Monday, January 31, 2011
While I have traveled outside of the United States, it was always for leisure or vacation- I have never fully experienced a different culture firsthand. When challenged to learn about an unfamiliar country, culture, or religion I chose to focus on Africa. When I think of Africa, I immediately think of how cool it would be to ride an elephant. I briefly lose sight of the idea that Africa is a totally different continent that has an entirely different culture and way of living.
Upon my research of dignity and the African culture, I stumbling upon an article written by Father David Garcia in August of 2010 (so fairly recent) titled, “Human Dignity and Toenail Polish in West Africa.” The article was about a man who belonged to Catholic Relief Services (CRS). CRS, as described in the article, is ”a delegation of Hispanic Church leaders from all over the US who were visiting the West African countries of Ghana and Burkina Faso to promote global solidarity among Hispanic Catholics.” CRS promotes human dignity and works to help others develop independence through different programs such micro finance, health care, education, agriculture, water, and food.
The article itself focused on Father Garcia’s experience in Burkina Faso. In Burkina Faso, Father Garcia met a woman named Nathalie Oudjebou. Nathalie, a mother of three, belonged to a group called “Dikidini”. The members of Dikidini were experimenting with a savings and investment project that would help the members access small amounts of credit. With access to small amounts of credit, the people belonging to Dikidini were able to "engage in revenue generating enterprises to supplement their meager subsistence farming." Since many of the people of West Africa are supported by farming, whenever there is no rain to produce their crop, the Dikidini have access to credit to help them get by. There are certain requirements and rules that the group follows in order to generate their credit and reap the benefits. For example, each member has to save a certain amount of money and contribute some to the overall group. The group then lends money to the members with a small interest rate. Once every eight months the members receive their original investment, as well as their share of the profits.
Father Garcia was lucky enough to experience that one day the Dikidini payout every eight months. He got see the smiles and sense of accomplishment that the group felt. After witnessing their accomplishments, Father Garcia went back to Nathalie’s home- a small mud hut about fifteen feet in diameter. Father Garcia began to talk with Nathalie about the Dikidini and what the credit has done for her. Nathalie said that the credit allowed her to make peanut butter and millet beer that she is able to sell at the market. Before, she was always worried about if she would be able to provide for her family, and now, not only was she able to feed her children, but she was also able to pay school fees and send her children to school. Nathalie also was able to purchase toenail polish. For the first time in her life, she was able to do something nice for herself. “Dignity can come through many ways, even toenail polish.”
This article was pretty interesting to me because it reminded me of a lot of things we have been talk about in my colloquium class. One of the aspects of dignity we chose to discuss was how dignity is a universal concept. I think this article exemplified that. This aticle made me think about all of how fortunate I am to have access to all of the things I do- for example, a credit card and nail polish. The article said that many of the people who live in Burkina Faso live off of $1a day- something I cannot even comprehend. I think ok, how much can I get for a dollar? Oh, well McDonalds has a $1 menu, but then I remember that $1 is not for a meal, it is for the entire day.
Like I said previously, I have never experienced a different culture first hand, and I realize that the people of West Africa live very different than me. Despite the fact that we live differently and in different cultures, Nathalie worked hard to provide for her family and do something nice for herself. She did what she could to better her life and the lives of her children. I think this is very similar to the way people in America live. While it might come easier for some than others, most of the time parents work hard to provide for their children and do nice things for themselves. For Nathalie, working hard to be able to purchase nail polish for herself installed a sense of dignity in her; similar to the way that working hard to get a job that could provide for one's family in America would install a sense of dignity in that individual. We are often focused on what is different, so its fascinating to see something that is similar among different cultures. Not only do I think that this article shows that dignity can be universal, but it also reminded me a lot of the major themes of Catholic Social Teaching. While that may have been due to the fact that the article was published in Today's Catholic, the way the Dikidini worked to better themselves as a group incorporated a lot of the Catholic Social Teaching themes. For example, one major themes of Catholic Social Teaching is "Common Good and Community." The Dikidini worked together as a community to create the credit system that benefited every member of the group. Another theme in the article is "Participation." According to the Catholic Social Teaching, people should have the right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of a society. In Burkina Faso, the members of the Dikidini created an economic system of credit to benefit themselves. While these are not the only themes present in the article, these are a few that I was reminded of. I think when it comes down to it, no matter who you are or how you want to live your life, everyone can appreciate what they have, but also strive to benefit themselves and/or others even more. I think that is universal.
