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svanop
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Name: Sandra
Country: United States
Metro: Chicago
Birthday: 4/20/1974
Gender: Female
Interests: Cooking, wearing red, and date night with Karl.
Expertise: Belly Dancing.is there anything else that matters?
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
12/7/2005
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| Greetings friends!
Today I started back at work after 12 months of studying. I am now 1/3 of the way through my MDiv.
As seasons changed, I did not feel the affects since I hibernated in the Library.
More to come as I am working on my most recent prayer letter. Looking forward to sharing how God has been at work in my life. Friend me if you are on facebook. | | |
| Every time I walk into a trendy place (starbucks, nail place,etc) with my colorful purse someone says "Oh wow, cool purse where did you get that?"
"A Garbage Village in Egypt".
"What?"
"YEs , I....." and I tell my story.
It has given me great opportunities to talk abot faith and justice. About the hope I have for the church. About our ignorance as wealthy westerners. The purse is a key that unlocks many a conversation.
This Christmas I received GREAT gifts from my family from Ten Thousand VIllages (a fair trade non-profit boutique run by Mennonites). While in the store to find some matching earrings for a necklace, I stumbled upon a "rug purse". My heart jumped! I grabbed the tag and it said "Made in Egypt". I asked the woman where they bought them. She checked and the computer said APE. My mind went directly to the women I would regularly see sitting on the floor at the looms. These are women we knew. I looked at the pillow Covers that Sahar had given to me and thought of all of the time we had spent trying to communicate with her broken English and my Broken Arabic. I began to cry.
My short trip to the store brought me in an instant to Mokkatam, Cairo. It was the most interesting thing to think that every item in that store was bought from the poor at a fair price. Every item there had a woman like Sahar connected to it. EVery item told a story about Justice.
When I see a tag that says "Made in India" I can be sure that it was a fair wage given to someone who needed a job. When I see tag at Walmart, GAP, Old Navy or BANANA REPUBLIC that says "Made in India" I can be sure that someone was paid about $2 for a bad of 100 items in a sweatshop. I hugged my purse and praised God for people like APE, and Ten Thousand VIllages. The items are expensive there because they didn't exploit someone to get it.
p.s. NU students who have been in Cairo--it is worth a trip to the store to see this purse and remember the back store room of APE.
Here is my purse:
http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/catalog/product.detail.php?product_id=7151
http://www.ape.org.eg | | |
| Been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. Since I am studying in he Library and Karl will scold me if I do not finish my Hebrew, I'll be brief.
In my nine years at NU, I saw very few Latinos in the university, particularly at a graduate level. The ones I did see were Argentine (or some other highly European country-sorry Dad). I saw very few Latinos, say from my community, influencing and "at the table". At Trinity, I am the only one in the MDiv program that I know of (I heard of another possibly) ans one girl on the grad school side. But really? Where are we?
When I am on campus, th only Latinos I see are washing dishes, cleaning up, and working on roofs. (Which are all jobs that can and are done with much dignity.) But where are we? the Latino theologians and scholars?
There are a significant number of Asian Intl and Asian Americans, and a growing number of African Americans in Academia, but donde estamos nosotros? With an ever increasing youth population, it continues to grieve my heart that the voices that need to be heard are not "at the table".
So where does that leave me? Kind of silent in the classroom ,honestly. In the 2 months I have been here, I have asked many questions, but not shared much. Honestly, I feel I do not belong...except maybe serving someone else, which is where I see the rest of my community. They are always working hard, but never seen or heard. Active, but not acknowledged. This is doing more to me internally then I realize..so we'll see what happens or I I make sense of all of this.
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| Join me in sending BP a message in their own language: Tell BP CEO Tony Hayward that you won't be buying their gas today, or any day until they agree to avoid any increase in pollution into Lake Michigan.
To take the No BP Gas Pledge today, click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser:
https://www.environmentillinois.org/action/protect-lake-michigan/no-bp-gas?id4=ES | | |
| I am LIVID!!!!!!!!!
Karl and I were going to bed when we look out the window (because YET AGAIN) we see COP lights. We look out to see our neighbor...let's call him Juan...being taken away by some COPS. Then his daughter comes out saying...Hey, thats' my dad. Apparently they had gone out to get milk from our corner store. For what? WHO KNOWS. They never seems to tell anyone as they strip away their dignity.
AGHGHH!!!!!! He is a friend of ours. We talk to one another out the window. He is a hardworking father of three. A friendly neighbor--always willing to help. We have NEVER seen him doing anything suspicious (and we woudl know since we can see into all his windows :)
I am TIRED! How are my neighbors supopsed to get ahead in life if they are kept down. I am not sure what will happen here. I called 911, 311, every11 and no one seems to know how I can file a formal complaint.
Against which officer?" They ask. "All of them" I say. Logan Square's Police have gone too far.
(Gotta run...the COPS are out arretsing two of my neighbors for standing outside their gate.) | | |
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