Global Perspectives

 

The trip that we took last Thursday to MSU for the Global Perspectives conference was very eye opening and a great experience for all of us. I think it ended up being a very enjoyable time for everyone and not just because we all had the opportunity to eat a ton of food!


   The first session that I attended was "Can the utopia of the world without poverty be achieved?". I was very amazed at the amount and variety of people that were attending this first session. If I remember correctly, there were 4 speakers during this first session and they were all great. There were many different things that were presented and discussed and I would like to share
some of that information. The first speaker first informed us the actual definition of poverty which is "the state of being extremely poor". She then informed us that we can end poverty in the world by 2030, but it doesn't just happen on it's own. She said that we can't just believe it, that is not enough, but we must also get loud and act upon it. The next speaker talked about what kind of situations we face when trying to end poverty. There were four traps that he mentioned including: the conflict trap, natural resource trap, land lock trap, and bad government trap. All of these things become an obstacle when trying to accomplish something such as poverty.

   The second session that I believe all of us attended was "The One Who Builds" film screening. For anyone that was unable to attend I recommend and direct you to this website so that you have theopportunity to learn more about "The One who Builds". This film is 37 minute documentary about Dr. Omer who is the director of refugee resettlement organization. At first, I had no idea what to expect from the film, but I was truly amazed by the information that was presented to us. to is very humbling to see how these people have to leave everything they have including their family and physically run away. I find it very hard to even imagine putting myself in their shoes.

   After working on our own service learning projects in class and attending the conference, I believe that it all comes to together to give us a new, unique, humbling, and eye opening experience that students don't typically get in high school.