reflection

Ever since I took a human course here at RISD my life and the things that I care about completely changed. For the first time I really chose to take a hard look at what’s outside of myself and what I’m used to. It was a starting point. I had grown up comfortably in the U.S. and didn’t necessarily know what my role was going to be on any kind of international level, but it put it on the table, and it’s been there ever since. The reasons why I chose to work with the International Institute are mixture of timing and just that they really needed help. I started working with the daycare there, kids ranging in age from about 6 month to 3 yrs. The kids l got to work with are children of refugees and in some cases refugees themselves. I’ve done some work as a babysitter and a nanny in the past so I was fairly comfortable with these kids, but with that said, they amazed me. They were warm and welcoming, and just excited to have someone new to play with. The room was always a mixture of cultures, and the children were just beautiful. I didn’t have any trouble getting to know them, or fitting in, they made it easy.
When I decided I wanted to really look at the daycare program, and in essence create one, I went to the man who had first interviewed me and surprisingly he had been hoping for opportunity like this. He was thrilled that I was going to be able to put time and effort into making something worthwhile for the kids, so that exactly what I tried to do. He warned me that the directors might not be willing to hop on board, but with a little persuasion they were willing to take a look at what I was doing. The project has been in full swing every since.
The problems that I have come across in designing something for these kids, has been to understand that I can do something outside of just provided things for them. And to understand that there is a bigger picture, and something that these kids can provide us and their families.
The Institute made it clear from the start that they were placing this task on my shoulders, and that they didn’t have the resources to make my dreams come true, I would have produce my own project on my own. But with that said they were helpful and grateful for what I was doing, which made it easier to do my work, it was motivating to see the dialogue about the daycare start to ignite around the facility.
All in all, I’m glad I got involved, I think the kids really need an advocate. And I’m doing my best to make changes for them, and then some.

wednesdays

Every wednesday I get out of bed at eight to catch bus #20 and travel to the International Institute on the lower East Side South Side of Providence. There I volunteer at the Refugee Resettlement Program, helping to look after the kids, while their parents take resettlement courses. I look after kids mostly from Liberia, Cote d'Iviore, Burandi, and Iraq. There are not a lot of resources or money flowing into the Institute, so the kids are kept in a makeshift daycare. One room not very big, but made to seem bigger by the lack of things to fill it up with other then kids. There are about 12-16 kids in the room at a time, and unfortunately, half of them have figured out that they can open the door, run across the hall, and find their mommies or daddies. The kids themselves are amazing, they were so open and friendly within five minutes of meeting me, hugging me, kissing me on the cheek, asking me to play with them. Only about two speak good english, and the others either speak french or can hardly speak at all. The kids dont have a lot of toys to play with, so a lot of the time they fight over what they do have. Not surprisingly when they get mad the resort to their native tongue, probably out of instinct, but maybe so I cant understand them. None of them can read, or write in english, and because they are such a handful already, not a lot is being done about this.
So far I really love it, the kids are wonderful, and I can't wait to get the chance to help them.

blanket society

In class we have been working on learning about Millenium Development Goals, and problems developing countries are experiencing. I personally have been focusing on Afghanistan, because as you probably I am very active and vocal about my political beliefs, so looking at Afghanistan was very important to me. The effects of the Taliban, civil wars, and of course the current war have had an obvious and detrimental affect on the country. When I was doing research I found that the province of Badakhshan currently has the highest maternal death rate in the world. It is thought that 6,500 women die out of 100,000 live births. For the rest of the country the rate is around 1,600, which is high, but is low in comparison to Badakhshan. To give some perspective the rate is around 17/100,000 in the U.S. The effects of a rate this large are devistating. For each woman that dies there is a 75% chance that the child will die as well. The reasons are numerous, the war, and local militant groups are influencing the women's lifes, the men are leaving their families more frequently, drug use is increasing, along with food prices, the cost to live in Afghanistan is climbing.

