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May
9, 2008 - Meals help goup members welcome
other countries
Meals help group members welcome other cultures By KERY MURAKAMI For an event that was supposed to increase understanding of other cultures, the group of about 30 men and women gathered at the Pan Africa Market near Pike Place Market one evening this week was already pretty worldly. A couple were former Peace Corps volunteers in Africa, and others such as Emily Griffin, a Seattle University student, planned to travel to Africa next year. But for those such as Alice Matsuoka, the traditional Kenyan meal that Susan Njeri was cooking on hot pots as others gathered around was a bridge to Seattle's rapidly growing immigrant population. Matsuoka, a business developer at The Boeing Co., said she works with African people "but it's like the typical Northwest politeness thing," Matsuoka said. Nods are exchanged in the hall, but that's about it. "I'm hoping that I can go up to them and tell them I had this meal here, and we can start talking," she said. That's largely why the Seattle chapter of the World Affairs Council began organizing monthly meals at different ethnic restaurants last year. The national organization was founded in 1951, after World War II, to foster greater understanding of the world that might lead to peace. Wars certainly still rage, but Elaine Chang, who organizes the Culture Through Cuisine series, said that knowing about other cultures enables Americans to develop informed foreign-policy opinions. The world is getting smaller through globalization. And increasingly in recent years, the world is moving to Seattle. The 10,681 people who moved to King County from other countries between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, made up 43 percent of the county's overall population growth. If trends continue, Seattle officials said, foreign-born residents could make up a fifth of the city's population in 2010 -- a very different picture of the city from 1980, when only 11.3 percent of Seattleites were born in other countries. Through the years, the group has been largely downtown and well-heeled, meeting to hear wonky lectures. It also hosted delegations from other countries -- such as Boy Scout leaders from Saudi Arabia who came to visit area Boy Scout leaders. Though the organization continues to hold lectures and gatherings, Chang said the council began the dining series to reach out to more people. Not everybody wants to hear a lecture. But everybody likes to eat. Food is used to teach about countries -- how Turkish cooking has European and Middle Eastern influences because of its place in the world, for example, and how its attempt to join the European Union causes nervousness in Europe because of the country's Middle Eastern ties, Chang said. On Tuesday night, though, the scene was more like something on the Food Network than the BBC. Njeri, hovering over a pot, explained she wasn't adding more salt to a pot of greens because she'd be adding coriander and other spices. The meal -- with greens in one pot, a starchy bread in a second, and chicken in a third -- was typical Kenyan cooking, said Njeri, who works at St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma. She agreed to cook to educate the group about Kenya's rich culture. Back home she would make it in her indoor kitchen or on an outside stone stove if a lot of people were coming over. Greens were the cheapest foods you could find in Kenya. Chicken was a luxury. As the $35 dinner was served, there were signs the world had gotten a little smaller. Teresa Sherwood, a white woman and a teacher at Lowell Elementary School, was taking copious notes as Njeri cooked. She plans to make it for her husband. In Seattle, another kitchen will be smelling a little like one in Kenya. Copyright © 1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Indonesian
teachers meet with school, city officials
“They expressed an appreciation for the way in which they
were treated,” Hauck said.
