liveOneWorld Issue 8

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ONEWORLD ISSUE#8

ONEWORLD ISSUE #8 MANAGING EDITOR LAUREN HASHIGUCHI

SENIOR EDITOR NEELAYSH VUKKADALA CREATIVE DIRECTOR KELCEY TOWELL LAYOUT DESIGN TEAM ANTHONY TRABON JULIA BRUCKS PHOTO EDITOR ANU GORUKANTI LOCAL SECTION MANAGER STEPHANIE KUNZ INTERNATIONAL SECTION MANAGER JOHN REILLY ONLINE DEVELOPMENT LUKE GATTA COPY AND CONTENT DIRECTOR SWATHI CHIDAMBARAM RESEARCH SECTION MANAGER TIM TOBY FOUNDER AND VISIONARY JESSE SULLIVAN

This magazine was made possible with the support of Campus Progress, a project of the Cent er for American Progress, online at CampusProgress.org COVER PHOTO BY NEELAYSH VUKKADALA

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URBAN MOUNTAIN TOP DON’T ASK WOMEN HOMEBOY SOCIOECONOMIC ISLAM MICROFINANCE FAIR TRADE TANZANIA

BY SWATHI CHIDAMBARAM

There is currently a 50% drop-out rate in the St.Louis Public School District. Most students starting the 9th grade in the Saint Louis Public School district read at a low 5th grade level· Moreover, 25% of all births in St. Louis are to mothers without high school diplomas, and 35% of St. Louis children are living below the poverty line.

These shocking facts demonstrate the wide gap between the St.Louis city and county areas. Sadly, in terms of opportunity and education, St.Louis is a divided town, with the urban portions of St.Louis falling far behind in educational opportunities. UrbanFUTURE is a Missouri, non-profit corporation which is working diligently to eliminate this disparity in education in our town. By offering educational opportunities to urban youth from the city of St.Louis, UrbanFUTURE strives to challenge each student to “see and believe in his or her possibilities.”

The UrbanFUTURE program emphasizes individual dignity, character formation, family commitment, and academic growth. The students

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are shown the importance of goal setting and are encouraged to explore their personal interests to reach their full potential. The five year-long program, extending from 4th to 8th grade, not only specifically engages the student in academics but also provides a strong support system for the student. The UrbanFUTURE program focuses on enhancing the student’s support network at home and involving the student’s family in his or her academic life. The student’s family is supported by and connected to members from the community and the student’s school. By nurturing these connections, UrbanFUTURE allows the family, school, and community to work together to address, as stated on the program’s website, “generational poverty at an individual and structural level” and ultimately help the student realize his or her academic potential. Moreover, UrbanFUTURE creates a sustainable mode of personal growth for the student by involving family and community volunteers.

UrbanFUTURE’s multidimensional approach makes it an excellent

and effective character education program. Jacob Blanton, an UrbanFUTURE Team Leader at L’Ouverture Middle School says, “UrbanFUTURE provides students with much needed personalized attention. In addition to the academic assistance that our tutors provide, our students receive the open ears and open hearts of adults who are invested in their success.”

And the yearly statistics and data of the progress made by this organization show some encouraging results.

The summary data from the 200920010 MAP scores shows that UrbanFUTURE students outgrew the nonUrbanFUTURE students by about 2.5 times in communication arts and by roughly 7 times in math, the two main curricular areas of focus in the UrbanFUTURE program. In the last year, the Mann school students cut the achievement gap between themselves and the Clayton schools by 10% or more in both communication arts and math. Furthermore, as a result of the program’s emphasis on family involvement, the data from the past few years shows that the parents of

UrbanFUTURE students attended conferences at a three-to-one ratio to non-UrbanFUTURE parents. With the strong support system that UrbanFUTURE provides, the students become more committed to attending school. This quarter, while nonUrbanFUTURE students missed an average of 3 days of school, UrbanFUTURE students missed an average of one day of school. These results indicate the efficiency of the UrbanFUTURE program in improving the educational outlook for the urban youth in the city of St.Louis.

While the effectiveness of the UrbanFUTURE program can plainly be seen in its positive results, it is also clear that programs such as UrbanFUTURE can only be sustained with the support of the community. Based on the current high school dropout statistics in the St.Louis Public School District, if UrbanFUTURE can help 300 students graduate from high school, the net benefit to society would be around $37.2 million. This translates to an $8.25 return to society for every dollar invested in Ur-

banFUTURE. Moreover, looking at the larger scheme of the situation, the benefit of improving a child’s life and helping the child achieve his or her academic goals goes far beyond these monetary measurements.

Although it might not be possible for us, as college students, to donate a large sum of money to UrbanFUTURE, we can help support this organization by volunteering a minimum of two hours a week to help tutor an UrbanFUTURE student at one of their St.Louis City school locations near our campus. I began tutoring for UrbanFUTURE at L’Ouverture Middle School this semester and it has been one of my most rewarding service experiences. I work with two students at L’Ouverture in the area of communication arts once a week. In addition to working with the students on academics, I also build a mentoring relationship with the students and contact the parents twice a month to inform them of their child’s progress. The opportunity to directly impact a student’s life in a positive way is the source of the great satisfaction

that the UrbanFUTURE volunteers and staff gain from participating in the efforts of the program. Laura Whitehead, a Team Leader at the L’Ouverture Middle School’s UrbanFUTURE program, says that with the help of her volunteer team she is able to “deliver individualized lesson plans simultaneously, make accommodations for personal learning styles, and work with students on a one-to-two ratio.” Ultimately, these factors lead to the incredible success of the UrbanFUTURE program.

As the UrbanFUTURE program continues to grow to serve more students and their families in the city of St.Louis, the program’s need for more volunteers increases greatly.

If you would like to support the UrbanFUTURE program or learn more about their work, please visit their website at http://www.urbanfuturestl.org/. *The majority of the quotes and data in this article are from the following website: http://www.urbanfuturestl.org/

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MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL

BY ERINN MCKUNE

DRIVING INTO THE SMALL, 700 PERSON TOWN OF WHITESVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA, YOU ARE GREETED BY A DAIRY QUEEN, TWO FUNERAL HOMES, A GAS STATION, A STATE BANK, AND UPWARDS OF TEN EMPTY STOREFRONTS.

Mountain top removal mining has transformed the land of Whitesville, causing flooding, contamination of the water, and health problems. Photo by Erinn McKune.

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Driving into the small, 700 person town of Whitesville, West Virginia, you are greeted by a dairy queen, two funeral homes, a gas station, a state bank, and upwards of ten empty storefronts.

Through this perspective, it is difficult to comprehend that just two decades ago, Whitesville was a booming town. The reason for this decline in local economy has much to do with the influx of mountaintop removal practices in this county. Whitesville is far from the only small town that has been affected by this practice.

Currently, in the U.S., the practice of mountaintop removal is occurring in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Mountaintop removal is a practice that was introduced in the nineteen seventies and is a replacement of the conventional coal mining techniques.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mountaintop removal is “a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal.

Mountaintop removal can involve re-

moving 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.”

Mountaintop removal has had countless economic, health, social and environmental effects on communities, such as Whitesville, across the Appalachian Mountain Region.

The movement away from mountaintop removal has grown as of recently. Many organizations and government agencies are working to remove this form of mining in order to protect the quality of life of individuals living in these communities.

The grassroots organization located in Whitesville, the Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW), is one of the organizations that are adamantly working to stop the practice of mountaintop removal.

Their mission is to “stop the destruction of our communities and environment by mountaintop removal mining, to improve the quality of life in our area and to help rebuild sustainable communities.”

