangladesh studying this model of banking before he returned to institutionalize it here with ASA, thereby creating ASA-GV (Grama Vidiyal). (More here: http://www.gvmfl.com/)

Technically, the Child Leader Project falls under “ASA”—we are a development program, complimenting the work of the bank. The school we will be working at is forty minutes away from Trichy in a very rural area between here and Madurai (a big Hindu pilgrimage site). The school was built 10 years ago to accommodate the families there, and now has over 800 students. The school, however, operates at a deficit, and the chairman very excited to hear about the scholarship/tuition piece of our program (all money we raise in the USA will be given to the 20 students selected to work with us here).

On that note, they have selected 20 students! I saw the list of names and was so excited! They will arrive on Monday morning with their parents in tow, and we will do a one hour parent-student orientation. We planned an activity where students and parents will get up together and share the hopes and dreams they have for their children. What an exciting prospect! How wonderful it will be to hear these ideas!

On a personal note, they are very excited I will be here until September 20. They are enthusiastically willing to help me with my thesis research in whatever ways are needed—they even want me to interview recipients of loans in some of the most remote rural villages of the area, and are allowing me to follow them to bank meetings where they collect the loans given out to the women’s circles! They even told me about a special “women’s empowerment song” that they will help me sing at each meeting! I must of looked so excited when they told me I could come and be a part of that, because they all started laughing and smiling at one another! Their model is based nearly entirely on the Grameen Model—from the “14 decisions” to the meeting structure of the women, everything.

Yay! Microfinance!

I have much more to tell you all about, but the power in the bank has just gone out and this computer is operating on a special battery. I’m on a count down till it dies! However, we should have wireless when we move on to the campus from our hotel on Monday (isn’t that wonderful? We will be living on campus with the students!). Expect something long, excited, and slightly drawn out. :-)

On a personal note: Wow. I can’t believe I’m here. My heart feels like it may burst with gratitude for this opportunity: to be at this microfinance institution, in India, working with these women and their children. Everyone here is so excited about how we can work together-- it is obvious that we all feel so grateful for what we are offering to one another.

Thank you for your support and kindness—I love you all very much.

I look forward to emailing you again soon!

Samantha

(PS: I have blind-copied everyone on this email, but please feel free to send this along to anyone I may have left out-- I rather frantically put the email list together before the power died!)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Updates: Little India, Press Enterprise, and More Preparation

Update from Samantha Wilson

The UCR ARTSBlock Little India Field Trip (July 30, 2008) went really well: students seemed to have enjoyed playing dress-up, and everyone did their best being adventurous with Indian food at lunch. In true Indian fashion, I way-over-ordered food for everyone and we had plenty of left overs on our table! Nevertheless, students seemed to appreciate the opportunity to have an adventure in California: a "rediscovery" of California, if you will. The footage from the film and photography they took during this excursion will be shown to the students in India to incite conversation and creative, media response.

Elaine Rugus of the Press Enterprise wrote an absolutely beautiful article about the work we are doing with the students at ARTSBlock. She was able to attend the closing session on Thursday, July 31, 2008. After some discussion about civil disobedience and the parallels between Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, we took a walk to Downtown Riverside and sat by the Gandhi statue. The statue was made in India and commissioned by Riverside City Hall. As we sat around the statue, we discussed leadership in the context of service and social justice. Using the quote below as inspiration, students read the quotes around the base of the statue and wrote briefly about what their "life's message" would be.

"Gandhi's life was not governed by policies: it was governed by principles and values. The best political leaders have their country as the source of their passion. Business leaders have as their passion the organization, whether it is through customers, products, or technology. Gandhi's life was driven by his religion: truth and nonviolence and a life of service to others. When a journalist asked Gandhi for a message for the United States, especially for African Americans, Gandhi responded, 'My life is its own message.'" -Keshavan Nair, "A Higher Standard of Leadership"

Students had an opportunity to reflect and write on this quote and the quotes around the base of the statue as I spoke with the Elaine. Their reflections were very empowering and exciting-- it is a truly outstanding moment to see youth empowered through relationships of mutual respect. Through mentorship and one-on-one, intentional community, youth feel important, and in these moments, that importance arouses a sense of great optimism and strength.



Luckily, I accidentally ended up with some of the student's papers. Here's what I read:

"This is what I believe: we need to look outside the box. We need to see and learn the truth. I will stand up and look outside the box. As a people we need to step up to the plate and stand up for what we want and what we believe in-- that every body in this world is equal and we should not be seen as different by color."

