Violence against women is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. The problems are getting worse in many developing countries where adequate security forces don’t exist or worse, are turning a blind eye to attacks against women. While there are existing programs by large humanitarian organizations that work toward women’s security, research shows that many of these programs are working AROUND women, but not WITH them, assuming that women will “get hurt” if they try and protect themselves.

The good news is that not everyone sees women and girls as passive victims incapable of defending themselves. There are an increasing number of self-defense programs located in developing countries; many of them are based in small organizations that saw the problems of violence against women and girls in their communities and they decided to do something about it. These programs include No Means No Worldwide, along with Dolphin Anti-Rape and AIDS Control Outreach, both of which are based in Kenya, and the S.H.E. Thing Self Defense and Personal Safety program in Belize. These self-defense programs are highly specialized to address the types of violence that women are facing in these volatile areas; the trainers have spent years developing specialized, yet practical and effective defensive techniques.

The staff of these organizations have a wide-range of experience. They have trained thousands of school-children, college students, and grandmothers in the slums who were specifically being targeted, and they have even crossed into places like the Congo, which is known as the “rape capital of the world” in order to train women who are experiencing some of the worst violence imaginable.

They also work with men and boys to help change their attitudes toward rape and violence against women, as well as doing regional and international “train the trainers” programs to train people from other organizations who can then return to their countries and start self-defense programs in their own communities. They teach women and girls to fight back and survive in the face of overwhelming odds. According to a study by No Means No Worldwide, 1 in 4 high school-aged girls had been raped, but “it is estimated that Self-Defense training can raise a woman or child’s chance of prevailing in a sexual assault by up to 85%”. Self-defense is not an empty “feel good” strategy; it is a practical and effective means of resisting violence.

My Project: WorldWideWomensSelfDefense.com

WorldWideWomensSelfDefense.com will provide a major online “hub” for self-defense programs based in developing countries. These programs are currently based mainly in small organizations, with no easy to way connect with each other or potential partners and donors. This website will provide programs with a means to:

• Expand and strengthen their self-defense network ties with each other
• Establish further partnerships to strengthen their cause
• Find financial donors who would otherwise never hear of these programs
• Share their expertise and experiences with academic researchers in this newly emerging field
• Provide guidance to other organizations in developing countries seeking to establish their own self-defense training programs

How You Can Help

Currently, these self-defense organizations are like little islands; they don’t have a lot of connection to the outside world, but they are seeking to expand their international support networks because there is strength to be found in unity and partnerships. By donating to the establishment of the WorldWideWomensSelfDefense.com website, you will enable these unique front-line self-defense training programs to expand their mission by giving them something that they currently do not have: an online “hub” through which they can connect with each other and the international community. Your donation will directly help to ensure that these programs can continue their work and expand their reach to provide more women and girls with the ability to protect themselves and not be left defenseless in the face of violence.

Their Journey, Their Stories

Nicaragua has some of the richest hydrological resources in the world. However, two-thirds of its population has no access to clean drinking water and sanitation. This paradox is a story that deserves to be told.

Our Passion and Determination

In Spring of 2012, we came together with the idea of creating a documentary about the water crisis in Nicaragua. Our goal was to film personal stories about those who are affected by both water scarcity and pollution in the summer. Through much grit and determination, we succeeded in accomplishing our goal.

Why We Need Your Help We spent the summer criss-crossing Nicaragua and simply turned the camera on to let the stories be told. What we found was unsettling; rural Nicaraguans suffering under pollution from a large mining company, urban Nicaraguans forgotten by their government without the most basic water infrastructure, and more!   The production phase of our documentary is finished, and we have footage that will be made into wonderfully compelling stories. However, we need your help so that we can bring this remarkable story over the finish line, to ensure that these remarkable stories are told with the care and dignity that they deserve. Thank you so much. Any amount that you can give will help us accomplish our goals.

]]> http://blogs.miis.edu/montereystart/2012/11/16/h2nica/feed/ 0 http://blogs.miis.edu/montereystart/2012/10/01/giving-back-to-haiti/ http://blogs.miis.edu/montereystart/2012/10/01/giving-back-to-haiti/#comments Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:00:05 +0000 Rebecca Walters http://blogs.miis.edu/montereystart/?p=677 "Men anpil, chay pa lou." (Many hands make the load lighter.) This Haitian proverb embodies the idea that when two or more are gathered in unity and service, the troubles of life feel less cumbersome. This is our ultimate mission.]]>

Our Story

Christie Charles and Esther Dupervil are Haitian-American students attending the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Together, Christie and Esther hope to create an air of optimism that will become contagious and spread in the lives of all they come in contact with and that will continue to grow well after they leave.

