History repeating itself

Rwanda had an ethnic conflict for many centuries. The Hutus would suppress  and discriminate the Tutsi people. Several times the Hutus would go through an "ethnic cleansing" and kill many of the Tutsi people in Rwanda. In no case was it as bad as the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. 3 out of 4 Tutsis were killed during this conflict.  The picture shows just a small glimpse of the mass murder of an ethnic race. Do to the fact that so many were killed, individual burials were not realistic. instead massive burials of several thousand would be piled and then covered with dirt. During this time, many have wondered why this was allowed to happen.
Why was there no one willing to intervene?
In the U.S. during this time, Bill Clinton was president. Not until 1998 did Clinton recognized what happened Rwanda and promised that America would not let this happen again (Powet). Though the U.S. knew about the killing in Rwanda, they did not know about the massive scale in which it did occur. I do not believe the U.S. was as oblivious to the situation as Clinton stated they were, but I believe their lack of involvement kept them from truly understanding the horrific situation that was happening. There was little economic gain from getting involved with the country, and sending troops would cost the nation money that it did not feel the need to spend.
What is find wrong here is not the powerful European Nations and US did not get involved, but rather their lack of awareness. Looking at the devastation now, I am sure there are few nations that do not regret getting helping. The more powerful countries can not realistically stop any conflict that could costs lives of people, but they should be aware and educated. Then they can know when it is necessary to get involved to protect the lives of many people.
We also shouldn't leave it up for the government to be the only ones involved. We really should be more aware of what could happen out in the world. That way we can better know how to help. It is not our job to solve all the problems, but we can still solve many of them. That way next time, history doesn't repeat itself.


Salgado, Sebastio. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 1994. 192. Print
Powet, Samantha. "Bystanders to Genocide." Bystanders to Genocide Sept. 2001: Web.

Doing Good In the Hood

In my writing 150 class I have been able to go do fun service all the time. The majority of our class had the opportunity to go down to Salt Lake City to volunteer for a program called "Good in the Hood." This program was made around a community in Salt lake with refugee families that have come to America for a new home. As part of the program we were able to play with all the kids of these families and give them attention. Maybe of the kids were bilingual and could speak English very well. They were also extremely hyper! When we arrived, I saw kids kicking a soccer ball in the parking lot, not even worrying about the cars that were parked everywhere. It reminded me of when I was little in my home town. We used to play soccer anytime there was a ball no matter the circumstance. it brought back fond memories.
 Our group met with the people in charge of the program. We were supposed to have an activity down at the church so I walked with one of the kids towards that direction. He asked me if I had a girlfriend. My responded with a no and said I just date LOTS women. He seemed unimpressed and then bragged to me about how he had an 18 year old girlfriend earlier that year. Interested understand on how a thirteen year old boy got a eighteen year old girlfriend, I asked him other questions about these girls he dated. He told me the different girls were "black haired, yellow haired, red haired..." He was obviously very proud of his achievements. Upon arriving at the church, we found out the building was already being occupied. We headed back and the volunteers had made friends with the many kids with us.
One talent of mine that is entertaining for kids is I can do a lot of cool tricks with my yo-yo. I decided now could be a good time to whip it out and show off a little bit.  Soon many kids crowded around. I saw one kid grab his friend and told him "With that yo-yo he can do magic." Now I faced a problem. Every kid wanted to try it now. As I gave each kid his or her turn to try out the yo-yo, I would explain how to roll it up and throw it down. As one would get done, they would explain my instructions to their sister or brother in their language so they would better comprehend the instructions. I loved how they would help one another, rather than being selfish and wanting to play with the yo-yo the whole time.  Was I that sharing at 8 years old? It was so much fun to go and play with these kids for a couple of hours. Between basketball, piggyback rides, origami and yo-yo tricks, we were able to really get know these group of kids and have some good kid fun. Man I miss those days. When service becomes fun, that is when you know you're doing it correctly. I'm glad I had the chance to go to Salt Lake and do some "Good in the Hood."

