Tag: postaday

“So Shines A Good Deed In A Weary World”

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Family, Human Rights, Memoir, Weekly Challenges8 Comments
Packing meals to be sent to Haiti.
Packing meals to be sent to Haiti.

I spent the last few hours of a waning 2012 with my son Simon’s hockey team.  Not on the ice, but instead in the nondescript, suburban warehouse where his Squirt hockey team was volunteering for a service project.  In just a couple of hours, Simon and his teammates (and the dozens of other volunteers who were there that afternoon) packed more than 5,000 packets of meals for children in Haiti.

It was a small act, but it will have a tangible impact on the lives of some others, kids we don’t know and will never meet.  On the way home, with the radio droning on about Congress and the looming fiscal cliff, Simon talked about what he had learned that afternoon about malnutrition and hunger.   “Don’t you think that was a good time?” he asked.  “I feel good about doing something to help out.”

It reminded me of one of my favorite lines from the movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

“So shines a good deed in a weary world. ”  ~ Willy Wonka

In looking up the quote, I realized that it in fact a reference to a line from the Merchant of Venice.

“How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”  ~ William Shakespeare

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions.  I figure if something is important enough to take action, I should just do it regardless of the time of year.  But this New Year’s Eve volunteer experience with my son, while brief, makes me think that I should make a resolution for 2013.  This year, I will be on the lookout for opportunities to do good deeds, both small and big, at home and abroad, acknowledged and unacknowledged.   In 2013, I resolve to see how far a little candle can throw its beams.

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2012: My Year In Pictures

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Photography, Travel, Weekly Challenges16 Comments

In this, the darkest and quietest time of the year, I have taken a few moments to reflect on all that has passed in 2012. Here is a brief look at my year in pictures:

January: Palubari, Nepal
January 2012: Battisputali neighborhood, Kathmandu, Nepal
February: Backyard hockey rink.
March: The Peanut Challenge. My oldest son was diagnosed at age 1 with a peanut allergy. After blood tests determined he had outgrown it, the final test was eating peanut butter.
April: Spring break.
May: View from Ydra, Greece
May: Sunset on the Greek island of Ydra
May: At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland
May: Lac Leman, Geneva, Switzerland
June: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Skogfjorden Norwegian Language Village (Bemidji, Minnesota).
June: Bukkesjøen, Bemidji, Minnesota
July: Family reunion, Lake George, Minnesota
August: Weedfield, Center Sandwich, New Hampshire
September: Interviewing students at the Sankhu-Palubari Community School in Nepal
Sanku village, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
September: Swayambhunath temple, Kathmadu, Nepal
October: Lake Harriet, Minneapolis, Minnesota
November: Election 2012
Each of the kids at my daughter’s school wrote what they were thankful for on a feather, creating this Thankful Turkey.
December: The things you see when you cross-country ski! Elm Creek Park Reserve, Minnesota

All in all, it has been a pretty good year.  As my friend Amy described it, a mix of exotic and everyday.  The perfect description of my life!

What’s in store for 2013? To begin with, I’ll be in Morocco in January, Cameroon in February and Tanzania in March.  In short, the fortune cookie was right:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(See other bloggers’ 2012 in Pictures here and here)

Dust of Snow

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Culture, Photography, Poetry, Weekly Challenges3 Comments

snow

Dust of Snow

by Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

I was hurrying to work this morning, thinking about all the deadlines crashing down upon me, when I was stopped in my tracks by a shower of snow.  The first snowstorm of the year dumped 10 inches of snow on us last Sunday, blanketing the city, making everything pure and white and still.  Now rising temperatures are causing the heavy snow to melt.

Such a minor thing – wet snow falling from a tree in a downtown parking lot – but it reminded me of this poem by Robert Frost.  With this morning’s beautiful Dust of Snow,  my day fell suddenly into perspective.

Onward and upward!

Change your perspective – let a little Dust of Snow fall on you today as well.

Some mornings, I wake up with an image or a poem in my head.  Sometimes, a song.  I do my best thinking in the morning, too. These Morning Musings are a new (and irregular) feature here on the Human Rights Warrior. 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Changing Seasons in Kathmandu

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Photography, Travel, Weekly Challenges16 Comments
himalayas
The clouds suddenly cleared, showing the towering Himalayas over the Kathmandu skyline.

