what do I want to know...?

Research paper time...I have two this semester, one for my Intro to International Human Rights Law, and the other for Migration and Refugee Movements in the Middle East and North Africa.

So, what will I write about? I'd ideally like to begin research in an area that will be relevant to my thesis, but I don't know if that's realistic considering that I really don't have a clue yet where I want to go with my thesis research. My first thought: Uganda. Of course, but I don't feel a sense of excitement about that, like I want to explore different parts of africa, or the middle east. Then again, it's probably smartest to pursue area with which I'm already familiar (and care deeply about) instead of starting from scratch...Right now I'm leaning toward doing my Intro to IHRL paper on a human rights issue related to the war and displaced persons in northern Uganda. Which leaves my other paper, which can't be about Uganda because it's a class about North Africa and the Middle East. We had some reading about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict that I found really interesting, and also about Iraqi refugees. If I do research into refugee/migration issues into one of those areas, maybe it would be wiser (easier??) to do my other paper on a human rights law issue in the same area. Or maybe it would be too tricky to write two related papers without them overlapping beyond what is appropriate.

I need a really good research question. I have lots of interests, and random little questions in my head, but nothing worth anything. Are IDP camps violating people's right to movement and access to water or land? The US manufactures much of the arms in the world, so where do they go? (what armed conflicts?) Child soldiers in Uganda, terrorism in Israel, trafficking in South Africa, torture, religious persecution...what do I really want to know? I need ideas!!

people are silly

Sometimes i feel like we live in denial of the unwritten, unspoken world that exists between humans in relationship. Most people are familiar with the concepts of verbal and nonverbal communication, but nonverbal communication isn't just eye contact and how you cross your arms and sweating and all that, it's the combined force of everything you do with your body yes, but it's a comprehensive electric-ish undercurrent that you send out to everyone, EVERYONE does this! and whether you pick up on it or not, you can always tell how someone feels about you when your interacting with them, or only I can?? Maybe it's some personality thing that I have, but I feel extra sensitive to it, and I desperately wish more people would just be real (for lack of a better word--i'm venting). I notice it the most after I spend time with friends that are "real," meaning they're saying what reveals their true thoughts, acting in a way that reflects their true intentions...then I encounter someone who hides behind petty smiles and disingenuous behavior, and I sense something almost palpable in the air between us, and my insides are screaming: this is humiliating! cut through the crap and give me something organic, something that's yours! What do you do with people like that? Cut them out of my life? Wait for them to...whatever? Give them a piece of my mind? Let it go?

I wish the unwritten reflected the spoken, i wish the intangible matched the solid....really, I just wish certain persons wouldn't double cheek kiss me.

"It's time to come back to purity not prosperity. It's time to come back to relation not religion. For zeal without relation gives birth to condemnation, judgmentalism and destructive fundamentalism..." Jessica Schenk

an encounter of conflicting faiths

I had a conversation today with a couple of my friends, both Egyptian, both Muslim, both fasting for Ramadan...conveniently we were seated at Hardy's while I grabbed lunch between work and class, but now I just sound like a jerk. I'm not, I swear.

"He is the King of Kings" said M about Allah, describing the reasoning behind the bowing of the head during Muslim prayer. "When people used to want to show their respect for the king, they would bow...when we think about who Allah is, we can't help but bow to him" (I paraphrase a bit). He and Ayah explained to me a few things about Ramadan, and prayer, including the fact that Allah draws closest to people during a certain time of day, namely between the hours of midnight and four am, that's when he hears and answers prayers most. Also, during Ramadan there is a day during the last 10 days of fasting where Allah will answer any of your prayers, but you don't know which day it is, so a persistent person would seek answers to their prayer on each of the 10 days in order not to miss the one day when Allah will listen.

They talked about Him like he was their King, their God, not like a father, but it wasn't the same distant sort of relationship that I have associated with the Muslim faith. "If I made this mobile phone, then I am the one that knows it best..." M explained. I thought to myself, "indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered..." "He made you, he is the one that knows you best" said Ayah. "My God knows me like that," I thought, "are they confused about the attributes of their god Allah? or am I seeing the meeting point of our two faiths?" I mean, they came from one and the same place, their history meets in the Old Testament, and it's humbling to see the remnants of that time carried through to present day.