Christie Charles: As a Peace Corps Master’s International student in the Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) program, Christie has ambitions of using her first semester experience in a hands on manner through service in her country of heritage. She wants exposure to communities that will provide her with inspiration and understanding of what it means to be a true educator of the masses and to inspire a new generation of students in a different country.

Esther Dupervil: Esther is a student in the International Policy Studies program who is greatly devoted to giving back in whatever capacity she can. That devotion has led her to her next undertaking in Haiti. While in Haiti she plans to evoke hope, inspire and encourage collectiveness amongst her students through the power of song. The song will be written by the students, for the students. Being Haitian, Esther understands the impact songs has on the Haitian people and how they often carry a song in their heart. She wants to use a source of strength that is often dormant and push it to the forefront of an empowerment movement.

Inspiration Through Service

Christie and Esther’s commitment is to serve as agents of change by providing the Haitian people opportunities through service and by creating awareness. For their service project, they will volunteer during winter term 2013 with the Haitian American Caucus (HAC) located in Croix des Bouquet, Haiti. One of the HAC’s main goals is to provide the tools, education, and finances necessary for the community members to attain sustainable income and ultimately provide a more promising life for themselves and their families. They offer English courses to teenage and adult students, teaching them grammar, vocabulary and communication skills at the beginner and advanced levels. Many of HAC programs focus on the children of the community. Their major activities include maintaining an elementary school and educating 85 children between the ages of three and sixteen each year. They also provide a child friendly space after school hours, where students can complete their homework and participate in academic and recreational extracurricular activities.

Through the winter term service project, Christie and Esther plan on promoting sustainable development and self empowerment through English education and the universal unifier of music. This immersive learning opportunity will offer them unique and practical professional experiences and the opportunity to apply and fine-tune the professional skills and knowledge acquired in the classroom.

How Can You Help Us Make An Impact?

You can help support our project with your contributions through MontereySTART and by reaching out to your networks and spreading the news about our cause. These funds will assist in our goal of impacting the people of Haiti through service. There is no amount to little to give. We thank you in advance for your support.

How I Found the Children of Inti Photo Project

Ever since I got my first camera at age 12, I’ve had a passion for photography. I bring my camera with me wherever I go and I love to take photos of the people I meet, my friends and family, events, places I travel to, a fascinating ray of light and so on. As a graduate student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), I applied to Team Peru/Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development (AASD) because it seemed like an excellent opportunity to gain experience working in the field, and I was thrilled to hear that they had a photography project I could work on.

The Children of Inti Photo Project teaches photography to around 40 students age 10-18 at a school in a small village called Pampacorral in the Peruvian Andes. I am working with Eric Ebner, brother of MIIS alumnus and Andian Alliance founder Aaron Ebner. Eric is an essential resource to make this project successful as he got the project off the ground last summer and has a background in photography.

Empowerment through Photography Through this project, we hope to both empower students and open people’s eyes to a different reality. Our photography classes take place two times a week, and in-between classes the students get assignments where they practice what they learned that week. By teaching photography to students who live in a remote area and belong to an indigenous Quechua community, we give them the opportunity to share their world with others. Their world is not often seen, and their voices are not often heard, but as we all know, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. We also believe that The Children of Inti Photo project can create global change by sharing these children’s photos with people around the world. That way, people who don’t have the opportunity to travel to Peru will get the chance to learn about these people. Awareness is an important step forward in creating a better world.

How You Can Help

MontereySTART funds will help us share the photos of the students in Pampacorral with the world. We want to exhibit a collection of the best photos both locally in Peru and in our own home countries, the United States and Norway. To be able to do this, we need money to print good quality photos and mount and frame them as we want the results to look professional. Our first goal is to set up an exhibition in Monterey, hosted either at the Monterey Institute or at one of the local art museums.

-Benedicte Gyllensten, July 2012

About Us

We are students in Conference Interpretation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and have been awarded unpaid internships to interpret at the Olympics in London this July and are raising funds to offset travel and lodging costs.

The Opportunity

We have been given the opportunity of a lifetime.  We were chosen to represent the Monterey Institute at the 2012 Olympic Games in London as volunteer interpreters. We are extremely excited about the prospect of getting real-life interpreting experience at the Olympics and are proud to represent the Monterey Institute.

Our Request

We have created this page in the hopes of asking for your support.  As a volunteer for the Games, we are responsible for the cost of airfare, room and board, and any other expenses incurred during our appointment in London.  While we will do everything in our power to minimize these expenses, we are looking to your generosity to help in any way you can that could help get us to and from London, give us a roof over our heads and maybe food to eat while we are there.