When I think of Girl Scouts, I first think of cookies. For the Girl Scouts in attendance at the last “Culture Through Cuisine” night event sponsored by the World Affairs Council, the cookies on offer were of the fortune cookie variety, provided by our host Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant, Joy Palace. “Culture Through Cuisine,” a program that exposes participants to the diverse culinary and cultural communities in the Puget Sound, is the brainchild of Elaine Chang, the strategic advisor of World Affairs Council, a Seattle nonprofit that promotes greater understanding of global affairs. It was her invitation that I accepted on this particular evening to act as the event’s culinary tour guide. The featured food was Chinese, and given my history with the Middle Kingdom -- I first lived in China as a high-school student and returned to live there for three subsequent stints -- Chang knew that I would be eager to participate. Asian supermarket treasure hunts with a Chinese banquet as our reward? No arm-twisting necessary! Our “Culture Through Cuisine” evening began across the parking lot from Joy Palace at the bustling Viet Wah Super Foods grocery, with a friendly welcome from the store manager, Tony Ramsey. Standing near the entrance with pallets behind him stacked high with 50-pound bags of rice, Ramsey gave a quick introduction to the largest Asian grocery store in the Rainier Valley neighborhood. Ramsey’s welcome was followed by my narrated tour through Viet Wah of Chinese food ingredients that would appear in the meal at Joy Palace, with dishes that were representative of China’s north, south, east and central Sichuan cooking styles. In attendance were members of the Seattle troop Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, a program of Girls Scouts of America launched in 1992 to support girls whose mothers are incarcerated. “Through Girl Scouting, we make extra efforts to reach at-risk girls,” said Jackie Barnes in 2003, while she was interim chief executive of Girl Scouts of the USA. “We do not believe that residing in a detention center or having a mother who is incarcerated should stand in the way of these girls becoming all they can be. Our goal is to help all involved develop a strong sense of self-esteem and a positive outlook for the future.” Accompanying the Girls Scouts Beyond Bars troop were adult troop leaders with the program. “Our girls are very excited about the Culture Through Cuisine education and dinner experience,” said program manager Alexia Everett. To tap into some of that excitement I posed the girls a question at the start of the tour: When they heard the words “Chinese food,” what dishes came to mind? Cries of “egg rolls!” and “fried rice!” sprung out immediately from the crowd, and I confirmed that for consumers of Chinese food in the United States, these were two very common dishes they would encounter in a typical Chinese restaurant. But “Culture Through Cuisine” is not about the typical, just as these young women are not your typical Girl Scouts. We marched up and down aisle after aisle, smelling fresh ginger root, examining marinated tofu, giggling at chicken feet, and marveling at the shelf of dried noodle varieties that ran the length of the store. Once the tour moved on to our dining destination, Joy Palace, the Girl Scouts had worked up an appetite. After a crash course on chopsticks from Chang, of World Affairs Council, dinner was served. Joy Palace’s feast included an array of cold appetizers, potstickers, platters of salt/pepper squid, mountains of pea vines wok-fried with garlic, Kung Pao Chicken and deliciously warm and restorative congee as a final course. Congee, a silky rice porridge, is classic Chinese comfort food. Throughout the meal, I visited my new friends over at the Girl Scouts’ table to get their impressions of the meal. The adventurous J.J. Barksdale was the only Girl Scout to try the cold jellyfish appetizer. “I’m a spicy type of person so I liked the Kung Pao Chicken the best,” said Donyea Jones between sips of tea. “It’s very different than what we eat regularly,” said Kayosha Walton thoughtfully, as she reached for another helping of salt and pepper squid. The final word of the evening belonged to J.J.,
who in a sentence summed up my opinion of pea vines in garlic sauce,
“The greens are the bomb!”
