"Dear Me... You are going to Kenya!"

I spent last week in beautiful Bethany Hills, Ontario at our Me to We Leadership Centre for trips training. I was in a building with 40+ incredible, inspiring, and experienced peers and facilitators. I spent three days picking brains, gaining knowledge, and being challenged. The reality has smacked me in the face that in less than two months I will be traveling to a country I have never visited, facilitating with a person I have never met, and be responsible for the lives of 29 young people... Holy moly! I have learned what to do in extreme cases (life or death scenarios), how to deal with withdrawn youth, what to do if my co-facilitator falls ill or we don’t get along, etc.

During this training, I have tried really hard to challenge myself. Instead of just copying notes and participating in modules, I have tried to mentally put myself into the situations. How would I debrief that module? What would I do if I received a lot of push back from a kid? How would I keep calm if a participant is seriously injured or worse? What would I do if I found participants getting... well, touchy? All these questions flew through my head as I realized I couldn’t answer them. I realized I need self reflection. So that’s what I’m going to do. I am giving myself a set amount of time (not yet decided how long or when) which I will use to analyze myself. To pick apart my own brain... What are my strengths and weaknesses as a facilitator? What makes me tick? How do I handle stress? These are just a few of the key things I need to learn about myself, and be comfortable with, before I can facilitate with another person and expect them to be comfortable with me.

So here’s to new adventures and self reflection.

Cheers!
Bria

Oh and PS – HAMZA SURPRISED US ON DAY TWO... HE’S BACK! No big deal or anything :D

Dare To Dream

Last Friday I was given the opportunity to give an outreach speech to a community in Dunnville, Ontario that are part of the Dream program. Dream (designing routes to education and mentorship) is a mentoring organization that focuses on bettering the community through youth by providing them with academic, social, and financial support for secondary education. I was really excited to visit this community because it reminded me a lot of FAM for Change. At FAM, we focus on empowering youth from Brockton High School to make a difference in their own lives, make a difference in their community, and make a difference in the world. We do this by helping them with their school work, participating in campaigns like Halloween for Hunger, and teaching them about various worldly issues. At Dream, they also do these things through global literacy programs and events completely run by the youth.

This speech was a great opportunity for me in different ways. First, I was able to see an existing mentoring organization right here in Ontario, and one similar to FAM. It made me so happy (much like “Strip the Streets” did) to be able to see young people mentoring each other and putting on their own events. Secondly, I was able to speak to my own experiences with mentoring and virtually (via pictures) introduce the community of Dunnville to my mentor, Jonathan, and my mentees, Nichole and Angel. It gave me a great sense of pride to be able to express how important mentorship is and to see the pride in the kids’ faces when I asked, “who here has mentored someone?”

Every day this job presents new challenges. Every day this job presents new goals. Every day presents new dreams. And every day this job presents new feelings of accomplishment... Friday was one of those days.

Cheers!
Bria

The end of the best four years of my life.

Greetings! Long time no update friends... Sorry!

I just recently returned to good ol' TO after spending a great week home with my family and friends in Massachusetts. The main purpose of my visit was to walk in Bridgewater State University's Commencement for the Class of 2011! It truly was a beautiful ceremony, followed by an interesting, fun, and energetic party in my parents backyard. The day was all I thought it would be and more and I could not have felt more grateful for the people present in my life.

Among those people, the most important for my growth at BSU and as a woman, was my family, my mentor, Dr. Jonathan White, and my Social Justice League/FAM/Free The Children peers. If it wasn't for this cohort of people, my years at BSU would not have been nearly as successful or memorable as they were. Without the love, support, dedication, and push of these people, I would never have had the opportunities to...

Mentor two amazing young people, Angel and Nichole.
Educate my fellow peers and community on issues such as homelessness, children's rights, global education.
Help BSU become sweat free through the Workers Rights Consortium.
Meet and introduce an inspiring individual, and now good friend, Michel Chikwanine.
Convince Sodexo and BSU to sell fair trade coffee on campus.
Be an active part in BSU's decision to become a fair trade university.
Help plan and participate in four consecutive Tent Cities.
Received Outstanding Leadership awards or the Who's Who.

My years at BSU have been, by far, the most intense, worthwhile, life-altering years I have yet to face in my young life. The people I met have shaped me to be who I am and have taught me to never doubt myself and always look for ways to improve and enhance what I am doing in life. My friends in the Social Justice League, FAM for Change, and Free The Children taught me that it is indeed young people that change the world every day.