When I arrived in Kathmandu in mid-September, I was surprised to find that it was still the monsoon season.  (Truthfully, up until a few years ago, I would never have guessed that this landlocked, mountainous country even HAD a rainy season.)  In Kathmandu, the hot and wet monsoon season is in the summer – usually between June and August.  This year, however, it lingered into the third week of September.  I asked numerous Nepalis if this extended monsoon season was a common occurrence and I always got the same response.  “No, it is not common. This is the result of global warming.”

After several days of slogging about in the steady rain, I resigned myself to the fact that monsoon season might outlast my visit to Nepal. But unlike my previous visits, which had been during the dry season in winter, I marveled that everything was so beautifully and luxuriantly verdant.  Much of the green could be attributed to the rice paddies that were everywhere, even tucked into vacant lots in the suburbs of Kathmandu.  It was time for the rice to be harvested, but it was impossible to do so in the rain.

Suddenly one  evening, near sunset, there was a change.  The dense clouds, which had hung low and heavy over the city, suddenly began to lift and separate, like cotton candy being pulled apart by unseen hands.  Watching the Kathmandu skyline, I realized that what I had thought was just another cloudbank was in reality the snow-covered Himalayas that ring the city!  “Ah,” said a Nepali at the TEWA Centre where I was staying in Lalitpur, “the seasons are finally changing.”

The seasons are changing for the city of Kathmandu, as well. In the photo above , you can see the many housing construction projects being built in this area on the outskirts of the city.  The Kathmandu population grew during the conflict as internally displaced persons fled the Maoist rebels in the countryside. The population has continued to grow due to the country’s high unemployment.  People come to the capital looking for work.  There are now 3 million people living in the Kathmandu valley, driving too many cars and motorcycles on streets that were designed for oxcarts.  Traffic is a huge problem, making it difficult to get anywhere.  The air is polluted and many people wear masks over their lower faces. Traffic accidents are common. Many Nepalis ride motorcycles as they are cheaper than cars and easier to maneuver in traffic.  From goats to refrigerators, you never know what you might see people carrying on one!

motorcycle

Nepal is peaceful now. The violence has ended and the Maoists have been in a power-sharing coalition government since 2008.  But the coalition government is gridlocked.  In May 2012, Nepal’s political parties failed to reach an agreement on a new constitution before the deadline. (Nepalis have been waiting more than four years for a new constitution. When the committee drafting the constitution gets paid by the month, where is the incentive to finish the job?)  The Constituent Assembly, the members of which had been serving under extensions after their terms expired in 2010, was dissolved, creating a political crisis. Most of the basic civic and municipal functions have now essentially ground to a halt.

President Ram Baran Yadav of Nepal gave the parties a deadline of November 29, 2012 to come up with an agreement on how the (long overdue) elections should be conducted.  When they failed to meet that deadline, he extended it for one more week.

Nepalis are still waiting for the political season to change.  In the meantime, much of daily life goes on as it has for centuries.

A woman looks out her window near Sankhu, in the Kathmandu Valley
Preparations for a cremation ceremony at Pashupatinath

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Swayambhunath
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Goats abound in Nepal, even in the city (and particularly before festivals like Dashian)

Here’s hoping that the sun comes out soon for Nepal’s political situation.

Rice fields in the Kathmandu Valley
Rice fields ready for harvest in the Kathmandu Valley

For more about life in Kathmandu, read my post on Family Life in Kathmandu.

This post is a contribution to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Changing Seasons.  Too see more contributions, click here.

The Thankful Turkey

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Best of The Human Rights Warrior, Family, Human Rights, Human Rights Activities for Kids, Parenting20 Comments

It is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States.  This uniquely American holiday is supposed to remind us of all that we have to be thankful for, both as individuals and as a nation, but I fear that this sometimes gets lost in our collective national appetite for overindulgence (we don’t stop eating until we feel remorse) and entertainment (Macy’s Parade, football, holiday TV specials).  That we carry out these traditions in the company of our closest friends and family members is important and perhaps even the saving grace of the day, but have we lost the true spirit of Thanksgiving?

I was at my daughter’s school last week for Turkey Bingo. At this event, 25 lucky families won a turkey.  We did not, although we came within a B11 of winning.   As we were leaving, she grabbed my hand and said, “I want to show you something.” She led me out into the hall to a giant, colorful turkey on the wall.  She explained that each of the students had written what they were thankful for on a feather.