Whether you're a student from Brazil or Seattle, it turns out some things are universal: a love of iPods, texting and junk food. The global youth culture is united on many fronts. But this week, six Brazilian students came to Seattle to share ways they are also different and exchange ideas about how to make improvements in their home cities and states. The students, who were selected from 3,000 applicants, met Tuesday with the Mayor's Youth Council as part of a whirlwind week that included taking classes at Roosevelt High School, volunteering with Earth Corps and squeezing in a field trip to Dick's hamburger joint. The other 29 students in the program are visiting Bozeman, Mont.; Charlotte, N.C.; Cleveland; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Tulsa, Okla. "We are here to share our experience and learn and teach at the same time," said Marina Paula Carreira Rolim, 17, from Belem, near the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. "We have to make some changes (in our country) and realize what things are not working." The students, who were sponsored here through a joint U.S.- Brazilian embassy effort in conjunction with the World Affairs Council in Seattle, are all engaged in volunteer work in their home cities. They have, among other things, started recycling programs in their schools and taught English and health to younger children in their neighborhoods. Improving public education and growing concerns about the environment emerged as two primary issues for the youth representing Brazil. "I see in the U.S. you have very big cars," said Silas de Oliveira Coelho from Juiz de Fora, a city in the southeast region of Brazil. "In Brazil, we use biodiesel and ethanol. We are one of the leaders in renewable energy." Seattle student Lily Clifton, a junior at Nathan Hale High School who is on the Mayor's Youth Council, said the youth of Seattle shared many of the same worries, particularly surrounding the future of the environment and climate change. She shared with the Brazilian students how Seattle students work together on the council to suggest changes to the Mayor's Office, many of which are eventually implemented, she said. Whether the concerns are about gang violence, global warming or the fallout of domestic violence, the youth council solicits ideas from students and tries to come up with realistic solutions. In the past, for example, the youth council advocated for and successfully restored funding for some after-school youth programs, advocated for a one-stop emergency number for victims of domestic violence and put in their ideas about reshaping Seattle Center and its aging Fun Forest. The Brazilian students seemed especially impressed by the power of the youth voice in Seattle. "This program is a great chance for us to meet other leaders of our country," said Sao Paulo resident Clarissa Carmona, 18, of the exchange. "Alone, we don't have much power, but we all have been energized. Now we can talk to our authorities, so we can improve things in Brazil. Each one of us is going to try to make things better." Copyright ©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Brazilian
youth ambassadors visit the UW This weekend the UW said a collective “bem-vindo” to our Brazilian neighbors. Six Brazilian high school students visited the UW Jan. 19 as part of their 2008 Youth Ambassadors Program, a two-week educational exchange to the United States to strengthen ties between the two countries. The Youth Ambassadors Program aims to give disadvantaged Brazilian high school students who demonstrate outstanding character, leadership, academic excellence and civic duty the opportunity to visit the United States and increase mutual understanding between the United States and Brazil, according to a World Affairs Council press release. After visiting the University, Youth Ambassador Marina Rolim, 17, said she plans to apply to the UW. “I like it so much,” Rolim said. “It doesn’t compare to Brazil. At the universities here, students have more opportunities and the resources are much better. In Brazil there’s one library for one university. It’s [a] big [library], but here it’s different because there are lots of libraries for each of the [schools].” While in Seattle, the students are attending Roosevelt High School and participating in many after-school activities, including meeting with the Mayor’s Youth Council, Earth Corps and the Bahia Street non-profit organization. The program offers the students, serving as ambassadors of their country, the chance to learn more about U.S. culture, society and education and to resolve any international misconceptions. On Saturday the students went on a tour of the UW campus, discussed the international community at the University with representatives of the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) and attended the UW men’s basketball game against Oregon State, said Matt Potter, the program officer for the International Visitor Program at the World Affairs Council. The World Affairs Council had the students visit the UW “to get a look at college life in the U.S., to see how international students fit into the campus community and to get a sense of the role of the University in the greater Seattle community,” Potter wrote in an e-mail. Seattle is one of six host cities to participate in the program, which is coordinated by Delphi International, the U.S. Embassy in Brazil and the World Affairs Council in Seattle. “I
hope that they [came] away from the afternoon with a sense of the
collective pride that both UW students and Seattle residents have
in the University, a belief that they possess the knowledge and
abilities to attend a university like this and a greater understanding
of the U.S. system of higher education,” Potter said.