The CRMW is looking to rebuild these communities and economies because “It [mountaintop removal] creates an economy where coal is the only option,” said CRMW staff member Rob Goodwin.

“There is no longer timbering or sustainable foresting because there is no soil. You can’t build wind turbines on mountaintop removal sites because the soil is not strong enough.”

The growth in these organizations, however, is not the only development in this movement. Recently, two pieces of legislature that support the movement away from the practice of mountaintop removal are the Appalachian Restoration Act and the Clean Water Protection Act. The Appalachian Restoration Act is U.S. Senatorial bill that will significantly reduce this form of coal mining and will protect clean drinking water for many cities. Mountaintop removal has been the cause of serious flooding, pollution, and loss of drinking water; the movement towards the end of these side effects will be protected under this restoration act.

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“CURRENTLY, TEN STATES IN THE U.S. INCLUDING MISSOURI HAVE BANNED THE USE OF MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL MINED COAL IN THEIR STATES.”

“No water is safe to drink in this valley. Walk into the woods and there is no water that you can drink,” said Goodwin.

Similarly, the Clean Water Protection Act serves to promote the necessity for increased quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents by protecting clean drinking water.

According to section II of this bill, “The term ‘fill material’ means any pollutant which replaces portions of the waters of the United States with dry land or which changes the bottom elevation of a water body for any purpose. The term does not include any pollutant discharged into the water primarily to dispose of waste.’”

By making this distinction, the waste from mountain top removal can

no longer be disposed into any body of water.

According to the action and resource center to end mountaintop removal, ilovemountains.org, “In most states where mountaintop removal coal is used to generate electricity, the actual mining is not taking place.”

Currently, ten states in the U.S., including Missouri, have banned the use of mountain top removal mined coal in their states.

“I would encourage everyone to come visit and really learn about what is going on. I don’t think you can really grasp the situation until you actually see it,” said Goodwin. “I encourage people to learn more about it, come visit a mountaintop removal site, and to talk to the people living in these communities.”

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Shh...

Military Struggles To Find Common Ground Over Controversial Policy

By Erinn McKune As of Oct. 20, a Federal District Court Judge in California deemed the Obama administration’s request to keep the Don’t Ask Don’t tell policy in place unconstitutional stalled policy.

This policy, however, was reenacted after being revoked only hours earlier.

The policy has served as a means of baring openly lesbian and gay members from serving in the military for the past seventeen years.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been defined as a policy in which service personnel are not only restricted from publicizing their sexual identity, but they can also be formally discharged for homosexual conduct.

“It is against freedom of speech and the freedoms which our country is based upon,” said sophomore Kathleen Otto. “It [the original policy] is discrimination against a group of people, it is a human rights issue.

The act was originally created on

the assertion that “It would create unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that that are the essence of military capability.”

Otto said, “The claim about unity is irrelevant. We allow women into the military and clearly we have been able to move past that.”

Senior Thomas Bloom, president of Rainbow Alliance, agreed, “The rationale was unit cohesion. You can’t have effective unit cohesion if you cant trust the guy next to you.”

Even in the hours that the policy was officially repealed, people were taking advantage of their new opportunities.

Bloom observed, “In those couple of hours it was cool to see people who hadn’t been treated great in the first place walking back in to register, it makes it clear that there are Americans who are highly qualified and ready and willing to serve.”

Despite the possibility of the policy being permanently repealed in the future, it does not guarantee that a LGBT military personnel’s relationship will be formally recognized. Even upon the revocation of the act, an individual is not guaranteed any benefits or rights when their partner is overseas.

“Even if it is repealed, it is not the final step to achieving equality,” said Bloom.

The policy does not only affect those who are currently enlisted in the military, it has an effect on young people who have plans on enlisting in the future.

“Directly, there are SLU students that plan on going into armed forces.

We all live here and benefit from U.S. military. They protect us and this policy is harming our ability to effectively operate,” said Bloom. “It’s discriminatory and it’s against what we as a country fundamentally believe in.”

Photo by dbking

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“It’s Lefta Mark A SURVIVOR OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TELLS HER STORY BY THERESA WINK

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Violence: it’s a word that often conjures up images of gangs, war, terrorism, anonymous crime. But for victims of domestic violence, that is not the reality. For the 1069% of women worldwide that have been estimated by the World Health Organization to be abused by an intimate partner in their lifetime, the scene they fear is their own home.

No nation, ethnicity, gender or economic status has immunity to domestic violence, also called intimate partner violence. Research reports that DV affects approximately 25% of women and 7.6% of men in this country. While women in minorities with low household incomes experience IPV disproportionately, they are not the only victims, as one survivor can attest.

Valerie* is a 56 year old white woman from a middle-class background who left an abusive relationship 20 years ago. She grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and attended Eastern

k” Kentucky University. There, Valerie says, she fell into a pattern of behavior that led up to her abusive marriage. “I was looking for love; yet, I ended up making some very poor decisions.”

At the age of 24, Valerie married Tom*, her boyfriend of a year. The two were already living together and had a relationship she describes as “tumultuous” even then. However, for the most part, the strenuous parts of the relationship were easy to overlook. As Valerie says, “It started out perfectly lovely. He was really quite the Prince Charming.”

She married him partly to please her terminally-ill mother, who wanted to live to see her daughter wed. After her mother’s death, the couple came into a significant amount of money, enough for Valerie to pay off the mortgage on her farm. Tom quit work, and Valerie became the sole breadwinner. She worked as a consultant, a job that required her to travel around Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. This commute made it difficult to drive home to Tom every night as he insisted.

Tom demanded respect from Valerie but did not reciprocate. Not long after they married, he began an affair with another woman, sometimes bringing her home to the house he shared with Valerie. “I was devastated because he stayed out with his girlfriend. I can remember sometimes he’d agree to leave the bar without her. The fights would be even worse when he’d get home.”

It became progressively worse.

“With Tom, I could never do enough to make anything right…if it was raining, it was my fault. If it was sunny and we needed rain, it was my fault.

If the meal wasn’t cooked perfectly, it was my fault.” Even when they tried counseling, Tom blamed all of their problems on her. “He would tell me, “You’re lucky you have me because no one would want someone so fat and ugly and bad at cooking.”Once Tom berated her for how she was cooking his scrambled eggs. She threw the skillet in his direction, missed, and he beat her in retaliation.

When hearing stories like Valerie’s, people who have not been abused often ask, “Why didn’t you leave?” Reasons vary widely. Says Valerie, “I could not accept being divorced. I thought it was a horrible failure, something I’d done wrong…I kept trying to believe my marriage was something holy and sacred. But it wasn’t.”

Tom physically and verbally abused Valerie without regard to who else might be there. “He came into my office one night in a rampage, when we were all there working late, threatened my boss, held him over the deck and told me, ‘If you want

your boss to live, you better come home with me and quit your job.’”

She did, selling all of her good jewelry to compensate for the paychecks she had lost. “Two weeks later, he let me go back to work. Fortunately, I had a tremendous boss who let me come back. Not many would do that.”

Although Valerie was working again, Tom continued to use finances to control her, forcing her to turn over all her earnings to him. “I couldn’t have a checking account. He had to take care of all the money himself, so he could spend it on drugs, alcohol, and his girlfriend.” Though he squandered all of the money Valerie earned, she says, “I tried to buy him everything he wanted.”

Like many survivors of intimate partner violence, Valerie continued trying to protect Tom and keep him happy in spite of how he treated her.

