A Fight She Won't Win

Sometimes the fight feels like a hard one to win. While nothing will be perfection and progress does occur, when will the brick wall come down?  As a human being, I fight hard for people and I believe in their potential to rise despite the way the world perceives them. Sometimes people cross my path and I wonder if they are going to win the battle against a world so cold.  

When it comes to the underprivileged community abroad, there is such disregard for their being by community and governments. The government has little to no consideration about their food, education, and shelter.  Community NGOs, various local organizations, and the church advocate for their rights, but the negative perspective of  the world leaders remains the same.  When it comes to their personal struggles: alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty, and the psychological consequences-people are lost. That person with depression should get out of bed. That personal with Bipolar disorder should control their mood swings. That person with schizophrenia should put on headphones to get rid of the voices. I have to work all day and these people should too.  The hospital is there to treat them if they are sick. While I try my best to educate others by making real analogies, demonstrating internal struggles, and giving them step by step ways to assist. And it's my belief that the change is truly made one human being at a time, which keeps me going within my work. 

Although, the overall population in the world does not get it and some days traveling make it difficult to believe.  People choose to label this population-those who are underprivileged encountering mental illness as "crazy, sick, or pathetic."
When it comes to Mental Illness, it takes a person who has a personal experience with it or a mental health professional to even begin to understand. These who do have a family member or friend may be blind at first, but the time with individual becomes a learning experience. 

If it's not you're family member or friend, are you willing to take the time to learn or will you choose a label? These people are human beings with feelings, dreams, passions, creativity, love, and curiosity. They want to see the world and be a part of it just as much as the Sally with the Yale degree, the perfect job, and recent engagement. They are not given an equal, fighting chance.  When these people are seen talking to themselves on the streets, standing in line at the church for food, or crying for love and affection.  The light bulb needs to go off that these people are human.  They are human beings who deserve acknowledgment. They deserve a hello, a how are you, a question about their life and interests because they are human.  There is no reason to discard their feelings and give them a dirty look as you are superior.  This mentality will not get the US or the world anywhere.  It's the mentality and the superiority that are true barriers towards reaching significant progress. 

Each day I will keep fighting for this population because I believe in them... I always have and I always will....

                      Think before Judgment

Confession

Church of San Francisco is part of the convent of San Francisco, one of the oldest in Nicaragua, founded in 1639 by Friar Pedro de Zúñiga. In the interior remain two good examples of plateresque altars. However, its main attraction is the outstanding courtyard. Built in pure, Leonese colonial style, this is a grassy expanse with an ashlar fountain at the center from which four radiating walkways, flanked by manicured lemon trees, lead to the surrounding porticoes where some of the columns are covered in red bougainvilleas. Towards the south, a line of Royal palms shade the roof and complete the peaceful ensemble(Wikipedia). 

When I walked into the church on a Monday at 3pm, it was empty. There was only a man cleaning and he pointed me to the back where I found an older woman. I introduced myself and expressed my interest in working with the church.  She informed me of the current meals they are providing four days a week with two meals a day. She advised me that these people are in a high demand of counseling. They never had anyone come into the church to work with them-similar to my Mahogany Heights population-no one cared enough to spend time identifying their problems and how to help. 
This woman was a bit reserved and it was clear from her energy and presence that something was wrong. 

Immediately after this thought, I asked
 asked her about when I could meet the Pastor.  She told me I could come tomorrow in the morning before they come for food.  I agreed and she walked me to the front.  She shared with me that the Pastor is her brother and that she is there to take care of him. 

He had a stroke six months ago and he was still recovering. The doctors said that he would not live, but the church, their family, and the community prayed. They prayed and prayed and prayed until his health was mildly restored enough to just get by. It was his sister that stepped forward to care for him.  He has a highly restrictive diet, difficulty sleeping, extremely low energy levels, migraines, and his sermons have stopped. He is slowly making improvement overtime, but being his private nurse is taking a strain on her life.  She shared that she has to drive over 60 miles away for work and then come back to take care of him.  She has to buy all fresh ingredients from the market and many meals she makes he doesn't like. She is running out of ways to be creative with food and she is unable to be there whenever he needs her.  She has two jobs and children to care for as well.

