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Immersions
My birthday at Arca!
The other week, I had the privilege of celebrating my 20th birthday here at Arca Bologna. Right when I woke up and walked into the kitchen, I was sung to by the core members of Cedro. Throughout the day, I felt so loved by the community with every greeting and hug I received. I was blessed to have had a homemade pizza and cake for my birthday dinner made by my family here in Cedro. And to top it off, I was given a birthday card signed by all the members of Cedro and a tortellini magnet that has Bologna written on it. I did not expect anything at all for my birthday here and I thought I would be sad not being able to spend it with my family back home, but in reality I was not sad at all! My heart was filled with so much love given to me by the family I have come to make here.
With less than 2 weeks left, I can speak for the both of us that we are getting really emotional thinking about leaving our home here. I am so touched by the people here who have welcomed us and showed us patience and compassion every single day. God has truly blessed me with this opportunity and I am so grateful for ending my teen years and starting my twenties with the most loving community.
L’Arche Bologna, Italy: One Month Recap
The past couple of weeks have been easier in the sense I know the core members, assistants and the schedule better. I know what to do at certain times and where I should be. I know the members’ habits and who needs some assistance with specific tasks. I just feel that I am more in-tuned with L’Arche and the way of life.
My greatest accomplishment so far has been to create relationships with the ragazzi (core members with disabilities) through other ways of communication besides verbal. One person in my house is not the most talkative guy, but I was just mimicking his movements a week ago and just that simple interaction earned me a smile. Then the next few days I would sit next to him and rub his back to just comfort him. This progressive bonding transcending to him falling asleep on my shoulder one day after lunch when we were on the couch again. I felt so honored that he felt so comfortable with me to fall asleep and relax. This whole experience gave me a new appreciation for other ways to communicate. With other ragazzi, I have been using like hand motions and facial expressions to get across my point, but still be a part of the conversation. Now, when the core member sees me, he always goes out of his way to say hi to me and greet me; it just makes fills me with happiness knowing we may not speak the same language, but we still connected.
Along with me adapting to different ways of communication, I have become more used to the gentle, slow lifestyle that is here. My time at L’Arche has really let me reflect and evaluate my life in comparison to life here. In America, we have this giant, imaginative clock hanging over heads dictating our time, making us feel pressure and also, rushing us. It seems like there is not enough time to do all things we want when there actually is plenty of time. At first I was always feeling like I should be doing something, but here, that is not the priority. The main objective is not for all the ragazzi to finish their projects at the end of a day’s work or eat as quickly as possible to go to the next activity. This lifestyle is about just being in the moment and being present. With this lifestyle, I have been able to have more of a focus, organized mind, and in general, an appreciation for time.
At the end of this experience, I hope to learn and keep some of the tools that I have used. However, these two points: communication and time have changed my perspective tremendously. I hope to keep these values in mind when I go back to home because I can use them for my future nursing career. Also, these will keep me in check by realizing that there is time to take a breath and I do not need to always be on the move.
Living in Community
Three weeks have passed since our first day here and I can easily speak for the both of us that time is flying by so quickly! At first, the days seemed to go by extremely slow. I felt bored just sitting around not doing anything, waiting for the next meal or activity. When minutes felt like hours, in my head I constantly thought, what am I doing? Why am I here? How is sitting here benefiting me or the community members? I questioned the purpose of my position. As a volunteer, I initially thought that I should be helping clean, cook, or do some sort of physical work instead of just sitting around doing nothing. It wasn’t until a fellow volunteer gave me some advice when I better understood my purpose. He told me that we don’t need to be doing something every second, that our job is not only to do chores but it’s more so to spend time with the community members. That advice changed my perspective and attitude when sitting with the community members. Even though I can’t speak much italian with the community members, sitting with them is not doing nothing, but it is being present with them, enjoying each other’s company, and sharing a common experience. I realized this opportunity I have right now isn’t like most volunteer experiences I’ve had in the past. L’Arche is so unique because we are living in community with intellectually disabled peoples. And living in community with people can be very similar to community living, such as dorms or even our own homes, where everyone contributes to the running of the house or building, and we do almost everything together. With this new knowledge, I now know that my job here is to be just another member of the house, to eat, to relax, to dance, to pray, to clean, and to participate as the other community members do, even when that involves sitting around. As week four comes to a start, days seem to be going by much quicker, days are more routine, relationships with community members, other volunteers, and assistants are growing stronger, and every day challenges are getting a lot easier to overcome. I can say with much confidence that I am loving it here and I do not regret coming here one bit!
