Estrella

Teaching versus Charity As the saying goes, “ Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” (Maimonides). Anyone who takes a poverty 101 class will realize the two different types of poverty: circumstantial/crisis-related poverty and chronic poverty. The former poverty is the condition caused by a sudden change in living either due to a natural disaster, job loss, medical health problems or something of the like. The latter is usually of the condition that one is born into or acquires throughout the generations because that family never either had the opportunity or capacity to gain upward mobility in class economics. It’s a shock to live in a country where 25% of American children skip one meal of the day. However, the immediate needs as well as the chronic needs are just as important to be fixed in this day. Sometimes giving a meal for several times is all that it takes. But when that reception turns int...

 "In some respects, life is like a soccer game. It seems like you play hard during the entire game and never really score any goals. But no else does either, so you don't feel too bad. You get kicked and bruised and knocked down, and you quickly get back up and into the game and avoid getting penalties as best you can with the exception of the normal kinds of mistakes that are part of the game and then the entire game is over and it's ultimately decided by the flick of a hand in the goal. A mere deflection - one defining moment, and everybody says, "That's the game." And you've played so hard for so long, and it came down to one defining moment in your life. Throughout the game, if you were like me, your emotions were rocketed from one extreme to another, from disappointment to exhilaration, from anger at what you thought was unfair and maybe unsportsmans-like conduct on the part of the other team, and then admiration of another play t...

In this time in this country, we have seen an uptick in loneliness, depression and youth delinquency that have been unprecedented. What can be done to battle such upheavals in Ferguson, Boston during the Boston Marathon, school shootings in Connecticut and other shootings elsewhere? Is America to only decay into a violent society where it picks itself apart to the soundtrack and script of a Chris Nolan film? I believe that we have the power as Americans and residents in this country to resolve these issues and reclaim the former power, unity and peace of this spirited nation. With God as our guide, we have the power to reclaim the village. The Village versus Community Some may ask why I use the term “village” rather than “community”. They are both similar terms, but one has a deeper responsibility to a brother’s keeper than the other while the former term “village” carries with it some of the connotations of shunning, exile, social exclusion and moral puni...

What is KatnissStrong ? Modeled after the fictional warrior character Katniss from The Hunger Games trilogy, KatnissStrong is modeled after Katniss' physical and mental strength and determination she had to fight battles in life.  KatnissStrong is my call to action. It's my personal brand. It's a statement saying, "I'm going to take care of this temple that God has given me." KatnissStrong means that I am powerful beyond measure. KatnissStrong is my act of worship to my Creator as I strengthen my body and reach my full potential of strength through combined cardio and muscle building exercises and daily meditation. KatnissStrong is engaging with my Creator, using his strength to be mentally and physically disciplined. KatnissStrong is a reminder that no many how many times I fail in taking care of myself, I can get back up again and rise in the morning to a new opportunity. I am KatnissStrong .  " Do you not know that in a race all the runners r...

--> On May 18 th , I will have reached the half-way point of my AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) term with Connections to Success, a non-profit that seeks to break the cycle of poverty through training, mentorship, support and hope. I have really enjoyed what I have learned so far, but there are a few things I wish I had known when I had started. 1. Don’t be afraid to take initiative. Yes, it’s always important to run things by your supervisor when working on a project. But your department’s team may be looking to someone with fresh new ideas who’s willing to make new connections with new individuals. And if you sometimes overstep your bounds and mess up, learn from your mistakes and head back on the right track. 2. You don’t have to like everyone that you work with, but you should respect them and perceive them as your ally. So you may be an extrovert, and your colleague may be an introvert. You may not see eye to eye on everything or may...

Two weeks ago the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) heralded the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, which began in April of 1994 and lasted for 100 days until June of that same day. It became know as the quickest mass execution and killing spree since the Holocaust. In 1994, the Hutu president of Rwanda’s plane was shot down, and the blame was put on the Tutsis, who had historically been in power, but there wasn’t any hard evidence to who shot down the plane. This incident followed the peace process between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus, which only erupted into a civil war turned genocide when Hutu radical militias known as the interhamwe went from village to village, encouraging Hutus to murder their Tutsi neighbors and any Tutsi sympathizers. Graves still remain in Rwanda, and bones and sinew still arise out of the churches where Tutsis and Tutsi sympathizers went for safety but were instead trapped to be hacked to death. Hutus and Tutsis now l...

When I look back at the first two months of my new AmeriCorps position with Connections to Success (CtS) , I am shocked at how quickly it has flown by and by how much I have learned. Yet, there is so much more for me to learn. The weeks have flown by, and the first quarter of my term is coming closely to an end. And I think to myself, “Am I building capacity?” Image from Google Images When VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America) talk about building capacity, they mean that they are establishing institutions and procedures to be put in place and utilized after the VISTA term ends to help the organization run more efficiently and to help more clients. My job as the program assistant is to track participant data and create project-tracking tools to enhance efficiency and performance of the poverty-fighting procedures and techniques at hands. You would say, “So you track numbers?” But I track more than numbers and data in Excel; I combine those numbers togethe...