“One of the worst beatings I ever took was when he threatened to kill himself.” He filled a syringe with air and attempted to inject it into himself.

“I took it out and he beat the living crap out of me.”

On yet another occasion, Tom pulled Valerie out of her bed and held a loaded gun to her head, threw her up on the kitchen counter, and forced her to stay there until morning. The following day he took her to a lawyer’s office—the gun still in his pocket. “He made me sign over the farm to him…

After that I felt even more unsafe there because, as he often told me, I had no rights to live there anymore. It was his house, his rules.”

Although there are some legal steps survivors of abuse can take to protect themselves from their abusers, Valerie notes that these are often not enough. “People often ask women, ‘How come you didn’t get an order of protection?’ Because, as he told me, “A piece of paper is not going to stop a bullet.”

For Valerie, the breaking point came one evening when the two were home together. She attempted to snuggle up to him on the couch, and “he pushed me away and told me I had no right to tell him what to do with his body.” The irony was too much. “I think everyone has a straw that breaks

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the camel’s back. For me, this was it.”

He agreed to a divorce, and Valerie moved in with a good friend.

After cutting ties with Tom, Valerie began a relationship with another man who also abused and cheated on her. “It’s an example of the pattern many women go through.”

Valerie’s story is not unique; repeat victimization is relatively common for domestic violence. A study in Great Britain found that 44% of domestic violence survivors have been abused by more than one partner.

Tom’s abusive behavior also followed a pattern. One day Valerie got a call from another friend, offering to sell her sidesaddle for horseback riding. “She’d married him, he broke her back, and she could no longer ride. She was selling some of her things to help pay medical bills.”

Repeated abuse is also typical; a Bronx study suggests that 44% of domestic violence offenders reoffend

within two years of their release from court-mandated interventions.

What helped Valerie end this pattern? “The second abuser left me.

After that, I finally found someone who treated me well, and it helped the world.” Although they are no longer together, she and this man still talk occasionally. Now, she says, “I’m blessed to be in a relationship where I’m loved unconditionally,inspiteofalotofbaggage.

The scars, self-doubt, wondering, ‘Why would someone love me?’—these are things I’ve had to work through after my marriage.”

Today Valerie contributes to the movement against intimate partner violence locally. Her work at a shelter for survivors in the St. Louis region has given her a unique perspective on her own past, and vice versa. “I know how important it is for the women to have a safe place to go. I hope it has made me a little more effective at telling the story of women here.” Valerie notes

that she was lucky in some ways. “I had good friends, some money, and a job. Many women don’t.”

Many survivors also have children who have witnessed violence, and it can also victimize them in a more subtle way. Young witnesses to domestic violence often experience behavioral and emotional problems, including anxiety, withdrawal, and aggressive behavior towards others.

Notes Valerie, “We believe what we see growing up.”

Valerie says the scars of emotional abuse, though often less visible, are often more difficult to heal than physical wounds. “Some of the most abusive partners don’t always leave physical scars. A broken bone will heal; the emotional damage takes a lot longer. It carries forward in every aspect of a survivor’s life, even after bones heal, the black eye is gone, he’s in jail or dead.”

SO

how can you help if you are concerned that a friend is being abused?

• In private, ask, “Is everything ok?” Offer numbers and information for support and help groups.

• Listen compassionately and without judgement. Validate her concerns, and remember that this is not her fault. Says Valerie, “It’s her story, whether it makes sense to you or not.”

• Don’t give unsolicited advice. “If you tell her to leave, she’ll probably defend his behavior and your line of communication with her could be damaged or broken.”

*Names have been changed out of respect for the survivor’s privacy.

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Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES

BY SARAH FENTEM

Photo by Floyd B . B a r i s c a l e

In the basement of Saint Louis’ Joan of Arc school, Father Greg Boyle sits at a foldaway card table facing a long line of people waiting eagerly to meet him. Illuminated by that dingy, fluorescent lighting specific to small parochial school cafeterias, he graciously makes conversation with everyone he meets and signs copies of sgangs. Whenever he meets a young child, he asks his or her name and tells them to stay in school.

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Homboy Industries Offers Gang Members a Second Chance Father Greg, as he prefers to be called, is obviously exhausted: he has been traveling across the nation, promoting his book and giving speeches describing his work as the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, a gang member rehabilitation program he’s been involved with since its creation in 1992. He speaks in a classic hermeneutic style, earnest and self-depreciating, peppered with corny jokes. However, he also works in Spanish slang and stories about people with names like Snoopy and Grumpy, acquired from his years working with those who most have deemed lost causes.

Homeboy Industries, which operates under the motto that “nothing stops a bullet like a job” provides services for at-risk young people. Located in the heart of Los Angeles, the

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voluntary program (“its for people who want help, not people who need help”, says Boyle) offers employment assistance, helping with placement as well as teaching job skills to former members. In addition, the program provides education services like parenting classes and G.E.D. preparation, and mental health services like twelve-step meetings, grief and anger counseling, and support groups.

Another interesting service Homeboy offers is “Ya ‘Stuvo” laser tattoo removal. “Ya ‘stuvo”, is Spanish slang which means, in short, “I’m done with this, I’m through”. “No place on the planet removes more tattoos”, explains Father Greg. The service not only renders a person more likely to get a job, but also serves as a symbolic rite of passage. The procedure marks the end of a negative lifestyle as well as a new beginning.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Homeboy Industries is its creation of “Homeboy Businesses”, where those who are very difficult to place in traditional jobs have the op-

portunity to work in an environment where they can learn job skills and add to their resume.

“When we couldn’t find enough jobs [in the beginning] we said, lets just start our own business”, explains Boyle, who founded Homeboy Bakery, the first business, in 1994.

Homegirl Café, a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles where “homegirls” can learn catering and food service skills while serving up Latin-inspired dishes. Homeboy and Homegirl Merchandise sells products like T-shirts and mugs that feature the Homeboy logo, as well as books and cards.

Homeboy silkscreen and embroidery, which is described as the “backbone businesses for Homeboy Industries… with sales topping $1 million every year”, prints logos and images on promotional items.

Not every business has been successful, however.

“Homeboy plumbing was not hugely successful”, explains Father Greg. “Who knew people didn’t want gang members in their homes?”

The Jesuit message of service and compassion ‘serves as the foundation for the program. “Its about service- men and women for others”, explains Boyle at the speech at St. Joan of Arc school. “Jesus was more a man with others. Truthfully, it wasn’t service provider/service recipient[there] was really no distance between Jesus and the people he touched.

Separation is an illusion, and that’s the truth.”

He continues: “There’s an idea that’s taking root in the world and it’s at the root of all its problems… and the idea is this: There just might be lives that matter less than other lives.

And I think we’re gathered here so that we can stand against that idea.

And as you inch your way into the margins where the excluded stand, people will accuse you of wasting your time.” In true hermeneutic fashion, he paraphrases Jeremiah 33:11: “In this place of which you say ‘it is a waste’, there will be heard again the voices of mirth, the voices of gladness, and

“No place on the planet removes more tattoos.” the voices of those who sing. How is it not our collective task to make those voices heard?”

It is this underlying idea of kinship that accounts for Homeboy Industries’ hugely successful retention rate. The program’s 70 percent retention rate is the highest in the country.

(To compare, if a program has a 30 percent retention rate, the U.S, government considers it successful.)

“The thirty percent thing just indicates how low the bar is”, explains Father Greg, These people don’t have much expectation for this population.”