Readers Care: Rise n' Shine offers a refuge for children December 2, 2007 By DAN CATCHPOLE SPECIAL TO THE P-I Janet Trinkaus has a lot of children, hundreds of them. Maybe even a thousand. "We don't do numbers here. We're about heart," said Trinkaus, director and founder of Rise n' Shine. They aren't her biological children or adopted, but they might as well be for all the love and attention she has given them over the years. And the children can use all the love and attention they can get. AIDS/HIV has touched all of them. The disease has left some orphans or infected a close family member or themselves. Through a variety of programs, Rise n' Shine provides emotional support, advocacy and AIDS education for these children. The programs include mentors, a summer camp and support groups. "Rise n' Shine ... is unique in terms of the emotional support it provides to affected youth," said Terry Marsh, the group's program director. The group's unusual approach recently brought public-health professionals from 24 countries to its office in Seattle's Central Area. They came from Asia, Africa, South America, Central America and Europe as part of a program the World Affairs Council organized. "Back in Africa, we have a lot of children affected by HIV/AIDS. We'd like to share the experience that Rise n' Shine has with emotional support," explained Dr. MikaelTadesse, a pediatrician from Ethiopia. "I'm very interested in the psychosocial support they're giving," Tadesse said. Earlier he asked Trinkaus where the group's name came from. A friend suggested it when Trinkaus began the organization in 1988. "She asked me, 'Don't you want the kids to get up in the morning and be bright and shining despite having this dread illness?' " Trinkaus said. One of the group's clients, Kendra Seymour, 18, shared her experience with the visitors while on break from her job at Starbucks across the street. When Trinkaus introduced Seymour, she lovingly pulled the teenager close to her. Seymour, who came to the program when she was 4, gave an embarrassed smile, the same as a teenager might give a doting parent. The audience asked Seymour about growing up with society's ambivalent attitude toward HIV/AIDS and the cultural aspects of treatment. She told them about having to help raise her younger siblings when her parents and youngest sibling became infected with HIV, and how Rise n' Shine helped her grow up. One visitor asked her why she keeps coming back. "The love here, of course," Seymour said. "They don't disconnect from you. They'll stay with you as long as you need. They never give up on you." In addition to helping raise her siblings, Seymour is working a minimum-wage job, saving for college and trying to pay off $1,300 in debts from a car accident. "Her parents can't do this for her," Trinkaus said. "Her father is barely living. Without Rise n' Shine what would happen to Kendra?" After Seymour's break was over, and the meeting ended, some participants lingered talking to Trinkaus. One handed her a stack of bills. The visitors spontaneously donated $390 toward Seymour's debts. A touched Trinkaus embraced the visitors. The six charities that will benefit from this year's Readers Care Fund drive are: The Forgotten Children's Fund, New Futures, Northwest's Child, Renton Area Youth and Family Services, Rise n' Shine and Seattle Education Access. LEARN MORE Visit Rise n' Shine's Web site at risenshine.org. For
more than a quarter-century, Seattle P-I readers have donated generously
to the newspaper's annual Readers Care Fund, generating more than
$5.6 million for local charities. Today we feature another of the
six charities.
Zambia's president to speak at UW on trade, poverty, disease September 25, 2007 President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia will speak at Kane Hall at the University of Washington Monday at 7 p.m. Mwanawasa has made anti-corruption and development the hallmarks of his administration. He will address trade and investment opportunities in Zambia, the role of trade in building the Zambian economy, and issues such as how Zambia is fighting poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS. The talk is part of the World Affairs Council's Global Leadership series. Admission is free for council members with pre-registration, $15 for nonmembers, $5 for college students with ID and free for high-school students with pre-registration. Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Arizona Sen. John McCain speaks in Seattle at noon in what's being billed as a major foreign policy speech. He's appearing at a joint meeting of the Seattle City Club and the World Affairs Council. He's not yet an official candidate for president, but it must be getting close. Certainly the opposition is treating him as a candidate. State Democrats put out a release today saying "JOHN MCCAIN WORSE THAN GEORGE W. BUSH ON IRAQ." And a liberal D.C. group, the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, has been promoting an on-line petition asking McCain to boycott the luncheon today because one of the co-sponsors is Seattle's Discovery Institute. The Discovery Institute has been instrumental in promoting intelligent design and it has become the group's most prominent and controversial cause. Discovery is one of 10 groups listed as "co-presenting organizations" for today's meeting. Others include the Municipal League of King County and the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. DefCon, as the group calls itself, says Discovery is "responsible for spearheading the religious right's war on science education." None
of our elected officials should lend credence to this organization,
especially a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation. And that clearly overstates Discovery's role in today's event. I don't think the lunch has anything to with intelligent design. But no one should be surprised that McCain will be unconcerned about a connection to the Discovery Institute. He supports teaching ID in schools, something even the Discovery Institute claims it's not interested in. He appears to also support teaching creationism in schools along with evolution. In 2005 McCain was asked about intelligent design during an editorial board interview with the Arizona Daily Star. You can find a video of this here at the paper's site. I watched it and made this transcript. Q:
Should intelligent design be taught in schools? Q: Does it belong in science? McCain: Well, there are enough scientists who believe that it does. I'm not a scientist. This is something that I think all points of view should be presented. We have never been exclusive in that.
