With
Peace, Now Add Human Dignity to the List
Tomorrow, June 5 2012, will be the
start of another academic year for me, as a junior. You might ask what an
academic year of college means to me. It is a year of waking up at 5 o’clock in
the morning to prepare for school, getting stressed because of traffic, fearing
to be late for class in the middle of traffic, taking at least 3 exams a day,
utilizing lunch time for eating and taking a short nap, getting stuck in
traffic going home, studying again for the whole night, and the cycle repeats
again. After that, insert in the cycle staying late at school for organization
meetings, events and paper works. Looks tiring isn’t it? But, to be honest,
instead of utilizing my last two weeks before school start in sleeping, I divided it into
three. First, I used my time for my family. Second, I used my time in going to
school to process some organization papers. Lastly, it is joining World Youth
Alliance (WYA) in their advocacy for Human Dignity.
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| Poster for the event |
` Last May 25 2012, I attended the World
Youth Alliance Asia Pacific (WYAAP) 2nd DigniTEA Party at Quezon
City, all thanks to Kuya Zee of PeaceTech Inc Family for inviting me there. At that party, I
learned about WYA’s history, advocacy and regional quarters. To sum it up, here
is a brief description of WYA:
“ The
World Youth Alliance is a global coalition of young people committed to
promoting the dignity of the person and building solidarity among youth
from developed and developing nations. We train young people to work at the
regional and international levels to impact policy and culture. Through this
lived experience of the dignity of the person, young people are able
to affirm life at all levels of society. “ - http://www.wya.net/about/index.html
After such event, I signed their WYA
charter and join them in their advocacy or mission of promoting the dignity of the person and building solidarity
among youth from developed and developing nations. So this last two weeks,
specifically my last two Fridays, were dedicated and allotted to WYA. Other
than advocating for peace, human dignity is now part of the list of my
advocacies in life. A new adventure I am embracing now with open arms.
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| Poster for the event |
My June 1 2012 ended with WYA, as one
of their interns Montse, shared her experience as a representative
of WYAAP during the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). She shared
everything from the essay contest she join up to her experiences when she left
for New York, where the UN headquarters is. She also shared how overwhelmed and
happy she was to have her very own UN badge and enter the UN Headquarters,
which was her dream ever since. And of course, she shared what she has learned
from the people she met at the CSW and from the discussions and interactive
events that took place, as well as, the problems and resolution presented at
the CSW. I myself learned a lot from her. But later on, the Q&A portion was
opened that made the talk more meaningful. I myself asked a question to her
personally, relating one of my PeaceTech friend Mitch’s condition, if there was
a point in CSW where they address the condition of women who were empowered but
culture and tradition still hinder them. My friend Mitch from Cotabato City
wanted to run for student council president. But because she was a girl, some
of the students at her school prefer to vote for a guy who has no leadership in
him, rather than voting for her who has experience and credibility. Mitch
explained to me, “For Muslims, the role
of males and females are contextually different. For them, traditionally,
females are only left at home doing the role of a wife, and are not allowed in
politics specifically if it is the highest position of governance ”. I
presented this dilemma as well to Ate Ren of WYAAP. They gave me their insights
about my friend’s situation. Both Ate Ren and Montse enlightened me, as well
as, motivated me to take action. I realized that culture and tradition are one
of the hardest things to surpass. Montse told me that the Philippines has
almost achieve equality between men and women, but still not fully achieved because of some
instances, like in my friend Mitch’s case.
It
was truly unfair and wrong. Not being voted by people just because she is a
girl. My friend Mitch truly possesses great leadership potential. Her ideas and
insights on different issues are deep and provoke you to think. Women nowadays,
all thanks to modernization, are motivated and empowered. Even though they are
motivated and empowered, culture and tradition hinders them to act and be a
catalyst of change.
With
all those realization, I formulated a simple solution that I will soon try to
implement. My idea was to open up talks in areas like Cotabato City, which
tries to influence others to open up their minds, and see that women nowadays
can do a lot for our country. That we should fully give them the equality they
deserve, for there are great women out there that are worth to listen to and follow.
I don’t expect a 100% result from this solution, what I wish is for them to
think about the idea, and what great things it can do to the country. This
solution I thought was a way of not insisting them but to try to reflect on it,
like is that tradition still applicable today, etc. My friends from WYAAP were
so eager to help me, and asked me to tie up with them when we started making
our peace projects at PeaceTech Inc.
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| My friend Mitch (on her cultural attire during NYAPP 2012 solidarity night) |
I salute these women I now call friends. I
salute Montse for being a great role model to the youth, in having an advocacy
at a very young age. I salute Ate Ren, for her great passion in advocating and
empowering human dignity. And lastly, I salute Mitch for still staying positive
and moving forward even if the tradition and culture in her place hindered her
once in her life.
All
of us can do something, we can make a difference. Do not just think about
yourself, think about others as well. For we cannot survive life alone, we need
each other in order to face the future. What a better why it is to face such
future if equality, respect and unity flourish in our minds and hearts. I will
end this blog entry with this question, “What are your ideas in solving this
inequality?” It may seem easy to answer, but it is not. So let us help one
another in solving this issue. Remember to always consider every side of the
problem and make it a ‘win/win’ situation for everyone. Feel free to comment
below on your ideas. Lets us promote
peace and human dignity, for they co-relate with each other.
This
might help:
For
Muslims view of living, men are the ones who must stand up for the family and
women on the other hand are left home to take care of the children. One Muslim
friend told me, that tradition is an essential part of each’s life and ruining
it might mean ruining life, as well. They don’t allow women to take part in
politics because they believe that women are to be cared and must not be given
in one way or another heavy burdens on them. In contrary, our professor once
said, that sometimes, tradition and culture LIMITS our way of living more so,
that we are living in a very demanding world. Our life is guarded by specific
STANDARDS and MORES that we are following. Our people might still in depths of
tradition and afraid of facing new paradigms of living. But whatever it is, we
were created by God in His own image and likeness, therefore everyone deserves
to be given a chance to show off him/herself regardless of age, race and
specifically gender. J
Thank
you to Mitch for allowing me to share her story, at the same time,
editing and criticizing this blog entry for me. I asked her to read this before
I publish it as respect to her. I miss you Mitch! Visit you soon there in
Cotabato City!