They told me more about their feelings for Ramadan. That many muslims have it wrong, they are angry and impatient during the daylight hours, waiting anxiously for iftar to gorge themselves and make up for a full days worth of abstinence. Ayah emphasized that they are missing the point, that it's to teach us patience, to identify with the poor, to sacrifice for Allah, that it doesn't end with the call to prayer at 6, it's a fast that continues even when you come together in the evening to share a meal with your family. Again I felt a strange identification with her words, and a new respect for the ramadan fast, for the whole point of it.

How can our faith be so similar, so intertwined, and yet the points we differ on make the difference between heaven and hell.... It just seems like my two friends really know God, or genuinely want to know Him and love Him and follow Him...and there's where I draw a complete blank, or want to cry, because I just can't reconcile that with the other truth that I know, Jesus Christ is the only way to get to God. He is the way, the truth, the life.

little bits and randoms

I feel the need to give a practical update of sorts, for the very few of you who check this and care. :)

I really really really like a few of my classes, pretty much the ones I attended after the post below about hating my law class. I have intro to international human rights law (ihrl), and migration and refugee movements in the middle east and north africa (mouthful I know). I loooooove studying migration, I think it's fascinating, and I'm stoked on this course. The other two, intro to international law, and research and writing for ihrl...meh, not so fun. The reading is heavy in each of my classes, and it's going to be an intense semester with working and hopefully volunteering as well.

But, one thing is that I'm moving to a flat right near campus, like 2 minutes walk, so that will make everything much more convenient, and allow me to feel more centered. So, cool.

On another note, Ramadan started today, 30 days of fasting and partying has officially begun. I missed Ramadan last year, so this will be my first time experiencing it in Cairo...so far it's mid afternoon on the first day and I haven't noticed anything interesting...sorry.

Started running today too, finally! A friend of mine here is a runner, and we've both fantasized about running a marathonfor a long time, so we're doing it! There's a race in Luxor in February, but I'm not sure exactly how long it is...may not be a full marathon, but still should be awesome, and if anything a good marking point for marathons in the early summer of next year...I'm so serious about this. I miss running like crazy, and I've been wanting to do this kind of training for years, so here I go...

I got the website up for AGLM, but no one has said anything about it :(
Either that means it's horrible and not worth giving me constructive criticism, or no one has seen it...except my mom (thanks mom you rock).

I miss you people!

so...about that whole "law" part

not sure how I feel about the law part of International Human Rights Law.

Based on the one class I've attended (happens to be international law), where we actually discussed a few historical cases, I officially found none of it interesting. Actually, I thought I was getting all my foreign languages mixed up because I'm pretty sure I didn't actually understand ANY of the vernacular used in the discussion. Most of the students have political science backgrounds, and apparently I was the only one in the room who hadn't ever read a case before. Add that to the fact that I have an ear infection (ouch!) and I'd say I was thoroughly lost. Excellent. I know that some people start this program and discover, hey! I love this whole law gig, and some realize, oh, I hate this! I'm just thinking to myself...oh man, please don't hate law, please don't hate law, pretty please!

sigh...

Snap crackle pop done!

"Done" is a very fluid concept of progress by the way.

Thanks to Kjeare's suggestion to join wordpress.com, though, I have a whole new site set up for Africa Greater Life Mission, and I'm finally not too embarrassed to share the address:

www.africagreaterlifemission.com.

It's a work in progress for sure, but at least it's up and functioning. I mean, even with just the most basic information it's putting a face to a very worthy and God-breathed organization...and even more to a community of Ugandans who live every moment of their lives as servants to the less fortunate, to the orphans and widows, the rejected and suffering and in distress. I have great respect for the work that God is doing through the Magezi family and their organization, and I want to see the best possible representation of this work channeled to the world through this website...but I don't pretend of have the capacity to accomplish it on my own.

My vision is a face drawn and colored in by all sorts of people from all over the world who care about and advocate for AGLM and its mission, especially for the orphaned and street children of Uganda. In this landlocked third-world African nation, the internet has become the only effective means of communication with the rest of the world; having a website has made links between AGLM and people from a bunch of countries, with extremely different cultures and world views, but with a ton of unique gifts and resources. And the volunteers, the people who have given even just a smigeon of their time and energy, they are some major tools God has used to carry out AGLM's projects. It's a partnership designed mission, and it's so cool!