In
the final question of the evening, an audience member asked McCain
to outline his stance on teaching evolution and creationism in schools.
The AP's Dave Ammons has the scoop today on Attorney General Rob McKenna's planned endorsement of McCain. "John
McCain is an impressive leader with a record of public service that's
beyond reproach," McKenna said. "He understands the difficult
challenges our country faces. He has the experience and fortitude
to bring people together for solutions we need." In 2004 Congressman Adam Smith did well by being the first member of Congress to endorse John Kerry. Even though Kerry lost, and his reputation has not recovered, I don't see that Smith has been hurt, and at the time he looked smart for having early on picked his party's nominee. Any Washington politicians signed up with any presidential candidates yet that I've missed? Let me know. UPDATE:
Adam Smith is an Obama backer. Smith spokesman Derrick Crowe Back to the Top
U.N.'s Blix: War wasn't justified Ex-arms inspection chief likens Bush team to 'witch hunters' April 28, 2004 By SAM SKOLNIK SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Hans Blix, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, castigated the Bush administration in a Seattle speech last night, saying its zeal to go to war despite a lack of credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction made it "rather like the witch hunters of previous centuries." Blix said President Bush and his top advisers willfully disregarded mounting evidence that such weapons no longer existed in Iraq. "Was it a war of necessity? In my view, no," Blix said to a capacity crowd at the University of Washington's Hogness Auditorium. "It's hard to see that a war debated for months could be a war of necessity." NOTE:
This article has been updated since it was originally published
in the newspaper. In his book and in his speech, Blix was critical both of Saddam Hussein, whom he termed last night a "brutal and bloody ruler," and of the governments of the United States and Britain, America's lead ally in the war. Blix used the metaphor of the Bush administration "putting a train on the rail," which steadily gathered momentum in 2002 and early 2003, as diplomacy was intentionally neglected. In his view, the war plans had been decided long before March 2003, when the U.S. troops invaded. "Regrettably, as evidence of weapons of mass destruction weakened, the train moved on," he said. Without the approval of the U.N. Security Council for it, Blix said, "I'm afraid I can see no justification for the invasion." Blix also expressed skepticism about the Iraqi government's years-long "cat and mouse" efforts to slow and block the work of the weapons inspectors -- whether or not any weapons still existed in the country. If the Iraqis had WMD still remaining in the last few years, "they should have been desperate to cooperate," he said. "Instead, they dragged their feet." Blix speculated that Iraq may have slowed the inspectors to show the Arab world that it was bravely and cannily resisting Western efforts to impose its will. He also said that Iraqi assertions that U.S. intelligence agencies had infiltrated the inspectors' ranks may have had some credence. Responding to disclosures in a new book by Bob Woodward, an assistant managing editor at The Washington Post, that some in the administration believed that Blix had lied to them about his efforts and discoveries, Blix said that "in retrospect, I do feel some resentment" about the accusation. Before the speech, much of the crowd appeared to be predisposed to support Blix's message. "It's been my impression that (war has) been an agenda of the administration, and that information to the contrary has been willingly disregarded," said Daniel Skaggs, a Seattle architect. Seung Jun Lee, a UW graduate student studying nuclear non-proliferation, said he believed Blix has acted as an honest broker. "I think he did everything he could do as a professional," said Lee. "He wasn't political." P-I
reporter Sam Skolnik can be reached at 206-448-8176 or samskolnik@seattlepi.com