"Some people say 'you can't make everyone happy.' My goal is to make everyone happy and at peace with one another through positive changes, beginning with myself and how I live my life. However, this can never be truly possible unless everyone works together and we can work for change and peace."


In preparing for this lesson, I stayed up one night and read from Martin Luther King's autobiography with special attention to the chapter that reflects on his experience in India ("Pilgrimage to Nonviolence"). During his stay in India, he was once introduced to a group of high school students as "...a fellow untouchable from the United States of America" (131). As a result of his trip to India, MLK's "understanding of nonviolence became greater" and his "commitment deeper" (134). It becomes clear that the trajectory of the Civil Rights struggle in the United States was deeply influenced by the independent India movement of Gandhi Ji. Currently, present day movements within India that strive to challenge caste discrimination can re-examine the Civil Rights struggle and anti-racism movements in the United States to seek new tools to fight these forms of oppression. These connections can be explored further by the youth who participate in these programs: with Indian youth exploring USA racism, and American youth exploring caste, students see parallels between their struggles and the struggles of communities on the other side of the world. This begs the question: how can we work together?

The Press Enterprise article is available here: Press Enterprise- The Child Leader Project.

I have recently returned from a 10-day road trip with 13 other young adults/young adult allies exploring different Water Justice issues in Northern and Central California (http://uuroadtrip.blogspot.com/). This provided a welcome opportunity to redirect my attention towards other aspects of my life-- particularly the ones that fuel this project: my spirituality and my social justice community. This also provided me the opportunity to practice my workshop-leading-organizing-time-making skills before I run off to India. I do not do very well with "self-care:" rather than resting and recuperating from 10 days of community organizing and massive amounts of caravaning, I spent today on the laptop and at the white board, making lists, sending emails, shuffling papers, and moving stacks of books.

This evening, however, I was given the blessing of an Indian dinner with Ms. Rosetta Isaac. She is the newest mentor and supporter to the Child Leader Project, offering her services and insights to the project in whatever way is most helpful. She heard about the project through the PE Article-- I'm beyond thrilled to now be in contact with her. During our dinner, however, we spent some time discussing impacts: what are the most important impacts we can make in India in such a short amount of time with these kids? What is the goal? On this, Rosetta spoke passionately: the goal is to provide ALL students, regardless of caste, the opportunity for a holistic and personalized education. I may not be able to get each of these students into school, but I can devote my time and energy into developing relationships that empower and that communicate importance and respect.

Rosetta said, "Your theme should be: I Can Do It!" I rather like that!

The Child Leader Project is about recognizing the intrinsic and extrinsic values of education. Intrinsically, we are providing students opportunities to explore their personality, their desires, dreams, and goals. We are providing theme glimpses into academic fields of social justice and creativity. These opportunities, although students are not expected to be social activists or artists, are imperative to the full and balanced development of one's personality and the expression thereof. Extrinsically, we are working on placing these students into direct contact with opportunities for higher education in an explicitly goal-oriented way.

Looking towards the future: what does the Child Leader Project have to do with "sustainable communities" and democracy? Tomorrow I meet with a professor who is developing a sort of internet-based people's parliament through the UCR Institute for Research on World Systems (IROWS). Furthermore, I'm beginning to brainstorm on how to approach the research/thesis-writing piece to this project. I am in the process of developing some basic research questions and goals to be "armed" with after I've completed the project and I'm there as a humble University of California researcher. To this end, I need to buy the James Spradley book on "interviewing" and brush up on my anthropological "skills."

On a personal note, I'm horribly exhausted. I hope this post doesn't sound too much like a tired person trying to sound overly academic and not-tired. If it does, its a moment for humility!

Good night!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Notes from Arts Block Preparation

Update by Samantha Wilson

The On-Going Preparation...

Next week, we will be taking a field trip with the Arts Block high schoolers to Little India in Artesia. We will have a short introduction, then visit a clothing shop and have an Indian lunch. We are seeking to tie in different themes for this project: ArtsBlock is moving on towards a "Race" theme (looking at notions of difference, privilege) that we will tie into introducing the students to India and international dialogue. After our field trip on Wednesday, we will do a debrief at the Gandhi statue in downtown Riverside-- a statue made in India, with a whole scene of Martin Luther King carved into it. In fact, there is a fantastic Martin Luther King statue down the road. Perhaps we will incorporate that, too.