L’Arche Bologna, Italy: Weeks 1 and 2
After two weeks of living at the L’Arche Bologna community, I have met many friendly people and have learned a lot. The core members are really the highlight of my day. I love interacting with them, even with my basic elementary Italian skills. If I can get a smile or a laugh, that is a plus for me because it is a step towards a relationship with them. They are quite the characters and really make this place a lively home. The assistants have been super helpful and supportive. I appreciate them teaching us Italian and teaching us about their lifestyle. Some have gone out of their way to include us in activities outside of the community and show us what Italy has to offer which has been so kind. The volunteers, too, have taken us in and have showed us the ropes. They have eased our worries because they have talked about their first few months here and how it gets easier with the language barrier. I will say the one thing that has been the biggest challenge is the language. I wish I had prepared more, but what better way to learn a language than immersion, right? I am learning as I go and that is just fine. I am truly thankful for Julia and how we are going through this experience together. She is my adventure buddy and I am so so glad she is here with me. Overall, it has been two weeks of learning, adjusting to this culture and schedule. However, wherever I turn there is someone who is there to help me. I feel welcomed into their home, now I just need to absorb some Italian words!
Quarto di Luna
Quarto di Luna • June 1-6
During this past week, there was a big celebration in the town of Quarto Inferiore, where L’Arche Bologna is located just about 20 minutes outside of Bologna. The fest, Quarto di Luna, included specific events every day. Two events that we participated in as a community was the parade and the Open Day. For the parade, the L’Arche community formed a marching band. I had the pleasure of representing L’Arche Bologna by marching along the main street of Quarto Inferiore with my new community, loud and proud, banging on cow bells. The following day, L’Arche Bologna hosted an Open Day where we opened the gates to anyone in the town to come check out the community to get to know the members, eat some cake, watch performances, play with chickens and turtles, dance, and release balloons into the sky! It was a busy week preparing for and participating in the festivity but it sure was a lot of fun!
Pre-departure Thoughts and Arrival in Bologna
May 22-24, 2018
Pre-departure thoughts and my arrival in Bologna:
When I first applied for this L’Arche Bologna program, I didn’t have much of an idea on what I was putting myself into. The posters in Mehling caught my attention since freshman year, but I was never sure if I was capable of the challenge. Freshman year I didn’t apply, but this year I did. After studying abroad for a semester in Salzburg, Austria and experiencing L’Arche at UP, I thought it wouldn’t be so out of my comfort zone as it seemed before. Leading up to my departure, there was never a point where I was certain of what was to come or if I was sure of myself in following through. Hearing the experiences of those who went before me sounded inspiring and informative but also left me with a lot of uncertainty. I have never learned italian before and I have never worked with disabled adults before L’Arche at UP, which I only participated in a total of 3 times. However, I knew I wanted to do something meaningful with my last free summer. Even though I wanted to work and earn money, especially after studying abroad, I remembered how unhappy I was last summer nannying 9hrs/day, 4days/week. I complained about the kids I nannied, the pay I wasn’t getting enough of, the gas I had to pay for, and dealing with traffic just to get anywhere. So when I reflected on L’Arche Bologna after getting accepted, I knew this would be a great opportunity for me. It was a chance for me to get out of the hustle and bustle back home and take a step back to not stress about money, traffic, or making plans with friends to make my social media account look like it’s filled with fun summer activities. Rather, I could focus on building relationships which is something I love to do. I look forward to learning from my interactions and relationships with the community members on how to be present.
A few days before arriving in Bologna, my mom and I traveled to Barcelona and Rome. In Rome, we ran into some crazy experiences. Quick side note, I’m the kind of person that believes in fate, karma, and signs for almost everything in my life. That is my way of understanding God’s plan for me and how he works in mysterious ways. Anyways, in Rome, we arrived in the afternoon knowing we missed the big Pentecost Mass in St. Peter’s Square and the papal blessing which I was wanting to attend but couldn’t because of our schedule of transportation. But after we arrived, we entered the Basilica that evening, which was a blessing itself to be there, and we got to attend a small evening mass inside the front portion of the St Peter’s Basilica. I thought, how lucky am I to be here at the right place at the right time? It must mean a good sign in order to have God bring me here before going to L’Arche Bologna. However the following day, my mom got pickpocketed on the metro and lost the cash she was leaving me for my spending money during my stay in Europe. I thought, how unlucky were we to have a handful of cash stolen. It must be a bad sign, which made me second guess my luck for the next two months here in Italy. But later that day, we were lost trying to figure out which bus to take to the Trevi Fountain and luckily, a Franciscan priest noticed we were lost and offered his help. He guided us the way because he was fortunately going near the fountain. When I told him why I was visiting Italy and told him about L’Arche, his face lit up! He was so happy to hear that I was doing volunteering for L’Arche and fulfilling God’s work. When saying goodbye, he blessed me and offered his prayers. After a strange sequence of events in less than 24 hours, I tried to process everything that happened and what it meant. I came to a conclusion that even though I had something bad happen to me, the good overcame the bad and I learned a lesson. And whether it was a sign of good or bad luck, I think the events prepared me with the mindset that my experience here won’t be easy breezy. I’m going to have bad days where I might question ehy I’m here. But I’m also going to have some amazing days that will be the token of my summer. Regardless, God will guide me and assure me that I will take away new knowledge and appreciation.