Sharing Political Views Across the Globe September 2003 By Putnam Barber Municipal League of King County Several times a year, delegations of government officials, journalists, nonprofit organization leaders, and other citizens from foreign countries visit Seattle. Most often, they participate in cultural exchange tours organized by their own governments or the U.S. State Department. Staff working for the World Affairs Council here in Seattle organizes itineraries for these visitors that include meetings with elected officials, sightseeing, and often times, a conversation about the mission and programs of the Municipal League. Recently League members met visitors from Indonesia, Japan, Tajikistan, Holland, Australia, Thailand, and Tanzania. These visits are always interesting and the conversations are sometimes challenging. Our political institutions – and the roles played by the Municipal League and other public interest groups – often seem very extraordinary to visitors. Frequently, their view of the U.S. is incomplete and sometimes biased by media. Although most of the recent visits occurred with Trustees of the League, all League members are invited to participate. If you would like to be on a list to be notified when a visit is being scheduled, send an email to Put Barber, Chair, at chair@munileague.org or call the office. It’s not quite the same as a cruise on the QEII, but you will get a chance to talk serious politics with some people from across the globe.
The teachers, from rural Arusha, Tanzania, were participants of the Seattle-based World Affairs Council's Linking Lands program. The program aims to build relationships between indigenous areas, such as the village in southeast Africa, and places like the Puget Sound region. Through a $103,000 grant obtained by the World Affairs Council, the Tanzanian teachers stayed in the homes and worked in the classrooms of partner teachers in the Seattle School District for two weeks. The Tanzanians were to leave today. "It will help our students learn there's a world outside of Seattle and kids all over the world have the same goals and aspirations," said Daniel Docter, a host teacher from Hamilton International Middle School in Wallingford. In August, the Seattle teachers will travel to Tanzania, live with their counterparts — some of whom walk an hour to school each day. For the Tanzanians, the number of automobiles, televisions and computers here — and the rain — contributed to a definite culture shock. Mike Mollel, head teacher at Tanzania's Olchoki Primary School, who stayed with Docter, said the atmosphere at his school versus school here is completely different, but the goal of stressing the importance of education is the same. In Arusha, Mollel said, he's never had a class with fewer than 100 students. Technology is nonexistent, and money for classroom materials comes straight from teachers' pockets. Seattle students' flashy, creative wardrobes also have fascinated him. In Arusha, all students wear uniforms. Students in Tanzania are more considerate, standing whenever adults enter a room and thanking teachers for each lesson. Many students here take their teachers for granted, he said. "A teacher must be respected by his or her students," Mollel said. "He or she is the one who brought you up. Because of them, you can become a principal or a minister or anything. It's very important to honor your teacher." Docter, an 18-year teaching veteran, would like to introduce some of his most effective teaching techniques to the Tanzanians, who are more traditional in their studies. He'd like to show examples of cooperative learning and debate. "The next best thing to traveling to a place is doing a lot of hands-on things," he said. "I've found students learn more when they play parts, and when they debate and go back and forth they really learn the subject." Docter, who has visited Tanzania before, said his students could benefit from learning about Tanzanian values. "The people are so real. They don't have a lot to show off, and their genuine self comes out. They may not have had a lot, but they gave everything they had," Docter said. Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times CompanyBack to the Top
Monday, March 10, 2003 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific The six teachers who've come to the Seattle
Public Schools from Tanzania to learn how our system works also
can offer lessons about ourselves. The first lesson involves the
stark difference that exists between our schools and those in other
countries.
Telling all sides of the story isn't easy for al-Jazeera Arab-language TV finds all parties,
including the U.S., working on 'spin' Copyright © 2002, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Reprinted with permission.
Mock U.N. takes on very real issues of the Mideast Saturday, April 6, 2002 |
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7/2/08