white boards and markers

whiteboards, white board markers, stop watch, eraser, picture books, paint brush, water colors, and paper... with this being my third time going over to the South Franklin Community center, I finally was able to tutor the same boy two weeks in a row. Being only in Kindergarten, he hasn't learned to read. He has currently been learning the alphabet. As a way to get him excited about doing the alphabet, I had him time me how fast I could write all the letters in the alphabet. After seeing how fast I could do it, he anxiously joined me and tried hard to recall them all from memory. It was impressive on how much more willing he was to working since it had become a competition. He had me time him doing everything. He wrote his name, other small words he knew and then I would do the same. I noticed the competitive spirit he had when it came to these things. I tried out a new game.  I would draw pictures and then he would have to write down what he thought it was. After sounding out each letter, he was able to spell small letter words like dog, bat, cat, and rock. He would then do the same, with drawing pictures that I would then have to write down on the whiteboard. After seeing how much more successful I was with tutoring the boy, we went on to do reading. I was able to help him read a small picture book with one or two words per page. It's really a lot of fun seeing him work through the words and see him successfully form the words on his tongue. This must be why many parents love raising kids. It must really bring them joy to see them successfully overcome challenges as they learn and grow. We then finished the book and i went on to read him a book and then out came the water colors to finish the day. After just going for a couple weeks, I feel that i now have responsibility to help these kids. I guess it must be a hint of what the pure love of Christ feels like.

Living with Hope

In 1995 a family was exhausted from the final 7 mile walk to the barracks the United Nations set up as they traveled to Zenica: a safe haven 8 hours away. This family with many others were traveling during a struggle between the many Bosnia ethnic groups. The conflict had started in 1991  and raged on until 1995. It had started by political conflict as the elites aroused ethnic tensions to help them gain high economic status. The conflict had tied in economic realities, fundamental tensions, and the countries historical nature. This started a bloody, and merciless ethnic conflict. With war raging, it would be hard for one to be positive and be motivated to do keep moving (Farkas). With there homes taken from them, they no must go to a new home as their country tries to settle one of the many conflicts it has all the time. Yet this family pursued through a rigorous journey and still has much ahead of them until they are safe from harm.
To say how many were effected by the war is unknown but it is estimated that several thousands were killed as well as several hundred thousand were displaced. The bloodiest encounters of the war started in 1992 and continued to 1995 in mainly Bosnia and Herzegovina. By 1995, the majority of the Serb population had fled to Croatia (Dyrstad). With the many countries that are so torn apart by war, it is hard to think of how any one could live in such places. It would be hard for any of them to love life when so much of their lives are torn apart by bloodshed. It is no wonder why so many migrate to countries where life isn't ruled by warfare. Even if we don't know how we can help, we can start out by just learning and understanding. No one can really help unless they truly understand.

Salgado, Sebastio. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 1995. 127. Print.
Farkas, Evelyn. “Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Cases of Bosnia, Ethiopia and Iraq.” New York: Palgrave Mamillan. 2003
Dyrad, Karin. After Ethnic civil war. Hournal of Peace Research. 2012

Learning while Teaching

I used to think I was a good teacher. At my high school I was a teacher Intern for the dance classes. I did a great job at keeping the classes focused when teaching. I was one of the few teacher Interns that the students respected and would listen to. Thus I thought I was really cool and could teach anyone anything if I knew it really well. I thought I had patience, discipline, fun and respect all balanced out. When I went to the South Franklin community center, I was greatly humbled.
The boy I had to tutor did not have a very high reading capability. It was suggested that I write one syllable words down on a white board and help him sound it out. With a game plan in my head, I write down a few simple words on a white board and have him sound it out. Little did I realize that this would cause the boy so much agonizing pain that he would run away and whimper in the corner. I looked over to see another boy reading his book. Why wouldn't this boy do the same thing? Why would he erase whatever I wrote on the whiteboard and laugh? Why would he suffer excruciating pain almost to the point of death every time I asked him to pronounce a one syllable word?
As I wondered what to do, I noticed the boy's eyes spotted the infamous game Candyland on the table. Suddenly he jumped up and scurried over to bring out the board and pieces. Now I had the means to bargain. After writing a list of various words on the whiteboard, I told him as soon as he read out loud all of the following words, we all could play a game and race to King Kandy's castle. While he laying on his back, I held the words over his head so he slowly pronounced the sounds of each letter and figured out each word. It wasn't long after he finished was the game set up and found myself pulling cards and moving my marker a long the colorful Candyland road.
What I learned was there is no single method that works for everyone. With different ages comes different strategies. With different strategies comes different experiences. We will continue to learn from these new experiences even after we have everything "figured out."