Without my mentor, Dr. Jonathan White, I never would have broken out of my shell and learned about the issues that have now consumed my life. I never would have thought I could write a 10+ page journal entry about Genocide, multiple research papers about inequality, or an Honors Thesis. Without my mentor, I do not believe I would have made it to graduation day as soon as I had... he pushed me and encouraged me through hard times, convinced me of my potential, and never hesitated to say (nicely, of course) "I told ya so" when I would be rewarded with awards at BSU. And finally, without my mentor and friend, I never would have taken a leap of faith like moving to a new country to work for Free The Children. He introduced me to the organization and assured me that I could make a life for myself here... and I have.

So to my loving family and friends... Thank you. It is because of you that I have accomplished so much in such a short time, and to you I owe this honor.

We all smile in the same language.

I just found out I'll be facilitating a Me to We trip to Kenya from July 21 - August 10!

Free The Children is a non-profit. We run campaigns and events, we tell youth all the ways they can change the world, and we do Adopt A Village in seven countries. Adopt A Village is our sustainable development model where we address all the different reasons why kids may not be able to go to school. We build schools, we provide alternative income (so kids don't have to work), we provide clean water (so girls can go to school and they get clean water), and we provide health care so families can get help they need.

Me to We is the social enterprise, they provide better choices for a better world (and 50% of the profits go to FTC). They have style so that we know children aren't making our clothes, they provide artisan work (beading done by Kenyan women) so that we can sell it and give the profit back to their groups, they do leadership seminars and workshops, and finally... they run trips to four of our seven AAV countries so kids can go actually work on FTC projects.

A few weeks ago I interviewed to lead trips. I didn't tell any of my friends because I was nervous I'd be embarrassed if I didn't get accepted. I put my preferences as Kenya and India, and I just received an email asking me to lead a trip in Kenya this summer... I am SO excited!

I'm excited because...
-I've always wanted to travel to Africa
-Kenya is our most popular country for trips and projects so it will be nice to have the experience
-It will be so incredible to see, and work on, Free The Children projects
-I will get to improve my leadership skills, facilitation skills, and speaking skills
-I just really wanted to travel this summer...

I'm so stoked... I feel like this is such a phenomenal opportunity for me. I can't wait to brush up on my facilitation skills and really dig deep into FTC/M2W projects.

Check back for details to come...

"The love of one’s country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?"
-Pablo Casals

"Murphy's Law: Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn!"

I'm a bit behind in my blogging which simply means there will be a few updates to come. The first? St. Patrick's Day in Toronto!

My roommates and I attend the St. Patty's parade on Yonge Street. While we were there, we had a man filming us saying where we were for his YouTube website (he was a little strange) - RealGuyTV or something like that. The parade lasted an hour and a half and was more interactive than the Southie parade, which surprised me. There were tons of community groups, Irish groups, and legit only one tank to represent the military... The difference in military presence here from the States is crazy, but that's a whole different subject!

There were lots of kids on floats, one of which had my favorite sign - "Murphy's Law: Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn". Also on many floats were live bands playing old Irish songs with step dancers behind them. After the parade we hit up an Irish pub and had some Guinness and my first ever plate of poutine - it was delicious! Overall, it was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed our day!

The following weekend Julie's brother Andrew visited and the three of us went on a Raptors adventure. After Andrew left, Adam came! Our weekend consisted of a Mill Street Brewery tour, drinks at a bar right next to the Air Canada Centre where the Leafs play (Bruins were in town) and the Hockey Hall of Fame! It was really nice to have a friend from home come see my temporary home - my second favorite city, the good ol' TO. He really enjoyed the time here and I was glad he could see what I am doing with my life :)

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates...

A Promise to Keep...

Relief (noun) – Alleviation, ease or deliverance through the removal of pain, distress, oppression, etc.

A week and a half ago, Japan suffered from a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a 10-metre tsunami. Being able to empathize with others has always been a strong characteristic of mine, and my whole heart goes out to those affected in Japan. However, I can’t help but feel frustrated at the rates of people willing to redirect their focus and funds from impoverished nations to industrialized nations, from poor nations to rich nations, from resource-poor nations to resource-rich nations.

The reality is Japan is a G8 country, with the world’s third largest economy by nominal GDP. It has the economy, means and access to resources to rebuild itself. The government of Japan has expressed that it does not want as much international help as is being offered, with the acceptance of help from fifteen of ninety-nine offering countries. To be blunt, it is not a nation that needs floods of NGOs rushing in to save the day... Not as much as other nations at least.