I pinpointed the main problems I wanted to address; a need for education of new mothers, family planning, and a source of income.
My idea for a solution is what I am calling a "Shadow House".

Its a building that is directly connected to a clinic, or a hospital in the Badakhshan province. That would serve as a place were women could go to learn about traditional Afghan embroidery, by making blankets. The blankets would be sold in the U.S., and would come with an insert. So for each blanket purchased in the U.S. it would cover the cost of two blankets, and two inserts. One blanket would be flown to the U.S. and an insert printed in the U.S. would be placed inside, the insert would have a personal message on it that is determined by the buyer. The second blanket staying in Afghanistan has a standardized insert printed in the U.S. that describes the basics to delivering a child.

Some of the benefits of working in a Shadow House, is that they would be able to learn about childbirth and family planning. They would be able to work closing with the clinic, and get training in medical procedures. Also with the money being made selling blankets they would be able to recieve daily rations to help support their family. And after they complete a blanket they would be able to take it home and use it, pass it through the family, or give it to a neighbor. And because the insert is completely hidden it is up to the women as to how they use it.

Problem Statement In the Afghan province of Badakhshan it is estimated that 6,500/100,000 women die when giving birth. That would be the highest maternal death rate in the world. This is due to their poor location, the raise in food prices, lack of education, recent and current wars.

Mission Statement To provide a safe place women could go to learn about maternal health and family planning, without judgement or persecution. With a goal of creating a product, making a profit, and distributing the wealth appropriately, as well as to educate the Afghan women in Badakhshan and reduce maternal death.

some images for my latest project

whats on my mind

Meet the Veeps

As soon as the words "he has been no maverick on the issues that matter to people" rolled off his tongue I was happy. At the beginning of the debate I was waiting to see the real Biden, and with that statement he came through. Biden is a man with a lot of personability, to put it simply he's got that grandpa quality, and that is exactly what the Democratic Party needs.



Not that I am an expert on any level, but to be honest this election has done to me exactly what it has done to so many other young people who for the first time have decided to take a passionate interest in the election. There have always been qualms about the environment, religion, issues have always existed. But in this era the information is streaming so much faster into the hands of the public and especially kids that its impossible to overlook it, its all over MTV for gods sake.


This debate brought it full circle. it was a striking portrayal of politics today.

The Republican Party is exactly where they were 8 years ago, and they should be it has been winning them elections, and a lot of money. They have a story, they have connections, even if their loyalties are to the richest of the rich they have the ability to recruit the poorest of the poor. Palin is just another story, but perhaps this time Republicans will be able to see through the cover, and see exactly what she is, a fictional character, and that is not sexism. You could see that in everyone of her answers.
The Democratic Party is somewhere new, and you can tell they are a little bit apprehensive about it, as they should be. At no time in history has computers and cell phones played such a major role in an election. Not to mention his race. Its an amazing time to part of politics.

Thats it for now. But there is more to come on this subject.

Violence Today

When I think about violence today so many tragedies come flooding into my mind, so many injustices. So when I stumbled upon "Steven Pinker; A Brief History of Violence" (a TED talk from 2006) I had to consider that I had been denying the truth about modern violence. That, in fact, maybe we are living in one of the most peaceful times in history, that the rate at which people are being killed is declining. After a few graphs he persuaded me to believe that less people on average were being killed violently, but there were a few things he did not convince me of.......in response to his view that we live in peaceful times, the standards of peace have changed. Not only do lots of different groups and minorities have rights they have never had before, but we as a people are hopefully evolving in the way we view violence, and its role in our daily lives. Perhaps, the reason we live in a technically more peaceful time is not because there are less injustices, but because less violence is doing just as much damage as it ever was.

Zainab Salbi, the Iraqi founder of Women For Women International, works with women around the world in war-torn countries on what she considers to be the "backline of war". She sees every day what the reverberations of violence can be, and how not just physical violence but other forms can be resounding factors in an entire society for years to come. War, the ultimate collection of violence, is historically conducted by men, Salbi talks about what the women are doing. During a war, the women are the ones who arent raping, they arent fighting, the are just trying to survive and stay out of direct fire. I found her argument that women should be a much more respected entity in politics to be fascinating. It makes sense. Women, who are so often the first to be beaten down, are so often the first to get up, progress should start with women, if the war starts with men.