“I think the key difference is the community, you know?”, he continues. “This kind a family, therapeutic community where they feel loved, and that really matters. In the old days, it

used to be, ‘they just need a job’ but that it turns out [that’s] like, 75 percent, and the missing 25 percent was that kind of connection to a community.”

At Homeboy Industries, this community is most apparent when rival gang members work together shoulder-to-shoulder.

“Used to shoot bullets, now they shoot text messages”, says Boyle.

“And there’s a word for that, and that word is kinship.”

From left to right: F a t h e r G r e g B o y l e g r e e t s readers at a b o o k s i g n i n g . P h o t o b y Neelaysh Vuk kadala.

A f o r m e r g a n g m e m b e r works at the H o m e b o y I n d u s t r i e s b a kery. Photo f r o m B B C W o r l d S e r v i c e.

F a t h e r B o y l e m e e t s w i t h Los Angeles M a y o r A n t o n i o Vi l l a r a i gosa. Photo by Eric Richardson.

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Saint Louis University Socioeconomic Diversity Forward by Jamie James, Testimony collection by Rachel Watson and Lauren Hashiguchi The stereotype "starving college student" is well-known, yet the experiences of college students from backgrounds of low economic resources are not openly discussed or considered. Diversity has many facets; it is not relevant to only race, religion, gender, physical ability, or sexual orientation, it is also relevant to socioeconomic background. Students who are struggling to make simple financial ends quietly populate college campuses around the US; we cannot be a truly cohesive university community until we consider their stories.

The stories compiled in these pages reflect the experience of many students in our community. Rather than isolate them for their differences, these testimonies can help teach us how their experience has shaped them. We strive to be a community that incorporates these different backgrounds and are more cognizant of the diversity we have, These stories will teach you what impacts their educational and social experience as a college student.

Saint Louis University for Undergraduate Socio-Economic Diversity (SLU/FUSED), is a task force founded by students to increase awareness of socio-economic diversity present on our campus. Through teaching fellow students and opening the discussions about this diversity, we create a more inclusive environment.

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And so we begin, by sharing our stories...

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If I were to assign adjectives to describe my childhood, “poor” I’ve always had a roof over my head, clothes in my closet, and at least some food on the table. I participated in competition dance teams all throughout middle and high school, which is not the cheapest hobby. My parents have always had steady jobs, and we’ve gone on many family vacations.

However, during my freshman year of high school I developed Anorexia Nervosa. By my the middle of my sophomore year, it was obvious that I needed serious help. So, my parents admitted me into a 3 month treatment facility, where the daily cost of care was around $1500. My parents could by no means afford this on their own and had to take out loans as well as borrow from my grandparents.

Thankfully, it wasn’t money thrown out the door; I am doing quite well today. However, the debt from this difficult time placed an enormous financial burden on my family. Because insurance providers do not see eating disorders as a true illness that needs intensive treatment, we received no aid from them. By the time senior year rolled around and I was thinking of where I wanted to go to college, there was absolutely no way my parents would be able to afford to provide me with a college education. For a long time, I was furious over this. I couldn’t understand why my parents wouldn’t pay for my education just like everyone else’s parents. At one point, I was fighting with my mother everyday for weeks on end, so eventually I moved out.

I was on my own. I can’t begin to express how odd it feels to find a

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nickel on the sidewalk and feel as though you’ve just increased your wealth by thousands. I never imagined I would be going to bed on an empty stomach because I could only afford to eat one meal a day. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gone to swipe my debit card only to be told I have “insufficient funds.”

Being here as a SLU student has proven to be very difficult. I’m paying for everything on my own: tuition, books, housing, food, clothing. It was a nearly impossible task finding someone to cosign my student loan, since my parents are so unsupportive of me being here. It’s quite unsettling climbing up to the top bunk to go to sleep and wondering whether or not you will have to pack your bags the next morning because your loan didn’t go through. It can also be a little disheartening at times walking around campus and seeing everyone carrying around their iPhones, Coach purses, and MacBook Pros.

After being here for only half a semester, I have decided that I am going to have to transfer based on financial reasons -- I’m just not comfortable with taking on so much debt in student loans. At times, I wish I lived a cushy, privileged life like many of the students at SLU do, but then I realize how much stronger and more mature my financial difficulties have made me. When I do earn enough money from my part-time job to afford a small luxury, I appreciate it more. I am determined to continue with my education despite how difficult it may prove to be.

would be one of the

last on the list.

I have been blessed in many ways in my life, but the impact of the recession has been a looming, overwhelming part of my college experience. My mom was laid off a year ago and since then my family has been living off a single income while trying to also afford to send me to college. It’s been stressful; when people ask me what my mom does, I tell them about the job she used to have because I feel embarrassed about it. I feel alone at SLU, trying to put on an act and pretend I’m the carefree college student that I always imaged was the norm.

My family lost the house that I grew up in last spring. Everyone is going home for Christmas break…

but I don’t know where I am going.

I don’t wake up in the morning feeling like

P. Diddy.

The first thing I feel is a dull pain in my back from the weeks of carrying an overstuffed backpack around.

It’s usually early - 6 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays - and still dark outside. I take a quick, cold shower because we don’t have hot water. I dress and gather my things, making sure to leave at a very certain time. I live at home, can’t afford on campus housing...or a car, so I leave an hour and half before class and walk 25 minutes to the closest Metrolink station.

I managed to buy a $67 pass - but it’s only monthly so in 30 days I’ll have to purchase another one (it’s still cheap-

pretty hungry. Did you know a meal at a campus dining place is like $7?

That’s a lot for everyday. Especially for college students. Because I don’t have a car and the walk is a pain, I have to stay on campus from 8am some days until 9 at night - that’s if I want to participate in any kind of activity like a normal college student.

My service fraternity holds meetings at 8pm. Other organizations are similar....some days I don’t get home until 10pm.

These are my “fun” college days.

Most of the time, I just want them to be over.

er than the $4.50 round-trip ticket daily). The walk is a long one - it’s hot in August, September, May and June and freezing in October, November, December, January, February, and parts of March - and by the time I arrive I’m tired from walking around with a full backpack. I always pray for no weather surprises, because if it starts to rain out of nowhere and I have no umbrella or it’s hot and I’m wearing pants I’m screwed because I can’t change clothes. I can’t really afford a meal plan, so unless I add extra weight to my backpack and bring a lunch, I stay on campus all day,

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My mother is an elementary school teacher and my father passed away from cancer; my uncle passed away due to a heart attack one week later. I cannot get any monetary help to pay for my education from my family during the financially challenging recovery time resulting from these losses. My only relief from these financial obstacles is from the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Leadership Program. I am a Bill Gates scholarship award recipient. I used to be a 4.0 student, but due to financial obstacles negatively impacting my life and experience as a university student; I struggle to maintain a B- GPA. I have exhausted the two year funding maximum at the Master’s funding level from the Gates Foundation while previously working towards completing a two years Master’s degree program. I only needed to take one more class—just three credits more was needed to graduate. Due to financial constraints, I had to leave that school and transfer to SLU. Sadly, out of the two years of hard-earned Master’s coursework, I only got nine hours of transfer credit essentially restarting the entire Master’s program this Fall 2010 term retaking the exact same coursework all over again.

As I type this first thing in the morning, I wake up to another day of financial obstacle hell. I am participating in this Socioecomic Diversity Dialogue Project because it is my sincere wish that someone else can read my academic story. My story is like a candle that life has set aflame. Melted down, burned away by hope and uncertainty, flickering desperately.