For hundreds of years, Haiti has been a nation of oppression. Up until the early 1800’s, Haiti (then known as “Saint Domingue”) was a colony of France where thousands of people were taken from Africa and forced into slavery on the island. In 1804, the number of slaves outnumbered the “master class” and the first successful slave revolt in the history of humankind occurred. France was slow to recognize Haiti as an independent nation, and only did so at the cost of 90 million francs. They argued that Haiti owed them this money as a result of property (slaves and land alike) lost during the revolt. This was ultimately the key element in making Haiti the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere because the debt was not able to be paid off until 1947.

Before the earthquake hit in Haiti:
-Only half the population had access to sanitation;
-Only one third of the population had clean drinking water;
-There was a 67% primary school enrollment rate (though this number is thought to be too high);
-and economic stress of putting a child through school often superseded the benefits and many children would not be able to attend.

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. I remember being in Belize and having our BSU faculty members let us know that we had a tsunami warning. We were all pretty shocked and concerned, but I don't think many of us understood the reality of the situation. This earthquake left 250,000-300,000 people dead, over 1.5 million people homeless (including an additional 200,000 orphans) and destroyed over 4,000 schools. Since the earthquake, there has been a major cholera outbreak and 80% of the population is living on less than $2 a day, with more than half the population living on less than $1 a day.

Today, there are still over 800,000 Haitians in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, there is a 50% illiteracy rate, and massive corruption is occurring during the elections.

I am not saying that we should not help Japan; it is up to each individual to decide where they want to help. All I am saying is that we cannot forget about Haiti. Over a year ago we made a promise as a global community to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti... I know I will continue.

Will you?

Words and Deeds

Holy moly it’s been a while! Life has been crazy busy up here in the good ol’ TO.  Work has been a bit busy and is about to get even more crazy…

Almost two weeks ago was Free the Children’s Youth in Action Summit where hundreds of youth voluntarily give up their Saturday to come and learn about social issues. I have heard some people refer to this day as “the heart of the organization” along with our summer Take Action Academy. It’s a day full of workshops, guest speakers, and most importantly, 500 inspiring youth voices. Yesterday’s Summit theme was “Free from” to go along with our “Five Days of Freedom Campaign”. Youth attended workshops throughout the day based on freedom from poverty, freedom from exploitation, freedom from disease, and freedom from thirst. Amber and I had the chance to be MCs for the day and I even introduced our afternoon speaker… my mentor and friend, Dr. Jonathan White!

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I was for the opportunity to introduce Jonathan. As I told the youth in the crowd, I never knew about social issues or my capabilities when I was younger, and for that I am truly jealous of them. However, I did learn about these issues when I entered University, and I slowly learned what I was capable of – all thanks to the guidance of Jonathan. When I got the chance to introduce him, I told the crowd that this was the part of the day I was looking most forward to. I asked everyone who had a mentor or a teacher that inspires them to raise their hand… Almost every hand went up! I was truthfully surprised by this because I didn’t even know what a mentor was in high school, and these kids were from middle school and high school! The day ended with an incredible speech by Jonathan which continued to captivate the kids for the rest of the afternoon.

The week continued with speeches per usual and at one of them I was greeted by 25 middle school kids dressed ridiculously as crowd pumpers… it was awesome! When the weekend finally came, the girls and I could not be more excited because Sunday was… Toronto’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade!! Now, I’ll be fair and say it is not the same as the Southie Parade… but it was much bigger and people weren’t drunk! It took a little over an hour for the whole parade to make its way past us, but it was such a great day! We took the afternoon and grabbed a drink at a local Irish pub and called it a day.

This week is March break (equivalent to our schools’ February vacation) so I don’t have any speeches booked and Adam is coming to visit on Saturday for the weekend. Next week I have six speeches including a charity gala on Saturday! The following two weeks will be hectic with lots of speeches in the Waterloo region so we can do outreach and get them involved. It is going to be really busy but I know by the end it will be worth it considering this region hasn’t really had the chance to be involved and now they will.

I came home on lunch today to a card from my grandmother. In this card was a piece of paper with six poems photocopied to it. There was a note on the bottom that explained these poems were written by my grandfather’s mother for her own column in The Brockton Enterprise called the “Cousin Mary Page”… one was even dated back to the 1930’s. Here’s a taste of one:

"Words and Deeds"

If you think a kind deed to do,

But have not courage to do it,

That cannot help others, or you

If you but only knew it.

If a kind word or helpful thought

Ever comes into your mind,

If you don't do with it what you ought,

And use it, are you kind?

So let's brace up and put to use

Any helpful word or deed

For it was put in our mind to use,

In this old world of need."

-Mrs. Irene R. Wilbur

Until we meet again,

Bria

Weird Canadian habit: They dip their french fries in mayonnaise.