"If we do not stabilize Iraq we cannot stabilize America".
-Zainab Salbi

just these thoughts

Nelson

The Color of Freedom, or Goodbye Bafana, was a movie based on the memoirs of James Gregory. Gregory was a warder who got to know Mandela during his time as a prisoner. For many years Gregory was in charge of handling Mandela's mail, along with various other prisoners. And for years to come Gregory developed an unspoken bond with Mandela.

Goodbye Bafana, the African title, was taken from Gregory's book of memoirs, "Goodbye Bafana; Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend". Bafana is a Zulu word meaning "boys", it is endearing to some, and a source of pride, but to others "bafana" can be linked back to more troubled times and holds some ties to prejudices and rascism. It is not only this that is controversal, Gregory himself is questionable. His connection to Mandela has been targeted as being fabricated, and an idealized version of the calculated nature of their relationship.

"Warrant Officer James Gregory was also there at the house, and I embraced him warmly. In the years that he had looked after me from Pollsmoor through Victor Verster, we had never discussed politics, but our bond was an unspoken one and I would miss his soothing presence". -Nelson Mandela

Whether or not the connection was 100% factual the focus of the movie should be upon the issues. The film was a beautiful illustration of Mandela's time in prison. You were able to see and understand the injustices, and get a glance of Mandela's heart and character.

Afghanistan Research Project

Here are some Illustrator layouts of research I did on Afghanistan, quite a bit of it is shocking.
The thing I found most devastating was the Maternal Death rate.

Design for the Other 90%

Design for the Other 90% is an exhibition with its roots at Cooper-Heweitt in NYC. It brings together designers, architects, intellectuals, and basically anyone who is anyone in the move towards socially-responsible design. It showcases design that solves serious problems in developing countries, such as providing shelter, or getting water from one place to another. The work that is being brought forward through this exhibit is the same work that is reducing disease and saving lives in places that many of us could not imagine.
Coincidentally I had personally discovered the exhibition online earlier this summer, when I was dreaming of developing a human rights design group at RISD. I cant imagine why RISD is not at the forefront of this type of work.
Design for the Other 90% offers anyone interested in learning about the hundreds of different projects and programs around the world the information they need to be inspired.

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

One of my personal favorites is definitely worth a closer look. The Bamboo Treadle Pump is an inexpensive water pump made of bamboo that allows farmers to access water at times when they normally would not be able. In Bangledesh, the pump has already generated $1.4 billion in net farmer income, read more about it at http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/bamboo-treadle-pump.
And while your there explore the site, there are so many great things just like it.

My First Day as a Social Entrepeneur

So, the point of this post is to answer some questions, like what is the point of me having a blog?

For those of you who arent in my class, Design For Social Entrepeneurship, you can check it out at http://www.de-se.blogspot.com/ . But you dont have to, im going to try to make my blog interesting to anyone who might stop in even if they arent involved in the course.

In this first post im going to explain a little bit about myself in regards to the course, why i chose it, and how it relates to me.

If you had asked me two years ago what I wanted to do with my life I probably would have told you that I was going to design amusement park rides, or work for NASA. But when I got to RISD that all changed. One wintersession I took a course on human rights, and it really opened my eyes. And now I can only hope that one day I will be given the oppurtunity to help the people I learned about in that class. Human rights policies, and tragedies, organizations, and activists, have become somewhat of an obsession for me recently. I watch pretty much any documentary I can get my hands on and instead of reading Harry Potter I prefer books about political strategy, or the Shia Revival, just to give you a taste.

I do my best to learn as much as I can, but I feel like I am only testing the water. I am torn between a life of volunteer work, or a life in washington. I am hoping this course along with many more experiences at RISD can point me in the right direction.