The thoughts expressed on the feathers give a picture of the typical things for which the average American kid is thankful.  I saw feathers that said things like:

“I am thankful for friends and family.”  “I am thankful for my mom.” “I am thankful for my sisters.”

“I am thankful for my grandma and grandpa.” “I’m thankful for my daddy.”

Other feathers said things like:

“I’m thankful for my cat” and “I am thankful for my xBox.”

I noticed a couple of feathers, though, that said things like:

“I’m thankful to be here”  and “I am thankful for America.”

“I am thankful to live in a place with no war.”

My daughter goes to a school that has a large number of English Language Learner students.  Many came to this country as refugees from Somalia or other countries in East Africa, but she also has friends who came to this country as refugees from Tibet or were adopted from orphanages in China.  There are also kids at her school from Central and South America.

Sometimes we forget that the Pilgrims were refugees.  In England, they were persecuted on account of their religious beliefs.  They took the tremendous risk of coming to this new land in order to be free to practice their own religion.  And giving thanks for their freedom was a big part of the first Thanksgiving.

As I looked at that turkey on the wall of my daughter’s school, I had a moment of inspiration. When all of those individual feathers, childishly and colorfully decorated, are put together, you get a lovely image.  But you also get much more.  When all of those truthful and thankful thoughts are put together, you feel the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

And that is the inspiration and the spirit in which I hope to celebrate this holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, from me and (one of) mine!

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Parable of Renewal

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Human Rights, Photography, Weekly Challenges16 Comments

I practiced asylum law for the first seven years of my career, representing refugees who were fleeing persecution and human rights abuses in their home countries and seeking safety in the U.S.  These are people who are not easy to forget and whose stories shouldn’t be forgotten.  Many of their stories – the details of their lives, their losses, their dreams – have stayed with me over the years.  The remarkable thing about the refugees I have known is not only their ability to survive incomprehensible losses, but also the strength and hope and determination they have to remake their lives in an entirely new country.  To learn new skills, speak new languages, adapt to new cultures.  To me, the refugee experience symbolizes this week’s Photo Challenge theme:  Renewal

 The picture above was taken in Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana, which I visited three times between 2007 and 2010. Buduburam was home for 20 years to more than 30,000 Liberians who fled the bloody conflict in their West African country.  Officially closed this year, Buduburam was a small, bustling Liberian city in the countryside outside of Accra.  Life was hard on the camp, where refugees even had to pay for water to drink and for access to the latrines. To improve their opportunities, many of the refugees at Buduburam enrolled in skills training courses; the photo shows some of classes offered by the New Liberian Women Organization (macrame being one of them, as you can also tell by the colorful plant hangers).  Even in a time of limbo, the refugees at Buduburam were striving for renewal. Those refugees who could afford it sent their children to school as education offers a chance for a new life.

I still hold many former asylum clients in my heart. I’d like to share the story of one refugee family I represented.  For me, it is a parable of renewal.

 James and Julia (not their real names) had been politically active in their native Kenya. Julia, in particular, had been very active in speaking out against an oppressive government.  They had a young son, who I’ll call William, who had huge, solemn eyes.  When the police came to their house to arrest Julia, a police dog bit William on the head. You could still see the jagged scar on his scalp more than a year later when, having left everything they owned behind to escape Kenya, they were seeking legal assistance with their asylum claim in the U.S.  

 In police custody, Julia had been brutally beaten.  She was also repeatedly raped in custody, including with objects such as the muzzle of a rifle and a Coke bottle.  This testimony was critical to the success of their asylum case, so we had worked with Julia to prepare her to tell her full story, with as much accuracy as possible and as many details as she could remember.  “Just tell the truth about as much as you can remember of those weeks,” I urged. We all knew it would be painful.

 Julia testified about her experiences in a straightforward manner and in excruciating detail, but with such poise and dignity that both the asylum officer and I were in tears. Asylum officers are specially trained federal officials who make decisions about asylum cases based on a written application and an in-person interview.  During my time practicing asylum law, I rarely saw an asylum officer actually cry during an asylum interview. 

 I remember well how James sat next to her, utterly still. Not touching her, not looking at her, but supporting her as she spoke. Anguish is the only word that could possibly describe the look on his face as he listened to her testimony.  I had to look away. Even in my role as their attorney, a role which requires a special intimacy, I felt the need to give their family some small space of privacy as they recalled those terrible days.