Thank you again for your time and consideration. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Live from the 2012 Summer Olympics

Follow live updates from our Olympic interpreters here:

	August 3, 2012: I’m working at the Wembley Arena for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics. So far, I have had the chance to interpret for the OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) when interviewing the Korean badminton team after the winning matches and also for the flash quotes in the mixed zone. The highlights of my experience include: attending the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony (watching the spectacle before the rest of the world!), seeing Princess Anne just steps away from me, and meeting star badminton players from Korea, in person!. -Charmy Park
	August 1, 2012: Today I interpreted for the third time here. I started in the Mixed Zone where journalists get “flash quotes” from players, providing around twelve or fifteen quotes, and then went to the press center and interpreted the end of a question and response session with the Russian women’s basketball coach. The quotes were all given to the Games’ official press service. Besides interpreting, in the last few days I have also been excited to come within five feet of at least seven heads of state from countries around the world and numerous other important figures. The most exciting for me was getting to see our First Lady as she passed me in the hall. -Max Falaleyev
Photo by John Smith	July 29, 2012: Yesterday was my first day working, and I saw two of the three games that happened during my shift. Today I start right after the U.S. men’s team plays and get to see the Russia game and maybe interpret. I also got on camera yesterday briefly at the very beginning of the Great Britain vs. Australia game when the women ran out onto the court. -Max Falaleyev
	July 27, 2012: I’m interpreting between Spanish and English at Horse Guards Parade for the Beach Volleyball Competition. My first shift starts at 7:00am tomorrow morning. I am so excited! -Lauren Ames (left, at dress rehearsal)
	July 18, 2012: How do you prepare to interpret between Russian and English at the Olympics in London? You start by reading over 1,000 pages of game rules for basketball and handball. -Max Falaleyev

Hi. My name is Micah Lund. I’m an MBA student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and I just finished serving in the Peace Corps for 3 years in the country of Azerbaijan.

My home in the Peace Corps was in a quiet community high up in the Caucasus Mountains of northern Azerbaijan named Gusar. I lived and worked with a group of people called the Lezgis. The Lezgis have lived in their mountain communities for thousands of years and share a unique language, culture, and traditions found nowhere else outside the Caucasus.

In the time that I lived in Gusar, the government of Azerbaijan broke ground on a new ski resort right in the heart of the Lezgi homeland. The resort was estimated to be a $4b project that would attract thousands of tourists from all over the world. Unfortunately, the construction displaced entire villages and had untold effects on the natural environment. Home and food prices in Gusar rose considerably, pasture lands for grazing sheep disappeared and dozens of local residents were strongly persuaded to sell their homes and leave. The construction is still in progress and when the resort is finished, it’s estimated that over 90% of profits will leave that community and go to wealthy business owners in the capital of Baku. Thus, the ‘new’ Gusar will bear the negative affects of big tourism, while reaping little reward from it.

After doing some research, I found that what happened to the Lezgis is a common story in emerging nations all over the world – and it’s a trend that is likely to continue. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that for the first time ever, over 1 billion tourists will travel abroad on vacation in 2012. And by 2030, that number should rise to 1.8 billion. By far, the biggest amount of all this growth will be seen in emerging nations.

In light of these facts, my friend Mason and I (both Peace Corps Volunteers at the time) created a tourism company from the ground up called Community Based Tourism Azerbaijan. Our vision was to empower locals to benefit from the emerging tourism industry in Azerbaijan. We started by recruiting homestay families in two different regions of the country, and after a year and a half we had grown into a national network of local tourism service providers, spanning 10 different communities. Our new team included: 20 homestay owners, 8 managers, and dozens of local taxi drivers, bus drivers, craft makers, tour guides, and horse owners. We hosted over 150 guests in our first season and generated over $7000 in revenue, 80% of which stayed with our local service providers. Community Based Tourism Azerbaijan has proven that tourism can be a useful tool for rural community development, rather than a means of community destruction.

The most rewarding part of this project has been watching our providers use their new income to improve their homes, educate their children, and raise their standard of living. Now, we seek to replicate this business model in other emerging nations along the historical Silk Road through a non-profit called Community Based Tourism International.

Why the Silk Road? Countries and destinations along the historic Silk Road contain some of the richest cultures, traditions, ethnic foods, and natural landscapes on the planet. Yet, these locations also provide some of the greatest challenges to tourists, who often find difficulty navigating these regions due to a number of factors, including: language barriers, poor tourism infrastructure, corruption, hidden fees, and visa regulations. (View a map of the historical Silk Road countries.) By bringing our community tourism model to countries along the Silk Road, we want to give travelers easy access to these amazing places, while providing sustainable income and development to local communities. Eventually, we hope that a traveler staying within our network will be able to easily travel by land from Europe to China by staying with our local families and utilizing our local transportation networks all along the way. We see this as being quite a rewarding experience for both guest and hosts.