Upon my research of dignity and the African culture, I stumbling upon an article written by Father David Garcia in August of 2010 (so fairly recent) titled, “Human Dignity and Toenail Polish in West Africa.” The article was about a man who belonged to Catholic Relief Services (CRS). CRS, as described in the article, is ”a delegation of Hispanic Church leaders from all over the US who were visiting the West African countries of Ghana and Burkina Faso to promote global solidarity among Hispanic Catholics.” CRS promotes human dignity and works to help others develop independence through different programs such micro finance, health care, education, agriculture, water, and food.
The article itself focused on Father Garcia’s experience in Burkina Faso. In Burkina Faso, Father Garcia met a woman named Nathalie Oudjebou. Nathalie, a mother of three, belonged to a group called “Dikidini”. The members of Dikidini were experimenting with a savings and investment project that would help the members access small amounts of credit. With access to small amounts of credit, the people belonging to Dikidini were able to "engage in revenue generating enterprises to supplement their meager subsistence farming." Since many of the people of West Africa are supported by farming, whenever there is no rain to produce their crop, the Dikidini have access to credit to help them get by. There are certain requirements and rules that the group follows in order to generate their credit and reap the benefits. For example, each member has to save a certain amount of money and contribute some to the overall group. The group then lends money to the members with a small interest rate. Once every eight months the members receive their original investment, as well as their share of the profits.
Father Garcia was lucky enough to experience that one day the Dikidini payout every eight months. He got see the smiles and sense of accomplishment that the group felt. After witnessing their accomplishments, Father Garcia went back to Nathalie’s home- a small mud hut about fifteen feet in diameter. Father Garcia began to talk with Nathalie about the Dikidini and what the credit has done for her. Nathalie said that the credit allowed her to make peanut butter and millet beer that she is able to sell at the market. Before, she was always worried about if she would be able to provide for her family, and now, not only was she able to feed her children, but she was also able to pay school fees and send her children to school. Nathalie also was able to purchase toenail polish. For the first time in her life, she was able to do something nice for herself. “Dignity can come through many ways, even toenail polish.”
This article was pretty interesting to me because it reminded me of a lot of things we have been talk about in my colloquium class. One of the aspects of dignity we chose to discuss was how dignity is a universal concept. I think this article exemplified that. This aticle made me think about all of how fortunate I am to have access to all of the things I do- for example, a credit card and nail polish. The article said that many of the people who live in Burkina Faso live off of $1a day- something I cannot even comprehend. I think ok, how much can I get for a dollar? Oh, well McDonalds has a $1 menu, but then I remember that $1 is not for a meal, it is for the entire day.
Like I said previously, I have never experienced a different culture first hand, and I realize that the people of West Africa live very different than me. Despite the fact that we live differently and in different cultures, Nathalie worked hard to provide for her family and do something nice for herself. She did what she could to better her life and the lives of her children. I think this is very similar to the way people in America live. While it might come easier for some than others, most of the time parents work hard to provide for their children and do nice things for themselves. For Nathalie, working hard to be able to purchase nail polish for herself installed a sense of dignity in her; similar to the way that working hard to get a job that could provide for one's family in America would install a sense of dignity in that individual. We are often focused on what is different, so its fascinating to see something that is similar among different cultures. Not only do I think that this article shows that dignity can be universal, but it also reminded me a lot of the major themes of Catholic Social Teaching. While that may have been due to the fact that the article was published in Today's Catholic, the way the Dikidini worked to better themselves as a group incorporated a lot of the Catholic Social Teaching themes. For example, one major themes of Catholic Social Teaching is "Common Good and Community." The Dikidini worked together as a community to create the credit system that benefited every member of the group. Another theme in the article is "Participation." According to the Catholic Social Teaching, people should have the right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of a society. In Burkina Faso, the members of the Dikidini created an economic system of credit to benefit themselves. While these are not the only themes present in the article, these are a few that I was reminded of. I think when it comes down to it, no matter who you are or how you want to live your life, everyone can appreciate what they have, but also strive to benefit themselves and/or others even more. I think that is universal.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Human Dignity by George Kateb
As part of my junior/senior colloquium class I was assigned to read the first chapter of George Kateb's book, Human Dignity. My favorite section of the chapter was "Human Dignity Is an Existential, Not a Moral, Value." Kateb said a lot of things that really struck me. The part that struck me most was "the truth of personal identity is at stake when any individual is treated as if he or she is not a human being like any other, and therefore treated as more or less than human. The truth of identity is also at stake when a person is treated as if he or she is just one more human being in a species, and not, instead, a unique individual who is irreplaceable and not exchangeable for another." I feel like, more often than not, individuals are grouped and generalized. As people, a lot of times, we work hard to become apart of something and we loose sight of what it is to be an individual. We sometimes loose our identity. I attend Carlow University; and therefore, I am a part of the Carlow community. Yes, I am a Carlow student just like the rest of my class, but does labeling me a Carlow student do me justice? At Carlow, I am a junior. I am a Biology Major, Chemistry Minor. I am a tutor. I am a Tour Guide. I am the Student Event Coordinator of SPiRiT. I am an Orientation Leader. I am more than just a student, so is it enough to just label me as one? Ya, it all depends on the context in which one is using the term "Carlow student" and what point he or she is trying to make, but is labeling me a "Carlow student" taking away from my identity- who I am. Is labeling anyone anything taking away from that individual's uniqueness and individuality. Is it taking away from one's dignity? Kateb says, "the truth of identity is also at stake when a person...is not [treated like an- unique individual who is irreplaceable and not exchangeable for another" Why, then, do we recognize each other for what makes us the same, not what makes us different and unique?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
"Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them." -Aristotle
This quote really struck me because often times I think I am being selfish if I think I deserve something. I would have to say my sense of self dignity definitely needs worked on a bit; but regardless, I think what Aristotle is saying is important. Everybody deserves human dignity. No one should have to earn it or be worthy. Instead, as humans, we should treat one another with dignity and respect. In treating others with dignity and respect, we should also realize that we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in return.