 Years later, after they got their citizenship, James and Julia had a party to say thank you to all of the people who had helped them. In addition to their attorneys, there were people from their church and other members of the Kenyan community. They now lived in a big, new house out in the suburbs. Julia was close to graduation from nursing school. William, who I hadn’t seen since he was three, was now in middle school.  He was a straight-A student and talented musician who had just gotten braces.  They had another child, too – a daughter born here in America. She was wearing a pink tutu.

It had taken a lot of hard work for James and Julia to get to where they were.  They had experienced many challenges and frustrations with adapting to life in this strange, new country.  But they persisted and, through sheer effort and determination and a bit of creativity, slowly but steadily they moved forward, finding healing for themselves and building a new life for their family.   It wasn’t easy, but James and Julia had managed to make something new out of nothing. 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry/γεωμετρία

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Memoir, Photography, Weekly Challenges28 Comments

And now for something completely different.  While I’ve never participated in The Weekly Photo Challenge before, the theme “Geometry” this week spoke to me.  This week’s challenge “is about the shapes and rhythms that make up the geometry of our world.”  This week, I have found the normal shapes and rhythms of my world disrupted. In the midst of a major storm in the East  and a bitter, divisive election, we buried my grandmother this week.  She was 98, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it kind of was.

This week I have found myself almost longing for a bit of predictability, a return to normal patterns and rhythms.  A rational ordered life; a practical science made up of points, lines and planes.  I find myself searching for theorems that explain life and loss the way geometric formulas allow you to compute volume, surface and area.

Of course, contemporary geometry goes well beyond Euclidean principles, taking us into contemplation of multiple dimensions and space.  This also fits with thoughts of life and death. Maybe I’ll think on that later.  But in this week of turmoil and endings, I find comfort in what the early Greek mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes called γεωμετρία. Geometry.

I took this picture recently on the Greek island of Hydra.  When I look at it, I can’t help feeling that the early Greek geometers were right: there is some order in the world and we can figure it out. And it is all going to turn out just fine.

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For more entries to this week’s challenge: Geometry click here.

Mind The Gap: Would You Bring Your Child(ren) To Work?

On By Jennifer PrestholdtIn Family, Famous Activists, Human Rights, Parenting, Weekly Challenges, Women's Rights6 Comments

The current Weekly Writing Challenge got me thinking about children in one of the most adult-oriented of all places – the workplace.  Yes, I admit that I have brought each of my three children to work with me at various times, usually because of an unlucky confluence of sickness and pressing work deadlines.  It certainly isn’t my first choice, but in my experience it has worked out fine for short periods of time.  (Unless you count the unfortunate incident when my co-worker Peder accidentally got his finger chomped by my oldest son, who was teething.  New baby teeth are razor sharp. Peder claims that he saw stars, just like in the cartoons.)

But whether or not to bring children to work is an issue that many working mothers have grappled with at one time or other.  It is, in fact, the issue that has made European Parliament Member Licia Ronzulli so popular with moms like me. The photo above, taken in September 2010, of Ms. Ronzulli at work with her baby has made her a cause célèbre for working mothers around the world. 

Although she doesn’t bring her daughter to the European Parliament regularly, there are other photos of Ms. Ronzulli and her daughter Vittoria.  During a vote on the Eurozone debt crisis on February 15, 2012, reporters snapped several photos of Vittoria with her mom at the European Parliament.

Now two years old, Vittoria was back in Strausborg – and the European media – just this week. I think that the reasons that these photos resonate so much with moms here in America is that they symbolize so perfectly the work-family balance that all of us working moms struggle with every day. Ms. Ronzulli’s employer, the European Parliament, has rules that allow women to take their baby with them to work. Unfortunately, this is just not an option for most working moms. So we share the photos on Facebook and hope for a day when working mothers have better support. 

Support such as adequate parenting leave, for example, is important.  But Ms. Ronzulli herself was entitled to a parenting leave, but chose to take only 1 month of it.  She makes the point that it is about personal choice.  In 2010, she told The Guardian “It’s a very personal choice. A woman should be free to choose to come back after 48 hours. But if she wants to stay at home for six months, or a year, we should create the conditions to make that possible,” she said.   

I think that Ms. Ronzulli is right. I think that we should create the conditions to make it possible for a woman to choose the best thing for both her family and her career.  Sometimes, that might mean bringing the kids to work with her.  (And yes, I think this goes for dads as well.)

So what do YOU think?