Because I've been delinquent about updating my blog, this New Year's Eve I've decided to share five stories that rocked my world from the past year.
Grad Student Politics
In September 2013 I was acclaimed the external representative for the School of International Development's Graduate Association. This meant that I had to represent our association at monthly meeting of the Graduate Student Association. The relationship between the Council of which I was a member and the Executive became strained early in the year after the Council was asked by the Exec to retroactively approve a loan for the grad cafe that was spiraling out of control in November of 2013 (it has since recovered).
In February of 2014 the Finance Officer presented the proposed budget for the 2014-15 Academic year in which $25,000 was allocated for a position, that had been interim and has not been sufficiently reviewed to determine its relevance. As the meeting progressed it became clear that there was strong dissent among the exec members regarding the renewal of the position and I led the call for the position to be reviewed before the budget was approved. I also volunteered to be on the review committee.
After agreeing to be on the committee it became apparent that I was in way over my head. Soon several members of the exec and staff of our association came forward with complaints regarding bullying and harassment against not only the person occupying the position but also his most vocal advocate among the exec. After sharing this information at a subsequent meeting the exec member tried to force the renewal of the contract. In response I brought together a number of the Council members to work together to find a solution. After much discussion we called an emergency meeting of Council which eventually postponed the renewal of the position and unsuccessfully tried to impeach two of the outgoing exec members.
I felt pretty good about what we had done as a group to stop what appeared to me to be a great injustice to Council and the employees of our association and ensured that the additional $25,000 would be available for student programming.
However, what really rocked me about this small endeavor into grad student politics didn't happen until months later. When I returned as a Councilor to the Association in September, the employee at the center of the harassment complaint thanked me sincerely and indicated that their work environment had dramatically improved. It then became clear that our actions as a Council had a profound impact on creating a safe working environment for her and other employees of the Association.
The Coady Institute - Being a Leader
I'm not sure what story specifically to tell you about the Coady Institute. If you read my previous post I'm sure you have the idea that attending Skills for Social Change had a profound impact on me and more specifically my self-perception. In the last week of our certificate course one of the other young women in my program referred to me as a role-model. This really shook me. I had never really considered the possibility that I was accomplished enough that someone would aspire to be, or perhaps more accurately, do like me. At the end of the week my friend Kambwali from Zambia who was participating in another program at Coady stopped me in the stairwell and told me that I was a leader and reminded me of some of the responsibilities that, that entails (which, on a lighter note, includes not swearing in my facebook statuses!).
When we drove away in the airport shuttle that afternoon I cried for the first time since arriving (there seemed to be a lot of crying in my group over the three week course). My heavy heart was not only from the new friends I was leaving behind but also a reflection of the transformation I experienced being there including my perception of myself as a leader and who I am as a whole-person. The driver reassured me and the other distressed passengers that 90% of the people he drove from Coady to the airport cried.
I now keep a page on which my classmates all wrote notes to me about our time together on my desk and I read it when I need a reminder of who I can be.
Grandmothers
For the most part, the Just Minerals Campaign, which I have been coordinating since October 2013, has been driven by grandmothers and students; so it was appropriate that on the evening of the vote on the second reading of the Conflict Minerals Act I was surrounded by about 20 grandmothers from the Grandmothers Advocacy Network (GRAN).
I had felt reluctant to go to the vote on Bill C-486 which we knew would fail, not because of any problem with its content but because of the political divide that persists in Canada. However, in the days leading up to the vote several people expressed interest in attending and so I knew I had to be there in solidarity with our supporters and Paul Dewar, who had introduced the Bill around which our campaign grew. Paul seemed surprised when he saw me in the office that day but seemed somewhat lifted when I told him members of the campaign were coming to watch. So I sat among 20 grandmothers and we all glared at the Conservative side of the House as the Bill failed. I can't describe the gratitude I feel for the grandmothers who came out that night.
In the immediate aftermath of the vote in decided what message to send to supporters about our defeat I proposed "this ain't over" to Gavin, Paul's legislative assistant, which has since become my slogan, not only for the campaign, but life in general.
A Birthday Surprise
This year I promised my friends in Ottawa something different, a surprise for them at my Birthday party. They knew the time and location of the party but nothing else. My initial plan was to play a paperclip trade-up game where teams have two hours to trade a paper-clip up for the most 'valuable' prize they can.
And then the Ottawa shooting happened.
Wondering if my friends would be nervous about approaching strangers in the immediate aftermath of the shooting I dramatically shifted the plan and decided to do some good. After consulting with my friend Kate I went out and bought art supplies and sandwich supplies. I also provided two envelopes with a bit of cash for anyone who wanted to choose their own adventures. Wow, did my friends ever step up.
When I revealed the surprise I asked my friends to choose between making sandwiches for homeless people, giving free hugs, doing random acts of art or choosing their own adventure. What happened next totally surprised me.
I brought the group that decided to choose their own adventures to a separate location, and returned to the main group in my apartment. Ten minutes later the buzzer sounded, the group had returned to announce that they planned to use the money to buy coffee and hot chocolate which they would give away along with free hugs to people visiting the war memorial, where the shooting had occurred. Moments later, everyone was in. Some of us stood and offered hugs and hot drinks to visitors, others went further downtown to distribute the sandwiches.
I was deeply moved both by the generosity of my friends and the people we met at the Memorial. I couldn't have asked for a better Birthday Party.
Being the Change
What I like best about this last story is that it's not really mine.
Over the autumn I spent a lot of my spare time painting ceramics in Old Ottawa South. One of my favorite bakeries, Life of Pie, is in the same neighbourhood so I became a Saturday regular stopping in for a coffee and a cupcake. I quickly got to know the young cashier who served me every week. One Saturday she told me that she was in her grade 12 year and was hoping to go University in the autumn to study forensic science and nursing. She also told me that her High School wasn't offering enough university level math classes for all of the students who needed to take them.Somewhat shocked, I urged the young woman to contact her school board trustee.
About a month went by before we met again and when I walked into Life of Pie one Saturday morning the young woman's face lit up, "I did it!" she said and told me about how her school board trustee had followed up and that the school was now offering an additional university level math course. The young woman was not only thrilled to be able to take the course she needed to graduate but she was also overwhelmed with pride in taking control over her own future.
I'm sure graduate school life and politics will continue to have their ups and downs over 2015, but one thing is for sure:
This. Ain't. Over.
Happy New Year!