Finally the day has come, and we arrived in Bologna. Daniela picked my mom and I up from the train station and welcomed us into the community. For our last evening together, my mom wanted to eat out around the community and get familiar with the area. We stumble upon this pizza place which is super small but was so delicious! As we were eating our scrumptious pizza, we were watching the small tv in the restaurant on a show about traveling and tasting different teas in Asian countries. Then all of a sudden, my hometown, Shizuoka, which is also home to amazing green tea, came on the screen. What a coincidence that I was here, in this tiny pizzeria just outside Bologna, and my hometown appears on tv? Thinking about all these random experiences that had happened in such a short amount of time upon my arrival in L’Arche Bologna (again), I believe it must’ve been weird messages from God telling me it’s going to be just fine here, that I’m supposed to be here.
Now that’s it’s been a few days here, I am adjusting and adapting to a different agenda, language, culture, food, and life in general. It’s been difficult mostly because of the language barrier and not really knowing what we should be doing. But, it’s really nice to have Asia with me knowing that we are both going through the same thing. I have lots of questions, and mosquito bites, but I also have a lot more peace and laughter here as well. One thing I have already come to love is how every morning during the weekdays, the entire community gathers together to pray, share announcements, and to pass a bell around to say “buongiorno” and their name to every single member. It is currently a struggle memorizing everyone’s names and just comprehending their Italian, but nonetheless I’m thrilled to be here. I’m so happy to see what’s to come these next two months!
5/21 Little Rock Central High School
May 21st, 2018
After having breakfast at the retreat center we are staying in, our Civil Rights Immersion Team headed to Little Rock Central High School. This high school is a beautiful gothic revival architectural design (I have included a picture of it in this post). The high school was constructed in 1927 at the cost of $1.5 million, the budget was established for the construction of two high schools: an all-white high school and a black high school but of course this construction took most of the money.
Little Rock High School was the first high school to be integrated, a fight that 9 brave African American children took so that today, we could have the right to attend any school regardless of skin color. Although, that previous sentence summarizes what we see today, I must mention and we must not forget, that these kids put not only their lives at risk but their entire families and the lives of those who supported and aided them during this fight. At this time the Jim Crow laws were approximately 80 years old, not only in the south but throughout the United States for example in CA there were segregated schools for whites, blacks, and Mexicans.
Only 9 African American children were accepted into Central high school, since the system made it very difficult for blacks to get into the school. These students would also have to follow strict rules: straight A’s, not allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, school dances, etc.), and they were not allowed to retaliate against anything that was done to them by whites. Their names and home addresses appear on newspaper and radio, this made them much more vulnerable to acts of terrorism by the angry white mob.
The first day of school, none of the 9 kids showed up due to deadly threats imposed, that would remain throughout their year there. The second day they all showed up and were harassed severely, Elizabeth was one of the African American girls who arrived to the school by herself, while the other 8 arrived together. The National Guard was sent so that these students would not get inside of the school, the media was present and served as protection, the local police was also there for protection and escorted the 9 students. However, once inside the school there was no protection. The first day that the black students entered the school the white students exit the school and one girl jumped out of the second floor window as a form of protest.
Every morning there was a chance for these 9 kids to be killed, the police tried to make a deal with the crowed and the deal was simple: “just give us one of the students to lynch.” (ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS!!!). As these students attended school they would be terrorized by their classmates some examples include: pushing them, spitting on them, pouring their hot lunch all over them, placing broken glass in their gym showers, tacks on their sits, even making permits that would allow white students to kick “each Central high school negro once per day until expiration date” (May 29,1958).
One of the African American girls was expelled because of two incidents: the first was when two white boys smashed her legs with the chairs in the school cafeteria and she accidentally on purpose spilled her lunch on two them. The second incident that cause her expulsion was when two white girls were walking behind her trying to attack her when she turned and said, “do not touch me you pieces of white trash.” (SNAPS). After she was expelled the white students made notes that read “ONE DOWN… EIGHT TO GO.”
One last comment about today since my reflection is already really long… The tour guide mentioned how this month there will be the 60th high school reunion for the class of one of these students and how he has not attended a single one of the reunions… And WOW, I can only imagine the conscience of this class who did not stand up for justice as well as the traumatic experience of these nine black courageous students who stood up for the right to equal education we experience today and will be experience by the many future generations of students to come.
The Butterflies
In less than a few hours I will be leaving the country for a journey. I am looking forward to experiencing life inside of L’Arche and being involved in a community that bigger than us. I am excited to be immersed in Italy’s culture, language and the people there. I am most worried about my Italian language skills, but it will be a good challenge in my communication techniques and this experience will help with my future nursing career. I am also not a very experienced flyer, but that will not stop me. This whole experience will be about many challenges, however, these will help me grow in the end. I cannot wait to be living in a community and to see what Jean Vanier wrote about in person.
I just want to thank the people who got me here. Thank you to Irene, Michael, Laurie and all the supportive people in my life. Now it is my turn to do the rest and I am so thankful to have Julia by my side along the way.
Together We March
53 years later… “The March Continues”