Gifts

I pause in appreciation of the holistic experience of my education here, which two brief examples speak to. Yesterday I reconnected with a fellow peace scholar friend from Zambia, who had also been visiting friends and family in Zimbabwe over break. After hearing so much in the news about Zimbabwe while in Arizona, it was a privilege to hear her first-hand assessment of what is going on there. The instability of life is what most stands out... for example, one might pay 50,000 Zimbabwe Dollars on the bus in the morning, and 100,000 ZWD on the way back in the afternoon. Business owners are being threatened into lowering prices, with consequences that there's little milk, meat, etc. stocked on the shelves.

From that conversation, I walked to class with Vikas, another peace fellow who hails from SE India. We attended the first of a 'Politics of Development' course, taught by a brilliant professor with an office right across the hall from mine. She screened a documentary for us, called 'Drowned Out', about the heart-wrenching consequences of the Sardar Sarovar dam project in India. Watching it brought out now so familiar themes of 'leaders' claiming to care for the people, but ultimately prioritizing their own power, egos, and bank accounts. I lingered after class with my colleague and another new found friend from Kenya... Vikas shares about his personal and professional involvement during the dam controversy, bringing the reality ever closer than the distance of a documentary.

So, though I still remain with a central tension and challenge of how to be an agent of change in the world... how to bridge the communication gap between gaining awareness and perspective here versus 'reality' on the ground, I recognize the unparalleled opportunity I have being here, and wrap myself in each moment.

Before signing off, I share two links of inspiration. The first is regarding Sept. 21, a day for peace. Be an active part and encourage everyone around you to do the same...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid933119042?bclid=933518996&bctid=933518995

This second one is powerful as well. It portrays excelently why I find so much hope in young people-- their guts, passion and creativity. This piece also raises awareness of one of the most pressing yet internationally neglected issue of invisible children.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643&hl=en (thanks Ole:))

Blessings unto you,
Amanda

yin-yang

From sandals in the AZ desert heat to hat and scarf in the Christchurch winter, I was nonetheless blessed to have a second dose of south island New Zealand. Over ten days, I presented to four Rotary clubs about the peace fellowship and conveyed a brief message about global viewpoints to a sea of Catholic school girls at their semester opening assembly. My main purpose of being there was as the 'X factor' at RYLA, a Rotary conference for youth leaders. I shared my story and some thoughts with the group early on during their week-long experience, and in the following few days attended several of their sessions. I was glad to be there to have many long conversations with many of those there who are 'fed up with the world' and are scrambling to find an avenue to be an agent of change. My message was one of 'yes, we need your concern and your energy in the ever-expanding network of peacebuilders'... Building relationships, person to person, day after day in compassion, solidarity, and hope.

I find New Zealand to be refreshingly more aware and sensitive regarding indigenous/non-indigenous relationships, particularly compared with the situation in the US and Australia. As it seeks to breathe more meaning into its identity as a bicultural nation, challenges persist. A newspaper article published coinciding with the reopening of schools spoke of issues of 'white flight' which finds white parents flooding into certain school zones in order to ensure their children are surrounded by a particular peer prototype. So unfortunate and saddening to witness how people can be restrained and confined by their stereotypes and fears.

At the same time, I soaked in the work of artists such as painter C.F. Goldie and photographer Ans Westra at the Christchruch Art Gallery who have strived to create space for more positive and meaningful Maori/Pakeha relationship. And I spoke with several highly motivated and capable women working in NZ education who are putting great energy into developing a model of inclusiveness. One of these was my most gracious host (in the pic above); she and her husband answered all my curious questions, toured me across Arthur's Pass (around where parts of Narnia and Lord of the Rings were filmed), and facilitated an afternoon hiking adventure from Lyttelton to 'Sign of the Takahe' during which I passed more sheep than people:). I wear around my neck one of their gifts to me-- a greenstone Maori symbol, Kumara, whose twists refer to the joining of two peoples or cultures.

Therein examples of yin-yang, energies of inclusion and exclusion, fear and trust.

I flew back into Brisbane a few days ago, arriving at night back to a cold and desolate apartment. I was warmed in connecting with my Nepali host brother over Yahoo messenger. He reports that things there are getting worse, sadly-- that ethnic groups are violently clamoring for separation. In closing, he told me to dream of Nepal:) which is ironically very appropriate as Brisbane is COLD and I've no heat. But there is hot water, I'm able to pile my bed with six blankets, and there is relative 'peace' on these streets.

In a few days, lectures will begin and I'll continue on the quest of deeper wisdom and understanding, lightened knowing that I'll soon be out in a more active role in which I feel most whole...

Aire

Tomorrow morning it’s time to be ‘on the move’ again. I am grateful for these past three weeks which have been profoundly nourishing. This afternoon, relishing the desert heat, I made my last run up the red, dusty, rocky mesa walls to give thanks while peering over the space that has unveiled to me countless lessons, both known and unknown. Every time I come to this Ganado community, its heartbeat seems to rock me. Whether it’s the calm and silent walk of the people, the subtle miracle of the gliding casts of color that play the sunsets, the balancing mix of people and animals, or the ever-transforming and ever-present struggle in negotiating life among the infinite dynamics that collide here… there are multiple facets that speak to the lone tear that spilled from my eye’s well. And I have experienced but a sliver of it all. Thanks to parents and new dear and inspiring friends who gifted me a bittersweet perspective.

A breath of such fresh perspective is what I’ll carry with me, out of reach of the airport scanners along the route back to the other side of the world. Particularly for moments of panic about how exactly I’ll insert myself into this world after graduation, I’ve been cultivating the soul spot that releases constricting emotions and feeds aspects of faith and patience in the journey. The self-critical voice never lags too far behind, but I’m getting to know it well and appreciate it for the motivating force it is.

While the goal is to finish the master’s program by the end of this year, it will be a formidable challenge. But if I’m meant for a job for which I’ve applied beginning in January ‘08, there will be little option but to buckle down further among the books this semester. My sights are set on being an Intercultural Resident Counselor on ‘the Scholar Ship’… an experiential learning voyage around the world with an international crew and an admirable mission. If not this, we’ll see what life has in store.

Before landing back in Brisbane 18 July, I’ll be in Christchurch, New Zealand for ten days with a handful of Rotary speaking engagements. I’m privileged to be meeting several youth leaders there to share a bit of my experience, and see what wisdom they’ll have for me.

I pray you all are well in mind, body, and spirit.