This lovely woman confessed.  The tears came down her face and all I could do is listen and support her.  She confessed some things that were also selfish, but that's what confession is about-to release the truth.

I praised her for all her work and told her how lucky her brother is to have her. I rubbed her on her back and just let her have that moment. It was her moment to breakdown to someone who she could confide in- a stranger, but a familiar spirit present. 

God bless this woman for her love and commitment to her brother. May the Pastor return to his health and return to church.  His loving community needs him.

Take Your Travel Vow

Back in my Loyola days, I remember all my friends were going to study abroad and being a college student I also wanted to share the experience at Loyola University in Rome. I applied for my first passport and bought a new pink suitcase with black trim.  My finances were not great as I would have to take out an additional student loan to assist with the plane ticket.  Regardless of the finances, I  decided to go and make it work. 

After my decision, I then experience travelers DOUBTA-the initial excitement about your decision mixed with doubt and desire to seek approval from others(PRIS).  Therefore, I consulted my mother who immediately advised me against going abroad.  I also consulted two of my close friends who also said it was bad idea and too expensive.  It was a constant, downhill response from my environment and others around me.

As one could imagine, this lead me down one path “No.” Something I was so excited about doing and my adventurous spirit wanting to go abroad and my being and decision was held back by the environment. It is important to note the crowd can be your friends, parents, co-workers, or classmates-anyone in your immediate circle or environment.  These people in the crowd are not necessarily the most knowledgable people about new experiences, money, finance, or world travels yet you are taking your advice from them. 

This is a consistent problem I notice among travelers.  When you are taking advice from Barbara who has never left the country except on an Alaskan cruise or Terry who visits Las Vegas and says she travels far or Janet who travels to Cancun staying in the All inclusives. Houston we have a problem-a big problem.

Within the American culture, it is normal to have it's own Americanized version of travel.
A person may believe they are traveling, but there is a fine line between vacation  and travel.  It comes from not only the definition, but the ultimate interpretation of the overall experience (PRIS).  A person may have their yearly family vacation where they spend all their time with the family and have no interaction with culture.  Another person may travel to India by themselves hike up mountains, eat different kinds of food, stay in villages, and make friends with numerous locals. These are not the same thing and this may lead to someone in your environment steering you in the wrong direction.  The only person you can listen to is yourself. 
  

After my experience with studying abroad in Rome, I made a vow to be the only person who controls my travel.  I will not be influenced by those who have an American mindset to travel, which is built inside a certain standard and expectation for travel.  To sum it up, most Americans are afraid of real travel and they stay inside their comfort zones.  This is engrained in the culture and it is normal for people to respond in this manner or it is normal to respond with: fear.  People are afraid of truly exploring themselves, being vulnerable to a new culture, going off track, going the distance, getting rid of the electronics, staying in a place other than a hotel.  The idea of real adventure travel is foreign to many people and the idea of going away for such long periods of time is also foreign.

Who’s going to take care of my cat?

What is my job going to say?

How am I going to afford a long trip and pay my bills?

What if instead of answering to society or someone else. We just answered to ourselves? What about YOU?




Do you seek knowledge about yourself on a deeper level?



Do you want to learn about different philosophies and religions, but you never have the time.

Do you crave something new, different, adventurous, spontaneous?

Do you want to learn real geography without a world map or google maps?

Do you need to complete your sense of self utilizing the world’s tools for discovery?

It is not always about being responsible to others, but it is about being responsible to you.   By being aware to the importance of your own self over the importance of your job- you can take charge of your being and life.  You may not be floating in a world of materialism, but having a grasp of your identity and who you truly are and what your want out of life is more important that any pay check can provide.

Take charge of YOU and the rest will fall in place PRIS