Approximately 85% of all revenue we make will stay in the local communities we serve, while the remaining 15% of revenues will help fund our daily operations. We will rely upon public funds and donations in our formative years to expand the network to a point in which we reach sustainability.Time to STARTMonterey START funds will be used to get Community Based Tourism Internationaloff the ground. We seek to register our organization, develop our marketing platform, recruit additional team members and secure our seed funding to begin operations abroad.

How We’ll Do It We have designed a franchising model, so that both country and community branches of Community Based Tourism International are both owned and administered by the people who live there. These franchises will benefit from our organizational standards, training programs, international marketing efforts and more in order to attract guests and grow their network. As a team of returned Peace Corps Volunteers, we will also seek to cooperate with Peace Corps’ extensive network of volunteers in countries where they are available. Peace Corps currently has over 9,000 volunteers serving in 76 countries worldwide. Most of these volunteers can easily identify quality homestays and managers on the ground, while providing local knowledge and language assistance, and even training assistance for our programs.

The idea was simple: pre-service and in-service teachers enrolled in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) offering free ESL classes at the Peace Resource Center in Seaside, California. The Peace Resource Center is a community center that is open to the public and provides space for meetings, gatherings, and, as a result of continued student involvement, 12 hours of free ESL classes per week. Before 2011, the Center offered a free weekly course under the guidance of Ms. Stefani Mistretta, an ESL teacher and MIIS employee. In January of 2011, she included Heidi Laidemitt who later informed her colleagues about offering additional classes.

As the Spring 2011 semester commenced, other TESOL students began teaching at the Peace Resource Center as well as began to contextualize their TESOL courses by choosing the Center as a site of teaching, pedagogy, lesson plans, observation, and other class projects. Their roles have included: teachers, teaching assistants, program coordinators, and general volunteers. The community-created ESL experience has been mutually beneficial for teachers and students, where both parties are able to interact and fulfill personal and professional needs.

The students in the ESL program come from a variety of backgrounds; some have been here for a few months and others for most of their lives. But their mission is the same: to learn English to enhance their lives for personal and professional reasons. We have had adolescents, adults, and senior citizens attend our classes on a regular basis in hopes of finding a job, advancing their careers, learning about local resources and events, earning a GED, supplementing their community college education, or making friends with an English speaking neighbor. Currently, all of the ESL students are native Spanish speakers, which complements the large Spanish speaking population at MIIS as well. As a result, bilingual potluck hours and movie nights have been offered to engage the students in the larger Monterey and Seaside community outside of their English instruction.

The ESL program has received a groundswell of support and participation from the various stakeholders involved: English language learners, English language teachers, the Peace Resource Center’s Board of Directors, MIIS students, the MIIS faculty, and Monterey County members and organizations like the Seaside Library where Bilingual Beginning Computing classes are also taught. The program is completely student-run with the support of the Peace Resource Center’s volunteers and Board of Directors. Due to the increasing interest from the community and possible need for more hours and space in the future, the program has come to the point where expansion, both in space and personnel, has become the primary need.

Help Us Make an Impact

We invite you to join us in this community learning opportunity to support our programmatic needs and long-term goals. Contributions to our program not only enrich the lives of the ESL students, but also the MIIS graduates and the Monterey community. Our current financial needs include providing teachers with gas and/or public transportation money; buying classroom materials like dictionaries, marker boards, dry erase markers, index cards, dividers, etc; and for hosting events like the “Bilingual Conversation and Potluck Hour” and movie nights. Additionally, we would like to contribute to the rent and utilities at the Peace Resource Center as well as possibly find additional space to hold our classes, especially since the space is small and is shared by many local Monterey groups.

We are eager to begin 2012 after a full-year of ESL classes, program advancement, and TESOL course application to create an even better teaching and learning environment. Currently, TESOL students of all semesters are involved, an indication that this program has strong roots and a promising future. We hope you are as excited as we are to see how much more this program will grow with time.

Imagine living at an altitude between 12,000-14,500 feet above sea level high in the Peruvian Andes. The closest market sits at least three hours away by bus on a one-lane dirt road that winds precariously along steep mountainside drop-offs. The harsh climate, fragmented government aid, and dearth of infrastructure render your community relatively inaccessible to any outside visitors. Moreover, as a subsistence farmer you must battle with the harsh growing environment characterized by marginal growing lands and major temperature fluctuations. These challenges make it nearly impossible to grow much more than root crops and a few grains.