I want you to stretch out your hands as you read this story to catch a few drops of hot wax so that you would feel their sting and fully understand the pain endured, heart cries and the fires that lie behind that sting. I am sure there were others who lit and melted away that came before me, but this time by sharing my story I hope to light a way for others providing for

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IDallas,Texas. aman American citizen from I am the oldest of five children. them a path that is a little less dark, contains fewer obstacles and is filled with a little more reassurance that they are not alone in this financial obstacle hell impacting their life and experience as a college student at Saint Louis University.

As I type this first thing in the morning, I should be planning my academic studying road map for the day, instead, I am using my mental and emotional energy not for maintaining a high GPA, but to appeal an initial PLUS loan denial—denied not due to bad credit—but due to an accidental loan default status occurring because a previous university I attended did not update their NSLDS database during the two years I studied there. I should be focused on graduate school coursework right now, but if I don’t sort out this appeal to pay for my Fall 2010 dorm room fees, my coursework will be placed on hold.

As I type this first thing in the morning, due to the stress of having to balance academics while striving to stay eligible to pay for it I have been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety and Secondary Depression. Due to stress, I stopped having a monthly period. Sometimes the situation feels so hopeless, it’s hard to motivate yourself to stay focused, go to class, complete all assignments on time when you don’t know if you will be able to see the grades you are earning due to transcript holds or inability to pay to complete the degree you’ve worked

towards and fought so hard for altogether. Honestly, other than SLU’s financial aid officers who thankfully are very kind, patient and helpful; the financial obstacles or any other extenuating scholarship circumstances that result from finances fall on deaf ears.

This has been the single most devastating impact on my life and experience SLU a direct result of financial obstacles.

As I type this first thing in the morning, I know I have to keep hopeful, optimistic and focused on making high grades but I am starting to feel extremely distressed. I do believe there are compelling humanitarian and financial justifications that only some merciful faculty member can best assess while acting quickly to find a way—any way possible—to help save my academic future. Even though it took so much to transfer here from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon…I won’t be able to even continue at SLU in Spring anymore since I have no more federal funding remaining either.

I have now reached a point in my academic journey where I am on the brink of losing everything I have worked for—my entire academic career—due to financial obstacles. The only feasible solution is to enter into a doctoral program on probationary status while at the same time completing any remaining master’s coursework so that the scholarship will continue funding. Otherwise, I will automati-

cally become alumni with the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Program and become ineligible to receive three to five additional years of funding. This situation happened due to previously exceeding the two year funding maximum/exhausting in-school deferments at the Master’s degree funding level. I feel that my financial obstacle requirements are so complex and that I am an inconvenience to the academic institution due to these complicated extenuating circumstances financial obstacles have caused, believe me, I wish I didn’t have them.

I have gained so much academic maturity and I know what I am capable of achieving after getting this far in my academic journey despite all the prior financial obstacles. Moreover, I would not sharing my story with you today had I not overcome all the challenges that I faced. Even though the challenges took a toll on my entire being; I am so much stronger after experiencing all of it. I honestly believe the GPA does not adequately reflect my intellectual capacity, academic capabilities and my now, incalculable, fully refined sense of strength of character that will sustain me to write a thesis through to completion. I have faith in my abilities after gaining newly found strength through overcoming much adversity. I have made it this far, literally tested the limits of my soul, completed all major course work at the Master’s level for two and a half years.

This whole ordeal is a living financial obstacle hell. I don’t have the luxury to relax ever. I have to always stay in this limbo state of not knowing if I will be eligible or accepted or permitted or deferred or or or there is always something I have to overcome, a hurdle to jump, an issue to deal with…I know it builds character and makes your stronger but I wish that my only issue to contend with would be graduating and getting academic distinction so I can get a higher socio-economic position in overcome, a hurdle to jump, an issue to deal with…I know it builds character and makes your stronger but I wish that my only issue to contend with would be graduating and getting academic distinction so I can get a higher socio-economic position in life.

financial

I just hate

obstacles.

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ISLAM

A Fragile Perception Among a Strong Religion

By Anu Gorukanti

T

The phrase “Allahu Akbar” echoes across a seemingly quiet town in East Jerusalem. The same sound is chanted vehemently by Al Quaeda fighters who shake their AK47 leftover from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the mid-90s. The same sound is played as background noise to an image of the twin towers crashing into the New York skyline.

The same sound echoes through West Pine Masjid as devout followers gather for the Jummah prayer. The same sound but very different connotations.

The media portrayal of Islam has implications that are farther reaching than a single story or the opinion of a single newscaster. It influences not only how non-Muslims view Muslims abroad but Muslims they interact with on a daily basis. According to a poll by the Washington Post, the proportion of Americans who believe that Islam helps stoke violence against nonMuslims has more than doubled since the 9/11attacks, from 14 percent in January 2002 to 33 percent in 2006 arguing that the perceptions have declined due to media perceptions and political statements. The American

perception of Islam is intertwined with increased reportage of Islam in media outlets in the aftermath of 9/11, the onset of Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the building of the Park 51 project in New York City.

It is important to examine causes for the increase in the American association of Islam and violence and how this relates to media portrayal.

Few would dispute that the media has great influence over the public’s opinion of major issues.. The media serves as a model for normal behavior and information and the way it covers an issue can lead the viewer to

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A s t u d e n t p a u s e s f o r a m o m e n t o f r eflection at t h e I n t e r f a i t h M o n o l g u e s o n H i j a - A w a reness Day. P h o t o b y A n u Gorukanti.

a certain opinion. . . According to an article by Liz Jackson in the Journal of American Educational Studies Association, “the major theme in the visual representation of Islam in mass media since 9/11 undoubtedly contributes to a public demonstrating high awareness of Muslims wishing

[the public]harm...over other points of Islam.” This could explain why twothirds of the American population have not heard of Muslim leaders condemning terrorism, according to study done by the Council of American-Islamic relations. The media may not purposefully aim to

create an association between Islam and violence, but the lack of attention given to the “moderate Muslim” or to Muslims doing good things and speaking out against terrorism leads to an representation of a very narrow and divergent sample of the Muslim population. With only a small

population represented, the voice of a minority of Islamic extremists becomes much louder than the voice of the majority moderate Muslims.

On a less addressed note, media portrayal can influence the way Muslims, especially Muslim college students, feel about their place in American society. According to a poll done by Time magazine, only 55 percent of Americans believe that U.S. Muslims are patriotic Americans.

Not surprisingly, many Muslim youth feel that Islam’s misrepresentation by the media strongly affects the way Americans view Islam. When asked by researchers at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, many youth said they feel that they are not included in the American community and are instead viewed as the “other.” For some Muslim students, this may result in a tendency to dissociate themselves from their faith or qualify that they are not “practicing Muslims.” For other students, there is frustration that their faith is given such a skewed representation in the media. As stated by 25-year-old Muslim college student Dania, “Just as Muslim extremists have distorted Islam, U.S. media had done just as much damage, if not more. They never show the positive aspects of Islam and all the good and moderate Muslims that live peacefully beside Jews, Christians, Hindus and all other religions.

We’re always portrayed as the angry bearded men who fire guns in the air and burn the U.S. flag. That’s all Americans know about us and that’s why so many Americans have such a wrong impression about us and our religion.”

As individuals, there are ways we can affect this situation. It is important to approach the articles and news we read with a degree of media literacy.

When we view headlines and read articles, it’s important to critically examine how different subjects are represented within the article and how the author supports the statements he or she is making. When a story is reporting on a specific incident, look at the context of what is being reported; it is important to make the distinction between isolated events rather than using a single situation to generalize an entire population of people. Finally, it is important to get information from various sources to account for different biases and perspectives on a situation.

