Stepping through walls.

The past week has been a culmination of frustration and craze. I was unsure as to if i were going to China or not, BUT everything has been cleared through the efforts constant patience and dedication. 

      I am going to China.

Just one week later! The Red Cross has been understanding and very helpful in this process, and managed to pull a few strings for me to stay a while longer in the camps, plus I may get a better flight out of this turn of events. 

More letters for the children are coming in, and I appreciate every one's support for this project. I feel as though now I should give some background information as to why i am going, and the best place to start in any personal explanation...is with a little personal philosophy.

Samuel Huntington, an accomplished political scientist once said, “Future International conflicts will be a direct result of the cultural, historic, ethnic, and religious differences that make civilizations unique” that “the most important conflict of the future will occur along the cultural fault lines separating these civilizations from one another”.yet I cannot sit here and accept that stigma as truth. The world is becoming smaller, and civilizations are encountering each other day by day. However,  His history was only partly representative of civilizations that came together, but there are varieties of outcomes that are not always clash and conflict; history has proven something grandeur has arisen from plurality rather than homogenized policy. . Many of the worlds technological revolutions, medical advancements, and humanitarian accomplishments could have only be brought upon by the culmination of lateral efforts from peoples belonging to all sorts of not just civilizations, but cultures as well.

Even though we are 7,000 miles away from China, my heart still is torn from the silence of 60,000 voices from the Sichuan earthquake.  I have no ties, no relations, no bond with these people.; but as a human, I find plausibility in my efforts to help ease the suffering that has occurred.  My career goals are uncertain, but I do know that whatever field I end up in, it MUST lead to or consist of working towards the goal of peace, possibly achieved through humanitarian assistance or diplomatic relations. In respect of my International Studies major and Chinese language experience, this opportunity will be positively influential for my academic background. More importantly, being able to utilize my compassion and drive can help inspire the future development of positive interaction between cultures of all backgrounds, as It is in a crisis that we all mourn together, but it is also in a crisis that we work and grow closer than ever before. 

This will not be an easy task. This is an objective that many individuals have spent their entire lives working towards, but history proves their efforts are not in vain. Whether it is on micro levels such as Picasso’s Guarencia or Macro levels as the UN’s economic sanctions that led to the fall of the Apartide policies of South Africa, hope remains universal amidst the divergence of homogenization. I am not scared, I am ready to take this step.  

 For information on the earthquake, and where I will be going (the epicenter) ->http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357066,00.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7590000/newsid_7591100/7591152.stm

A little introduction

Not colloquial, but here's some intenerary that I copied and pasted from other emails, finals are pressing.

The Plan

Our plan is to fly from Columbia to Chengdu on May 8. I will arrive in Chengdu on May 9. As soon as I land in Chengdu, I will meet the Red Cross office and travel to Chenjiaba Village in Beichuan County. The Red Cross office will send an officer to accompany us.

 

It will take us about a day to travel to the Chenjiaba Village. Upon arrival, Mr. Chen and I will be assigned to the teacher’s dorm with two tents.  During our stay, I will help the English instructor with classroom program and extra curriculum development.  I will be the oral English instructor for the children from grade one to six.

 

Besides classroom teaching, Mr. Chen and I will be leading group activities in the afternoon and evening. We are trying to connect some schools in the Columbia-Atlanta region with the elementary school in Chenjiaba.  If possible, we will bring letters from school children in America to the children there and help the Chinese children to write back. So far we have collected 385 letters in total, and keeping them close in our travels.

 

We will also be engaging in cleaning up and reconstruction effort in our spare time. We will help clean up the ruins and building temporary housing. We will also help coordinate and distribute donated supplies.