Below are some of my preparational materials for our upcoming events next week:

A. Little India Field Trip:

Wednesday: 9:30AM-1PM

- Contact clothing store (Did this!)

- Contact restaurant (Did this!)

- Short presentation or sheet for students to read as we drive there

- Photography Scavenger hunt:

Some initial ideas include…

1. Ganesh

2. Bindhi

3. “Difference”

B. Our Joint Message: The Child Leader Project & UCR ARTSBlock MGV

Our goal: Youth leadership and social change through cross-cultural dialogue, creativity, and education

Gather at the Gandhi statue:

· Caste and race

· Who was Gandhi? How does this fit leadership? What is a Gandhi statue doing in Riverside? How does this fit race?

Video Clips:

- Gandhi: Civil Disobedience: Salt March/Arrest/Nonviolent Attack on Salt Works: http://youtube.com/watch?v=u_Gasq6qfzU&feature=related

- MLK, disobedience/marching/tactics/journey set to music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w61QB8_KOuc&feature=related

Notes from viewing the videos (common themes):

1. Civil disobedience (used non violent tactics)

2. Community change/organizing (Who has power? In the clip about Gandhi, he says “They are not in control—we are. That is the strength of civil resistance.”)

3. Define “terrorist” (both, US and British forces attempted to deny these organizing activities on the basis of “terrorism”)

4. Human Interdependence/Interconnection: whether economic (i.e. salt, clothing in Gandhi’s case) or human interconnectedness (i.e. the quote about our mutual liberation—in the MLK film he states that his work was not only important for “The American Negro but for the whole country.”)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

UCR ArtsBlock "My Global Village" Collaboration & Leadership Camp Details

UCR Arts Block Collaboration

Update by Samantha Wilson

Yesterday, I attended the “My Global Village” workshop being held at the California Museum of Photography in collaboration with UCR ARTSBlock (click here for "My Global Village" website). This program provides high school students with opportunities to view films and other media materials to create artistic responses. I viewed their film about Graffiti (they went into the community and cleaned up graffiti under a bridge in downtown Riverside). It was very exciting to watch it knowing that this film would be shown to Indian students next month before they go into their communities to do similar-intentioned activities!

The high school students seemed very excited about the prospect of participating in this project. They have viewed the film, “Born into Brothels,” and as I showed my own personal pictures from my first trip to India, they would comment knowingly about different scenes, or maybe make comparisons between the kids in my photos with the kids they saw in the film. Following a discussion about India and Mali (I recently met a young man who runs an NGO in Mali—the kids were able to see his project and hear him describe some of his activities), we stayed with the students and did a “Leadership Worksheet” where we were asked to describe two people we considered leaders and list their qualities. We had to select one person we knew personally and one we didn’t know personally. I selected my Religious Studies professor and an attorney that works for people’s rights at Guantanamo—it was a very helpful exercise and provided everyone an opportunity to share something of themselves. Many people selected family members!


Next week we will be taking this same group of high school students on a field trip to Little India in Artesia. I plan on contacting local businesses this weekend to see how we may be able to plan ahead a bit with local community members to talk to the students about India. This will be filmed and shown to the students in India as well— those responses will be interesting! We will have Indian students in Tamil Nadu viewing a film made my Riverside students about their personal interactions with an Indian community in Southern California!


This is getting really exciting, very creative, and very inclusive—I would like to see more community members get involved in some capacity.


In other news, I feel more and more like I’m running a real NGO. I worked on budgets and expenses today, as well as sent out MORE (these are endless) emails updating various sponsors on my latest activities.


I’ve also made the 5-day leadership camp more complete. If I find a way to upload those notes onto this blog, I will do so immediately. But, in the mean time, here’s a list of some of the Indian student’s activities:

- Small group meetings to provide more one-on-one time with students

- Workshop: “What is leadership?” (Looking at global leaders, local leaders, qualities, etc.)

- All-Student Workshop: “My Global Village: International Creativity and Dialog” (This is our collaboration with Riverside. The Indian students will view these materials and then respond in similar artistic mediums.)