While it is important to acknowledge the place the media plays in society’s perceptions, the situation should not be viewed in a disparaging light.

For all the events emphasizing the American perception of Islam, there are other events also happening.

Every day, Muslims and nonMuslims work together, go to school together, eat together, and spend time with each other- the importance of these relationships should not be overlooked. In these situations, labels become less relevant and individuals can be representatives of themselves, not their faith or culture. A powerful way to affect change is through education and forming relationships with those of other faiths and

“Just as Muslim extremists have distorted Islam, U.S. media had done just as much damage, if not more.”

traditions. On a college campus, people of different faith traditions interact with each other every day but there are few chances to engage in dialogue about their faith. There are organizations on Saint Louis University’s campus that provide students with such opportunities. The SLU Muslim Students Association is an active organization that seeks to provide its members with the opportunities to grow in their faith while also providing non-Muslims with opportunities for education and dialogue. The MSA has three major events throughout the year that provide non-Muslims to a chance to engage directly with Muslims students. As described by sophomore MSA member Imman Musa “I think it’s really important to show people what Islam truly is rather than what the media portrays it to be, which is usually false. That is why in MSA we like to host events where people can hear from real Muslims about Islam, rather than believing everything they hear in the news. Each year, MSA holds the Fast-A-Thon as an act of solidarity for those students who fast during Ramadan. Local business donates a certain amount of money

for each non-Muslim student who fasts for the day; the money is donated to local charities to alleviate some of the problems of the Saint Louis community. Islamic Awareness week focuses on events directed towards educating non-Muslims about misconceptions about Islam and the daily lives of Muslim-Americans.

An event was held this past Islamic Awareness week called “Sharing Common Ground” which highlighted the similarities between the three monotheistic traditions. Finally, there is a week-long social justice week where non-Muslim have the chance to done the hijab for “Hijab Awareness day.” Participants have the chance to chronicle experiences and how they felt they were perceived by others because they were wearing a hijab.

However, it is important for these interactions to go one step further than education and develop into dialogue. According to researchers at University of Buffalo, SUNY, Muslim youth agreed that one of the ways to overcome these misperceptions is through dialogue. These friendships that are formed allow individuals to formulate their own thoughts of that person as an individual and can help break the stereotypes that may have been previously applied to an entire faith. When researchers at University of Buffalo, SUNY, asked students what Muslims in America can do about this situation, Amina, a 26-year-old Muslim student replied, “Muslims must keep open lines of communication with the American community at large, to keep participating in interfaith dialogues, and being active in their community.”

The responsibility to educate and to reach out to other communities does not solely lie with Muslims. The negative perception of Islam may be perpetuated through media biases but individuals can chose how to perceive the Islamic faith and individual Muslims. Through media literacy, building relationships with Muslim students and taking the personal initiative to engage in dialogue, individuals will be much more equipped to gain a more objective perspective on Islam.

Microfinance

IN AFRICA

BY DAVID ABERSPACH

If you ask someone on the street what they know about microfinance, their immediate response will identify some related terms, such as, “small loans”, “poverty” and “underdeveloped countries” They are right of course. These expressions are obviously connected. However, they all lead to one specific term called Microfinance. The world of Microfinance can be defined as “a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers”.

But there is much more to talk about. The concept of Microfinance is not limited to this definition. It is a movement that has spread all around the globe rather than being limited to its place of origin. “Microfinancing Partners in Africa”, an institution, based in St. Louis is another offshoot of this worldwide movement.

Microfinancing Partners is run by Sister Antoinette “Toni” Temporiti, a Catholic nun and full-time psychotherapist. It aims to help the poor out of poverty via the innovative microfinancing concept. As a cosmopolitan humanitarian, over time Sister Toni got more interested in African region which can be understood from her extraordinary interview in October 2010 when she talked about her passions, journeys and experiences:

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OneWorld: Toni, why the connection to Africa?

Sister Toni: My mom and my dad worked with a group of sisters. They had a grocery store. On Saturdays whatever was left over they would take over to the community. The sisters were called St. Peter Claver Sisters and they had worked primarily in Africa and I would get gifts from Africa. In 5th grade I started studying about Africa and I wrote my first paper which was probably only a paragraph on Apartheid, I just knew that some day I wanted to go to Africa.

OW: How did you establish Microfinancing Partners in Africa?

ST: I did my sabbatical in 2004 when I joined 24 other young adults and we travelled from Cairo all the way down to Cape Town. We visited 18 countries and every night we camped out.

We didn’t do a good job cooking for each other. We bought our food locally from the women in the villages.

Every night we would build a fire and the women would come out and talk to us and because the whole eastern part of Africa was colonized by Britain, the language was English. So the women came and sat around the fire and every evening, we would just hear stories about their children, hopes, how they spent their day. They asked me questions like, do you feed your family, questions in America we take for granted, but they didn’t.

So when I got back to the US, I was just a different person, I had a lot

more hope and a lot more resilience than when I left. It came through being with the women there. I was eating lunch one day in Clayton where I work and I remember like its happening now. I realized that the cost of the lunch that I was eating could be a small loan. So I didn’t know what that meant. I went back at home, put into the computer, “women”, “loans”, “Africa”, “small business” and this word came up “microfinance”, which is giving small loans to women so that they can bring themselves out of poverty.

I attended a conference in Nova Scotia and met Mohammed Yunus, the “father of microfinancing.” I also went to a talk by, Ingrid Monroe who works in Nairobi / Kenya. She started a microfinancing program called Jamii BORA. She talked about the men and women in Nairobi who through microfinance, through getting this small loan, work themselves out of poverty.

I went up to Ingrid after the talk and asked her if she would have lunch with me and she did. That’s how it started and dreamed about becoming a non profit. We called it Microfinancing Partners in Africa, because we partner with groups doing microfinancing in Africa.

OW: How does this specific partnership work?

ST: In Kenya, we give loans to men and women to start their own business and they usually start with a small vegetable business. Before they do that, they form a group of five and this

U N Photo/Milton Grant

group meets with one person from the branch office from Jamii Bora. They come up with a business plan and work together week after week. They meet again and maybe then two of the five become ready to take a loan. But what is primary in microfinancing is that you have to save money first to be able to take a loan. So if they save 25 cents they can take a loan to double that to 50 cents. If they save a dollar they can get another dollar. So when they start with vegetables, we have the potato lady. So she saves a few pennies and then she becomes able to buy some potatoes which she can sell at an interest. So the price plus a little bit more. She pays back her loan, can then double the amount again, buy many more potatoes, sell them at a slightly increased cost, pay the loan back and literally works herself out of poverty.

OW: Are there other initiatives?

ST: In Uganda it’s a much different program as we have cows there. So the microfinancing loan is a pregnant cow. You prepare your one acre of land for two to three years, because what we have there is called zero grazing, which means the cow has the food provided. So you get a cow after you are done with two or three years of training. Then your cow is pregnant, it has its calf and then you raise the calf. Once the calf is a year old, you pass it on to a person that you’ve helped train and the raising of that calf covers the cost of the cow you got. That’s the microfinancing loan.

You get an $800 cow that is pregnant and then that cow has a calf, you raise it for a year which costs $800 and then you pass it on to someone you’ve helped train.

OW: Please, explain more about the

loan system.

ST: Microfinancing Partners in Africa do not actually make loans, we provide grants to our partner organizations and they provide loans to their members. We raise money and then we partner with programs that do microfinancing. The programs are selfsustaining, but they can reach more people faster if they can get an influx.

