The Choices we Make Everyday

“This past week, I spent Thanksgiving with the Hutus and the Tutsis’, which was a real surprise to me because I live in Philadelphia and I thought that kind of prejudice based on class differences only happened in undeveloped countries. What I discovered that even in my very own civilized country people can be just as undeveloped and just as cruel but more importantly and the thing that gives me hope is that as long as the children are educated about the dangers of prejudice and intolerance than perhaps there will be a reason for Thanksgiving in the future.”
-Rider Strong as Shawn Hunter. “Turkey Day.” Boy Meets World. By Michael Jacobs and April Kelly. Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel. Michael Jacobs Producations, Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Television. American Broadcasting Company. 22 November 1996.

“Snider explained they needed $20 000 to build a school and armed with that information von Teichman was delighted to discover that on average, his hotel attracted 20 000 guests per year…”
Hill, Valerie. “Giving Back: Owner of Kitchener’s Walper Terrace Hotel Helps build school in Uganda through Waterloo-based Agency.” Waterloo Regional Record. 29. January 2011: C1.

So I’m going to a developing country to volunteer. It sounds like a noble cause. Doesn’t it? For those of you that don’t know as of yet, I will be going to Kariobangi, Kenya where I will be working with Education for Life (http://www.eflkenya.org/). My placement will be in education and teaching. It has been described to me as working with adolescent youth (15-18) that are at a very basic primary level of education. My organization’s vision is centered around fullness of life amidst and beyond the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

This posting is not about my placement although those posts will come later. My beginning sentence asked you to make a judgment about whether or not I was doing something good, worthy, exciting, repulsing, not necessary etc… Beyond Borders teaches its students that the response we are going to receive will not always be a positive one. This has already happened to me when people close to me did not give me the response I was looking for about my placement or to others in the program that have tried to speak to donors that were not interested. This makes us realize that we have to be doing this for ourselves- for us to achieve the self transformation that we are looking for by going out to the world and helping, learning and doing.

This brings me to another point, the Beyond Borders students of 2011 have a wide range of skill sets and abilities and we will be using those this summer teaching, working in microfinance, physiotherapy, counseling and in science. We are all doing what we can with the skills and resources we have to help. None of us believe we are going to vanquish poverty in a developing country but we do believe we are going to help create sustainable change by developing businesses, developing curriculum or making personal impact to individuals by leading by example: We will be embracing all people no matter their socio-economic status or their HIV status. These are the projects we will be working on. I am looking forward to teaching adolescents who have been written off and saying, yes you can do this no matter the level you are at now, no matter what anyone believes and no matter your HIV status. I am doing what I can which brings me to the article “Giving Back” in the Waterloo Region Record on January 29th.

In the article, Valerie Hill writes about the Walper Terrace Hotel Owner who found out that it costs $20 000 to build a school in Uganda. To any person who brings in an average Canadian income, this seems like a huge amount of money and not an amount that is easy to donate. Von Teichman thought the same thing until he thought about his business and realized that he receives approximately 20 000 guests a year at the Walper hotel and it wouldn’t require room rate raises or a lot of hard work to donate $20 000. Von Teichman found something within his reach and did some remarkable even though he was 6000km away. Von Teichman is quoted as saying “I believe in children,” this fundamental belief along with his belief in education made him search out GIVE international and do what he could to help.

In our lives we are always given a choice. We can take the call to action or we can choose to live sheltered lives. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the developped or developing world; you can make a choice to be cruel or you can make a choice to be good. I use the word cruel because [brace yourselves I’m about to date myself and use a 90’s teen show to prove a point] Rider Strong as Sean Hunter in the show Boy Meets World uses that word in his school report describing the parallel between a trailer park, the suburbs and Thanksgiving Dinner. In the essay, Sean Hunter describes what prejudice can lead to in the developed world and compares that prejudice to indigenous tribes in the developing world.

It surprises me how selfish, conceited and cruel I can be. Overall, I consider myself a good person but how often do I complain (about this blog or other schoolwork), rummage through my fridge just looking not actually eating something and I know I could try a lot harder. We all could be better and strive to be better. These are the choices that we make on a daily basis. The Millennium Development Goals focus on the ‘big issues’ including maternal health, abolishing poverty, primary education among other areas. One day I hope to be able to talk and education and provide solutions to at least one of these challenges but for now I am off to Kariobangi, Kenya where I will teach and immerse myself into the culture and life of this vibrant neighbourhood. Notice, how I used the word neighbourhood and not slum? Think about that!

The choice you are presented with is being better. Choose to be better. Always choose to be better. Find ways to be better. This does not mean you have to do what I am doing and go to a developing country, it doesn’t mean solving poverty. It means using your skill set and your resources like the characters in Boy meets World did or the real life example von Teichman provided. I have a friend who chose to be better, she committed to doing 101 compassionate things like giving a homeless man a blanket and volunteering for a day at a soup kitchen. She used her resources and skills and told me about it everyday for about a year; I am better off because of her example and I hope that you can feel the same way.

To learn more about the Millennium Development Goals, please visit: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Hill, Valerie. “Giving Back: Owner of Kitchener’s Walper Terrace Hotel Helps build school in Uganda through Waterloo-based Agency.” Waterloo Regional Record. 29. January 2011: C1.
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/479261--walper-s-new-owner-giving-back

Boy Meets World Clip:
“Turkey Day.” Boy Meets World. By Michael Jacobs and April Kelly. Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel. Michael Jacobs Producations, Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Television. American Broadcasting Company. 22 November 1996.



The first clip of the Episode can be found at http://youtu.be/_OFDLoKXzSo
The second clip of the Episode can be found at http://youtu.be/p7TqPo5pIjU