- Workshop/Training: “Conflict Resolution and International Peace-Making: Peace-making in our communities and our world”

- Workshop: “Intro to Higher Education in Tamil Nadu”

- Workshop (Introductory courses into different fields, ideas):

o Medical Anthropology

o International Affairs and Global Social Change

o Media Communications

- Service Projects

- All-Student Workshop: “Community Organizing: Activism in the United States and India

- Life Skills Education

- Closing Ceremonies: Performance / Presentations / Photography Show / Awards Ceremony with family

In the meantime, Eamon and Aniee have both been working diligently on different aspects of the program. Eamon is developing the curriculum for “My Global Village.” Aniee has been the fundraising queen while developing her own curriculum as well. I’m blessed to have these two.

Friday, July 11, 2008

My bedroom is my office

Update by Samantha Wilson

My office/my closet:



I have been working on the Child Leader Project from my bedroom in Moreno Valley. The picture above is my closet. To the left, we have a remarkably glorious map of the subcontinent and surrounding countries (graciously donated by a young woman from UCR's Rivera Library). The right acts as a calendar, showing the next 12 months of my life on this project: time spent in India, breaks, Finals weeks, other events, etc. Next to that are five sheets of paper marking each of the phases of the project.

Calendar and Phases:


The five phases are as follows:
- Phase 1: India: Leadership Camp and ArtsBlock Collaboration
- Phase 2: Awareness and Fundraising in Southern California
- Phase 3: India: December Leadership Summit and College Field Trip
- Phase 4: Final Fundraising and Thesis Write-Up
- Phase 5: Next Steps for Sustainability and Follow-Through

These pages are split into three sections: "Project," "Thesis," and "Other."

I began this process in order to create clarity in my mind: I simply can not think about steps for sustainability in April, contacts for my thesis write-up in December, or January's fundraising activities right now-- but I can't forget them, either! This space allows me to jot down things I'll need to think about at different times.

Currently, Phase 1 has a list of tasks for preparing curriculum, fundraising for travel expenses of Aniee and Eamon, and books I'd like to read before I leave for India. This bibliography gets longer by the minute. The books are selected for a variety of reasons: 1) they may enrich my understanding of the area (helpful for both, thesis and project), 2) they may be useful in curriculum for the high school students or for my team, 3) they may provide me a much-desired sense of inner-peace in the process of all this hard work.

Need to Read for India Bibliography as of July 11, 2008:

1. Violence & Compassion: Dialogues on Life Today. His Holiness the Dalai Lama w/ Jean-Claude Carriere
2. Soul Work: Anti-Racist Theologies in Dialogue. Ed. by Marjoirie Bowens-Wheatley and Nancy Palmer Jones
3. The Economics of Microfinance. Beatriz Armendariz and Honathan Morduch.
4. Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire. Rajmohan Gandhi. (Signed by R. Gandhi himself!)
5. In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India. Edward Luce.
6. Religion Against the Self: An ethnography of Tamil Rituals. Isabelle Nabokov.
7. The Encounter Never Ends: A Return to the Field of Tamil Rituals. Isabelle Clark-Deces
8. Selections from Sadhana: The Realisation of Life. Rabindranath Tagore
9. Participant Observation. James Spradley
10. Interviewing. James Spradley.

Certain books I've read that I'll be using (as a framework to think from, thesis material, curriculum, or inspiration!):

1. Creating a World Without Poverty. Muhammad Yunus.
2. Banker to the Poor. Muhammad Yunus. (This one is "required" reading for all people working on this project with me.)
3. Just Peacemaking. Glen Stassen.
4. Everybody Loves a Good Drought. P. Sainath
5. Rules for Radicals. Saul Alinsky.
6. What is Activist Research? Article by Charles R. Hale
7. The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected essays by Clifford Geertz

Films:

1. Born Into Brothels. Directed by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski

I'm leaving the "office" now to meet with Aniee Sarkissian, an assistant to Phase 1 who has been doing extensive fundraising today for her trip. We will be discussing her activities and checking in on her curriculum development. She will be running a workshop at the leadership camp that speaks specifically to the intersection between income/inequality and access to health care-- essentially a medical anthropology workshop! This is exciting: we will be able to talk about the truly revolutionary work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a medical activist who's work I was introduced to during my stay in India last year.

More to come!

Samantha Wilson's Coordinating Notes

This page is a continuous blog by Samantha Wilson that will serve as a space for updating the process of the Child Leader Project and the experience with international community organizing-- it'll be a space for notes, ideas, ramblings, videos and photos of the life-long process of organizing.

To comment, email samantha@childleaderproject.org