In Kenya they have a pay back rate of 98%, so the loans start very small and they can go very large. The limit is varies because of the business plan and payback of loans. In Uganda the loan is for buying cows which is huge and so the limit is more about the ability to carry on the program and then to payback whatever they borrowed, which has been very successful.

OW: Thank you very much for your time.

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ECONOMIC DIGNITY IN THE HANDS OF FAIR TRADE

BY OLIVIA WHITE

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A coffee handler with beans from a coffee c o o p e r a t i ve . U N P h o t o / M a r t i n e P e r r e t .

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Women in Timor work at a cooperative cafe sifting coffee beans. UN Photo/Martine Perret

A JUST AND SUSTAINABLE WAY OF DOING BUSINESS Esther Santiago lives in Siguatepeque, Honduras with her husband, sons and daughters in law and multiple happy grandchildren. Her husband Don Santiago proudly shows off his chickens and cows but is proudest of his beehives. In fact, it is the honey produced by these hives that has allowed him to buy livestock, have a secure and strong home, and send his children to school. With hives given to him by Cooperativa Apicola Pionera de Honduras Limitada, a cooperative supported by Heifer International, he is able to sell the honey produced by his bees for a fair price. While not fair trade certified, COAPIHL demands premium prices for the honey to protect the farmer.

The reason the honey is not fair trade certified Annie Bergman, at Heifer

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International, says “the co-ops can’t afford to pay for fair trade certification.” Even without certification the fact that this honey is sold for a price that will make the farmer a decent living wage makes the honey an entirely just purchase. Fair Trade certification is a long, complicated and costly process. According to Fair Trade USA’s website, producers who want to be a part of the fair trade market must pay inspection fees annually ranging from $2500 to $10,000 depending on the size of the producers and the amount of time the inspections take.

This is something that even after being paid COAPIHL and the Santiago family cannot afford. But the work done by these certification organizations have had a ripple effect, raising prices farmers can ask for their products simply through competition. As the public around the world is more educated about the plight of farmers,

agribusinesses who do not buy fairly traded products have been pressured to pay prices more in keeping with standards set by fair trade.

The fair trade movement can be traced to the 1940’s when churches would sell handmade items of refugees to raise money for their relief.

The modern roots of this movement began in 1997 with Fairtrade Labeling Organization. FLO along with now several other fair trade certification organizations set standards for companies that want to compete in the fair trade market. The idea is that through eliminating the middleman, farmers and producers can be paid fairly for what they produce and sell. When you buy fair trade you are ensuring that what you consume was produced in a just manner and that the people who produced it are receiving a fair wage for their work.

The main fair trade commodities

are agricultural products like coffee, tea, honey, chocolate and sugar.

There is also a narrow range of handicraft products on the market such as clothing, furniture, jewelry and toys.

Fair trade products will either bear a designated label, or will be sold at a strictly fair trade retailer.

The honey from COAPIHL is sold without a fair trade certified label, but bearing the name of a well-respected non-profit. In the end consumers in the fair trade market care little about certifications and labels; they just want to know that the purchase they are making is just.

Critics of fair trade will say that

it is too expensive for the everyday consumer to buy fair trade. It is true that buying fair trade is more expensive, but in some cases only by a small margin. At Starbucks, buying a pound of fair trade coffee beans costs one dollar more than buying any other coffee. Purchasing fair trade commodities such as clothing or jewelry will cost significantly more than at a traditional retailer because they are handcrafted not produced in a factory. The key is to create more conscious consumers who see that the benefits to the producers outweigh the extra cost of buying fair trade. If consumers are aware of and educated

about the exploitation of farmers and artisans around the world they are more likely to see the benefits of making a just purchase.

During the first week of December, the Doer Center for Social Justice will be sponsoring Fair Trade Week at Saint Louis University. The purpose of this week is to raise awareness and promote dialogue about fair trade across campus. Fair Trade Week is meant to make people think about whether they being conscious consumers, purchasing products that “promote human dignity and economic development”.

The student organizer of this

Woman in India harvests coffee beans. UN Photo/ John Isaac

event, Sarah Watson, was inspired to raise awareness about fair trade after spending two months in Nicaragua with the Mev Puleo Program. She said she “heard firsthand how families have benefitted from working in cooperative factories and on cooperative farms.” She began to wonder why not all t-shirts are made in places where workers have a voice, or why not all coffee growers have a chance to organize themselves.

Fair trade coffee farmers receive approximately $1.26 per pound of raw coffee beans. This is in comparison with the world average of $.60

per pound and the lowest rate of four cents per pound. Fair trade coffee growers are organized in co-ops and they decide how to spend the money they earn from the premiums on coffee. These prices are significant because they will remain constant, and are not affected by swings in the coffee market.

SLU is already a part of the fair trade market through its’ own bookstore which carries Alta Gracia clothing. Alta Gracia clothing is produced in the Dominican Republic at a factory where workers are paid fairly. This is in accord with SLU’s bookstore af-

filiate because Barnes and Noble Corporation demands that all products sold are sweatshop free.

It is a myth that it is hard to buy fair trade. Fair trade products are sold in major retail stores such as WalMart and Starbucks Coffee carries a fair trade coffee year-round. The more money that flows into the fair trade market, the more pressure will be put on major companies to start paying more for what farmers and artisans create for us. To find a list of fair trade retailers in your area visit fair-trade.net.

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Local Non-Profit: Partners for Just Trade Economic justice though partnerships around the world

BY LAUREN HASHIGUCHI

There is electricity and Internet in Huayanay, Peru, a remote village located in the Andes, 13,500 feet above sea level. These resources are evidence of the power of fair trade and of partnership between the villagers and the combined efforts of Partners for Just Trade, a Presbyterian fair trade group, and their trade partner, Bridge of Hope. Not only has fair trade established a sustainable source of income for the families of Huayanay, but it also creates an opportunity for these people to assert their economic, political and social rights.

Here in St. Louis, piles of colorful, knit, stuffed lamas, beautiful patterned scarves, and hand-sewn bags lie on tables and in boxes throughout the office of Partners for Just Trade.

These products are the consumer’s connection to this partnership between these artisans who live in poverty.

Partners for Just Trade supports over 15 artisan and farming groups working in small villages throughout Cameroon, Nicaragua, and Peru. The fair wages make it possible for artisans and farmers to afford medicine, food, and shelter for families. For many of these people, it also means that they can send their children to school. But, as Carrie Hawthorn, the Executive Director of Partners for Just Trade says, “Fair trade is not just about increasing income…We give them a skill and an income. They aren’t just being taught how to draw a line on a paper over and over again, they are being taught where to source the materials, how to design things, find a market, and do bookkeeping and accounting.” For fair trade organizations like PJT, it is important that the artisans gain the skills needed to continue in the absence of the organization.

In addition to capacity building and providing a means to earn an income, fair trade helps families to remain intact, especially those in rural areas.

Many families in rural areas who live

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in poverty migrate into industrialized areas. Fair trade enables these people to stay and work in their community, which means they do not have to leave their cultures and community behind.

While PJH does not exclusively work with women, it does focus its efforts on women, because, as Hawthorne states, “Women tend to be at the center of poverty. If you work with women, the income stays within a family…[They] will invest it in the family and spend it on education and medicine for the kids.” About 80% of the artisans PJH works with are females are females.

For these women, Bridge of Hope offers self-esteem classes and training so they may learn about their legal rights.