Yet despite these hardships, you persevere. You excel in school during the days while helping in your family’s chakra (field) in the early mornings, late evenings, and weekends. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, you earn an opportunity to travel 22 hours by bus to Lima where you study agricultural practices at a technical university. Through hard work you earn a scholarship to study abroad in the United States to work on a farm learning invaluable sustainable agriculture techniques. Finally you return home to your community, inspired and ready to apply your knowledge to advance food sovereignty in your region and ready to combat high rates of malnutrition. Then suddenly reality sinks in. You realize you have no resources, limited contacts, and no idea how to begin such an ambitious endeavor.

Meet Ruben Quispe

This is where Ruben Quispe found himself in 2009 until, by chance, he linked up with a group of eager graduate students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and began working alongside them to create a greenhouse initiative in his home region. Today Ruben oversees the design, planting, and teaching that take place in seven school greenhouses, two of which are in the community where he grew up. The impetus for these projects comes from a unique partnership between community members and students, guided by Ruben’s fierce dedication.

 Kat and Danny’s Experience

Working with Team Peru and the MIIS student-founded NGO, The Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development last year, instilled a sense of motivation in us. We felt so fulfilled by the success of the established projects and even more by the relationships we established with communities. As we worked together on the agriculture initiative for school greenhouse projects, we became increasingly invested in the planning and implementation process. In Peru we discussed our passion for seeing tangible results and the excitement of being involved in grassroots development work. We returned to MIIS inspired and motivated, incorporating projects into academic work such as grant writing, evaluation, and thinking critically about organizational design. Now we want to share our stories and be part of the movement with MIIS students and The Andean Alliance to continue producing positive projects. We were inspired by the potential of these projects to provide communities with the means to achieve greater self-sufficiency and improved health. At the same time, we have truly grappled with how to sustain these projects, how to have a greater impact.

Ruben Quispe in the greenhouse.

There are so many skilled people out there like Ruben yet they lack resources and a solid support system.  We want to be a resource for students in Peru, working with them so that they can grow and eat vegetables for the first time, learn about greenhouse management and actively work to combat their malnutrition challenge. Providing a steady flow of graduate students to design and evaluate projects as well as a source of funding to ensure projects can be maintained and expanded drives us everyday. We hope to return to Peru and expand this greenhouse initiative within yet another community. This is because we see this approach as the most effective way to truly connect the Ruben’s out there with the resources they need.

Make an Impact

We invite you to join us in training the next generation of leaders in Andean region. We will work closely with Ruben and local leaders to select a community in the Andes. Many similar projects in the region fail due to poor planning and minimal follow up. Based on a needs assessment, we may choose to reinvigorate a failed project abandoned by its founders or to establish a completely new project. Our decision will be based on ensuring project sustainability both through the selection of a partner community and through a responsible project design.

By working closely with students and Ruben, we are able to ensure projects are well maintained. Students follow an alternative curriculum comprised of working weekly in the greenhouses learning about management, maintenance, and greenhouse cultivation, in addition to the importance of a nutrient rich diet from fruits and vegetables. The greenhouse is a valuable knowledge-based tool for students.  These future leaders will be the change agents that take ownership of their new knowledge and expand such projects throughout the region.  Partner with us to connect these leaders with the tools they need to mobilize their communities, advance self-sufficiency, and achieve food sovereignty.

The money we raise will benefit the selected students in a few ways. A very important aspect to conflict resolution and peacebuilding in specific is understanding the conflict and context before one arrives in-country. Therefore, we are inviting a distinguished Nepalese activist and academic to host a pre-departure workshop. While the students will already be familiar with the conflict background, this will allow them to take a closer look at the details involved in peacebuilding on the ground and give them an opportunity to direct questions to an expert.

After this training takes place, the students will ready themselves for departure with class discussions, readings, documentary screenings, and assignments. In Nepal, they will learn the methodologies for collecting and undertaking peacebuilding field research in a specific conflict context. Upon return, they will participate in a debriefing workshop, publish a working paper, and present at conferences.

The goals of this course are fivefold:

1. to expand the worldview and knowledge of our students, teach them how to collect empirical data, and learn about conflict and its effects firsthand in a field study program
2. to participate in coursework that will provide a broader and deeper understanding of this particular country and conflict
3. to provide students as future conflict resolution practitioners with some of the training needed to their further careers
4. to give a voice to civil society and peacebuilding actors in Nepal through our own publications and presentations online and in the Monterey Bay Area
5. to provide Nepalese organizations with our research findings and recommendations