If you are the slightest bit interested in going to Santiago Chile for a semester, be prepared to take the Micro (a Chilenismo for public bus). My program is made up of eight vastly different travel-savvy people, ranging from a girl from San Francisco obsessed with buses to a girl who lives only 2 minutes from campus because otherwise she may not be able to navigate her way there. Contrary to DC or GW, public transportation is a must in Santiago. Especially because through the GW Chile program, you have access to two different universities with campuses spread out throughout the city. Little to my surprise, the Micro and Metro have probably cost me the most out of all of my expenditures abroad. That's not to imply that they're expensive, rather that you use them with such frequency.
Tag: Chile
Americans Abroad
My introduction as an American prompts a number of responses. The first being, that 'Um yes? So are we in South America.' In the States, I think we live in a vacuum without being aware that even how we identify ourselves could be problematic in another country. It's no question that American influence is pervasive across the globe through the media, the news and pop culture; our reputation usually preceding our arrival for study abroad students. Sometimes for the worst, mostly in cases where there's only one portrayal of an American or few Americans living in said country.
Harmonizing the Environmental Pursuits with Human Rights
Wow, what an incredible journey so far—I have traveled 8,000 more miles since my last blog post! In fact, I am writing to y’all from my host home in Amman, Jordan. My last weeks in Chile were incredible and introduced me to undiscovered areas of my human rights interests. I would like to share a particularly insightful journey I had in southern Chile (nearly 13 hours south of Santiago) in the indigenous Mapuche town of Curarrehue.
My human rights focus group had the opportunity to travel to Curarrehue as part of our culmination experience on the crossroads of environmental and indigenous rights. I was uninformed about the degree to which the decisions of large transnational corporations, which operated in the international economic dimension, directly affected the quality of life of local Mapuches. Mapuches are a group of the first and native people of Chile and have inhabited the lands for millennia. The introduction of neoliberal capitalists and economic gain, however, disrupted their natural way of coexisting with the area and began to exploit the resources around them.
Based on this understanding, my group was briefed on the situation from Mapuche perspective—what did water scarcity mean to the village? How would new construction disrupt ways of life? And, how was the younger generation bearing the burden of “modernization” at the expense of losing cultural heritage? These questions were answered through our host family interactions and excursions to local natural landscapes.
Our host families shared their lands with us as part of an educational eco- and ethno- tourism initiative of the Mapuche peoples. They were eager to impart their knowledge of the area and teach us about how they had lived in unison with Mother Nature. Unfortunately, the natural beauty that they had sought to protect over centuries was at odds with the economic projects that large companies brought to the area. The leaders of the Mapuches noted that these projects significantly reduced their livelihood and stripped them of their resources. We struggled to reconcile these points of view but living with the Mapuche enlightened us on their genuine desire to cohabitate with their environments.
Through our time in Curarrehue, it became evident that there was an inextricable connection we have with nature. We cannot isolate our human rights from care of the environment. The Mapuche people struggled everyday to show to large corporate powers that there existed a sustainable approach to development. Their model of development did not damage the environment. Rather, it contributed to this betterment.
The Mapuche challenge is a microcosm for the constant issues of environmentalism, human dignity, and economic development that we see all around the world. Curarrehue does not provide a simple solution. Rather, this experience challenged my peers and me to reconsider how we approached the human, environmental, economic costs and benefits of hydroelectric damming.
This trip has left me with more questions than answers, and I hope to continue this critical analysis in Jordan too. Ma’salaama wa bashoofkum! (Goodbye and see y’all in Arabic) Thanks for your interest!
Pursuing Solidarity
From the last post until now, I have traveled over 6,500 miles from Sugar Land to New York City to Santiago, Chile. Words cannot fully describe the magnitude of this experience. I will try my best to convey how my travels have shaped my understanding on human rights as well as shed light on my evolving approach on comprehending power imbalances and violations of rights.
We began our program in New York City, questioning if and to what extent universal human rights exist. Is it true that universal values are shaped the forces of globalization or do specific cultures maintain their own rights? It is too early for me to answer this question as my comprehension of this idea changes with each formative conversation, lecture, and site visit. While it is difficult to pinpoint which human rights are global, I have quickly realized that global oppression of rights is in fact similar, blatantly visible and unfortunately prevalent. Even though the protection of rights may take varying forms, its denial is undoubtedly felt around the world.