This quote really struck me because often times I think I am being selfish if I think I deserve something. I would have to say my sense of self dignity definitely needs worked on a bit; but regardless, I think what Aristotle is saying is important. Everybody deserves human dignity. No one should have to earn it or be worthy. Instead, as humans, we should treat one another with dignity and respect. In treating others with dignity and respect, we should also realize that we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in return.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Effects of Bullying
I was watching the news last night with my mom when a story came on about a local girl, Tiffani Maxwell, who committed suicide after being bullied at school. The story reminded me of a quote I read on the internet by Michael J Fox: "one's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered." I think I thought of the quote because I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of pain and suffering someone goes through that could lead him or her to taking his or her own life. I remember just a year ago when a similar thing happened to a girl who lived in my friend's neighborhood. The young girl hanged herself in her closet because she was being bullied at school. Bullying is, unfortunately, very common in schools today. WPXI's website covering the news story said, "a recent study showed that 77 percent of students in the United States said they had been bullied." The website also said "bullying generally starts in elementary school, peaks in sixth through eighth grade and continues through high school." That means kids are bullied throughout most or all of their education. Not only is the bullying effecting kids psychologically, but WPXI said, "eight percent of students miss one day of class per month for fear of bullies." Now children and adolescents are missing school because they're being bullied- it is effecting their studies. Bullying is impacting kids more today, and in more ways, than it ever has before. I read these statistics and stories and I think about how lucky I was to make it through high school. I'm not saying I was never bullied or laughed at, but I was fortunate enough not to have to miss class because I was being tortured and ridiculed.
Words cannot describe the sympathy I have for victims of bullying and the victims' families. I have attached two links to the this blog. One is a direct link to WPXI's story and the other is a link to a Facebook page created by the Maxwell family. The Maxwell family created the Facebook page to "bring to light the effects of bullying, and to stop it" as stated directly on the website. It is pretty amazing to see how many people were touched by the Maxwell's story- hopefully the word will continue to spread.
Words cannot describe the sympathy I have for victims of bullying and the victims' families. I have attached two links to the this blog. One is a direct link to WPXI's story and the other is a link to a Facebook page created by the Maxwell family. The Maxwell family created the Facebook page to "bring to light the effects of bullying, and to stop it" as stated directly on the website. It is pretty amazing to see how many people were touched by the Maxwell's story- hopefully the word will continue to spread.
WPXI's story:http://www.wpxi.com/news/26520571/detail.html
Maxwell Family's site:http://www.causes.com/causes/565674-peer-pressure-against-bullying-maxwell-project
Saturday, January 15, 2011
When I found out I had to create a blog for my honors junior/senior colloquium class focusing on human dignity I was a bit apprehensive. I was not thrilled that my ideas would be posted on the internet, but then the more we talked about human dignity, the more I realized how much the topic covered. I work as a nurse's aide so I immediately thought of human dignity as it relates to healthcare-especially with the elderly. My classmates began sharing their ideas: dignity as it relates to discrimination, warfare, reality shows, bullying, other cultures, personal values, respecting others, language, death, gender, race- just to name a few- and I began to realize how little my ideas of human dignity really encompassed. I walked into the classroom at the start of class having no idea how many topics really related to dignity. Needless to say, my opinions about the blog began to change. Since dignity is such large concept dealing with so many different aspects of humanity this blog as a place where I can post things that I think define, explain, or touch upon the subject of human dignity.
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