May 19, 2009: A comparison

I didn't have to come to Indonesia to view poverty and reflect on and on about how I am going to change my habits. I can look outside my living room window and 10:00 p.m. and the chance of me being hurt goes up 35%. Poverty can bring the worst out in people in this dog eat dog world, but the worst  has yet to be seen over in this luscious paradise.

     But, am I naive to think that there lies a happiness in the people here as they hustle to put food on the table while only averaging 800,400 rupiah a month (84 USD)? Maybe. To see my hometown of Detroit stuck in a cycle that never seems to get off the ground is disheartening. That's where the happiness fades.

     Today, we visited Yayasan Gaia which is an NGO that gives scholarships to children living on the street enabling them to go to school for a year. This program acts as a guiding light  giving them hope for a brighter tomorrow. After sitting down with Difla Rahmatika it was amazing hearing the things they do for them. But, it was when she asked about the programs the US has for children living in the street, did I realize how many there were and how many are reaching out to the children in the Detroit area, a city which has one of the lowest graduation rates in the US. My academics have been so focused on making a difference outside of the US that I didn't realize that chance starts at home. This experience has helped me see that.

I will I could post the images of the food we had today. Truly spectacular!! All three meals were exsquisite~

Signed,
Avery Chan I <3>