One of our stops in New York City was the UN Headquarters. It is rather naïve to say that as a world we have achieved all of the Millennium Development Goals. However, it is more appropriate to realize that we have become significantly more aware that systematic inequalities persist. The actions of developed actions disproportionately affect the livelihoods of other citizens. Solidarity is a key to identifying the mistakes of the past and present and helping redirect energy, resources, and human capital to restructure, rebuild and restore the rights of people around the world.
Moreover, in Santiago, pursuing solidarity has manifested in the form a catalyst for connectivity. One of the biggest fears after the atrocious human rights violations in Chile from the 1973 coup d’état to the reconciliation that continues today is allowing those who were victimized by their respective governments to not be voiceless. We traveled to Casa de Memoria (House of Memory) to see with actual atrocities from the war were committed—excessive torture, disappearance of citizens, and indiscriminate killing of loved ones. The site presented an eerie image of the realities of the war. The damage had been done from the past decades and all we could do was join in a solemn silence with them. Nevertheless, it was this solemnity and solidarity that reinforced our commitment to being a part of the reconciliation process.
In summary, I wish to conclude with thought from one of our speakers on access to education as a way to address systematic inequality. He boldly articulated, “revolution is not only one day; it is a process. There is no day after the revolution, rather it is a life long struggle.” Similarly, solidarity is not a stoic recognition of human rights, rather it is also a struggle that motivates those who pursue it to rise to action and take charge of situations of injustice. Solidarity is an empathetic understanding, a cross-cultural dialogue, and a continually evolving strategy guided towards betterment.
We must be aware and cognizant of our historical struggle and be mature in our belief that our collective consciousness is the precursor to our collective action as human rights activists. Solidarity, thus, identifies and understands oppression of human rights as a means to achieve and actualize these rights.
Thanks for reading, and I will share more thoughts soon!
The End (of LBV)
By DandyLion
The volunteer work I did over the course of the Fall 2013 semester was perhaps the most rewarding experience of my entire first six months abroad. I did so much at La Bicicleta Verde - from getting to know the company, I learned about the city inside and out, which taught me more than I am sure I am still aware of. I know so much about Santiago from the tours that I gave and observed during my time at LBV, and I couldn't be more grateful to have learned it all - especially considering Santiago, Chile is a place I would be absolutely willing to move back to, and in fact am for the Spring 2014 semester! I worked in the office as well, doing research for the company, as well as scheduling, emailing and other various office tasks. During my time, I also was given the opportunity to walk the city by foot, going from hotel to hotel, maintaining our good relationships with the local lodging facilities in efforts to encourage them to send tourists our way.
The major challenges I faced were initially the language barrier, which was quickly overcome due to time and practice, and the lack of information, which was superseded by the same methodology. I am extremely proud of my now fluent understanding and grasp of the Spanish language - but more so than Spanish, than what is practically known as the Chilean dialect, which is extraordinarily difficult to comprehend and communicate in. They say that if you can speak Chilean, you can speak any time of Spanish - and I now speak Chilean!
I absolutely feel like I made a difference in my community. Apart from the good relationships maintained with other local businesses, office work in helping the small tour company to stay on its feet without excessive expenditures, and green tourism, I felt as though I was able to perpetuate a positive view of Santiago, Chile to the tourists of the rest of the world who came to visit, which I am especially proud of as I believe that many US Americans do not have a particularly fond view of Chile and perhaps other Latin American countries due to unknown reasons, stereotypical or otherwise. This enhanced my time abroad exponentially; it gave me a very real reason to feel happy and helpful in my community, and the people who I worked with were phenomenal. It was wonderful to go to work.
Now that I am done with my Fall 2014 study abroad program in Chile, I plan to continue it going into the next semester! I had such an outstanding time that I decided to prolong my graduation and spend a bit more time in the city that stole my heart. If I don't choose to continue at LBV, I may consider more strongly teaching English as another volunteer opportunity, which has proven to quite a few of my acquaintances to be rather rewarding itself. When I come back to GWU within the next year, we can only wait and see what happens, but if I can find a way to do green tourism there, I would be delighted! ¡Hasta luego, gracias y ciao!