With increased economic contribution and autonomy within the family, the dynamics between husbands and wives has changed. In the Peruvian communities, Hawthorne notes that women are now participating in financial decisions with their husbands.,Reflecting on a recent trip to the knitting community in Huayanay, Hawthorn reported that the women told her “We’re not just knitting here, we are supporting each other.” Indeed, the communities of female artisans become a sort of support group where they can come together and share outside of the home. Slowly, fair trade is assisting these communities to grow stronger.

Education of the artisans and the consumers is also a focus of PJH, as well as other organizations working for economic justice. Not only do they educate the artisans on their craft, on business schools, and on how to assert their rights, but they also educate consumers on how to make responsible purchases. As the demand for fair trade products increases, larger companies will begin selling fair trade, not because of a belief system, but because it is profitable. It will become increasingly difficult for consumers to distinguish what is truly fair trade and what is not. Fair trade

labels do not distinguish between companies like Divine Chocolate, which is a farmer-owned cooperative, and other companies that may carry only products where only 5% of the contributing labor is fair trade. It is the responsibility of the consumer, and non-profits and educators like Partners for Just Trade to teach people how to distinguish different fair trade businesses. A excellent resource is Partners in Just Trade is located only a few miles from Saint Louis University and welcomes student volunteers.

The fair trade production and sale of handmade goods, like this doll, support the growth and empowerment of communities around the world.

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NIANJEMA

“Good fortune” in KiSwahili

BY BENJAMIN STEPHAN

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This past summer, I reset my clock. My routine did not include working, hanging out with friends w home, or sleeping in. Instead, I passed the weeks in Africa, waking up and falling asleep with the sun. In those hours between dawn and dusk, I taught English to some of the most unique and incredible people I have and will have ever met – the students of Nianjema Secondary and High School.

Bagamoyo is a rural village 75 kilometers north of Dar Es Salaam, the booming, unofficial capital

of Tanzania. Despite the small town’s close proximity distancewise, Bagamoyo was years, perhaps decades, away from the towering office buildings and hotels of Dar’s concrete jungle. Locals referred to it rather as “the bush.” Here, drinking water is imported, and electricity is seemingly alien. For several weeks, this was my home. As my body adapted to the elements of this equatorial way of life, I learned how to live simply. What drew me here were students whom I had never met, never seen, never known.It all began

three years ago, my freshman year of college, when I overheard a friend of the family talking about his son, who not only lives in Tanzania, but also built and runs a school there.

Moreover, I also learned that the man speaking was the founder of the Tanzania Education Fund, a not-forprofit in the DC metro area which funds this school. Impressed by the work of both this man and his son, I wanted to get involved.

At the time, I was selfishly searching for adventure, and Africa seemed like the perfect gateway. This

blatant naïveté would prove to be an obstacle, though, as rejection became all too familiar. With every “No” came another person trying to console me and, at the same time, trying to talk me out of my pipe-dream. Nevertheless, in three years, I matured, and my desire to go to Africa grew even greater. I never stopped dialogue, constantly researching Tanzania and even teaching myself basic KiSwahili. With this quest for knowledge, my longing for adventure became synonymous with a hunger for “doing good,” the bottom line and raison d’être of

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After a long day of helping their mothers with housework. these children from the town of Bagamoyo are playing soccer together. Photo by Benjamin Stephen.

Nianjema. After seemingly infinite phone calls and emails (to most of which I never received responses), my polite persistence paid off. At the tail end of my junior year of studies, I was called in for an interview, after which I received confirmation of my selection.

In a matter of weeks, I would walk out of Julius Nyerere International Airport in downtown Dar Es Salaam, ready to hop on the Old Bagamoyo Road to Nianjema.

Nianjema is perhaps the most identifiable building in all of Bagamoyo with its one-story classrooms with red roofs and wooden doors (simply, a luxury). The desks are old and worn, and materials are lacking, but drive and passion for learning are not.

The students of Nianjema, Form I to Form VI (corresponding to middle school and high school by American standards), show up on time and eager to learn every day. I worked as a teacher’s aide and private and group tutor. In the mornings, I would sit in on English classes, assisting the professors with lectures, which often reverted into me, the only native speaker, teaching the class.

In the afternoons, I accompanied the students in their Study Periods,

38 ONEWORLD

mainly helping them with English, but also with History, Geography, and any other subjects for which they sought help. It was during this time that I truly came to know the students.

Study sessions turned into informal discussions, as questions were fired at me from all directions. I would find myself surrounded by a crowd of curious Form I’s – Isaack asking about life in “Ah-meh-ree-kah”; Janeth spilling her knowledge of hip-hop; Cassim voicing his opinions about Barack Obama; and Petro showing off his Michael Jackson dance moves.

The school day, which lasted from 7am to 4pm, went by much too quickly for anyone’s liking, and “badaayes” (“see-you-laters” in KiSwahili) became more and more difficult.

My experience in Africa was so many things – eye-opening, incredible, other-worldly, extraordinary, unforgettable, etc. Though my words could never do it justice, one word in particular comes to mind when I reflect, as I often find myself doing, on my time spent in Bagamoyo – humbling. These students, in their core, are just like me; they are curious and passionate, they like to laugh, and they welcome a challenge. What

makes us different, though, is outside of our control.

The students of Nianjema, whether they know it or not, are incredible teachers. They taught me about themselves, about myself, about Africa, about Tanzania, about America in lieu of a foreign perspective, and about life. What made the experience so humbling was the manifestation of inherited opportunity (or lack thereof). The only thing that truly makes me different from my students is where I was and who I was surrounded by at birth. It is every Nianjema students’ (and I would be as bold as to say Africans’) dream to one day live in the land of opportunity which is America. In other words, my mile zero, my starting point, is their final destination, and most will never reach it.

Africa was a get-out-whatyou-put-in experience. I invested a lot of myself, and the returns were exponential. I left a piece of myself behind in Tanzania, and for me, my African experience is “to be continued.”

Two girls pause from playtime at Nianjema’s Nursery.

Photo by Benjamin Stephen.

ONEWORLD 39

M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T WE ARE ALREADY ONE, BUT WE IMAGINE THAT WE ARE NOT. ONEWORLD EXISTS TO REDISCOVER THAT, WHILE WE ARE MANY IN OUR CULTURES, RE LIGIONS, AND STRUGGLES, WE ARE ONE IN OUR COMMON HUMANITY. WE YEARN TO REMOVE THE BARRIERS OF IGNORANCE AND INJUSTICE, BECAUSE THE MOST BASIC AND UNCHANGING TRUTH THAT UNITES US IS THE INFI We are already one, but we imagine thatVALUE we are NITE OFnot.

THE HUMAN PERSON. OneWorld exists to rediscover that,ONEWORLD while we are many in our EMPHASIZES THIS UNITY cultures, religions, and struggles, we one inAWARENESS our commonOF SOCIAL BY are RAISING INSPIRING and ACTION, AND humanity. We yearn to remove the INJUSTICE, barriers of ignorance TRANSFORMING HEARTS, injustice, because the most basic and unchangingOUR truth that MINDS, SOCIETY. unites us is the infinite value of theAND human person. OneWorld

emphasizes this unity by raising awareness of social injustice, inspiring action, and transforming our hearts, minds, and society.

For more information visit: www.weliveoneworld.org Cam p u s P r o g r e s s w o r k s t o h e l p y o u n g p e o p l e — a d v o c a t e s , a c t i v i s t s , j o u r n a l i s t s , a r tists — m a k e t h e i r v o i c e s h e a r d o n i s s u e s t h a t m a t t e r. L e a r n m o r e a t C a m p u s P r o g r e s s . o r g .