Human trafficking?

Just something on my mind over this trip that I will share more about later. Don't let me forget.

Oh... and empowering young people. What if we could... because we will, and we must... empower them to act on the issues of this world. They care... or they might not care because they are not aware... in a world of what if's... let's change it to a world of let's do it... together... as one global community.

Somewhat out of the blue, but this is where my mind goes... will right more later. The cafe I'm in is closing now!

Kaohsiung & Kenting - Beaches of Taiwan

We just returned back from a nice relaxing trip, first to Kaohsiung and then to the Southern coast of Taiwan - Kenting. My cousin moved to Taiwan last year and started a test prep'ish school (more than just test prep but you get the gist) in Kaohsiung. We jumped on the bullet train from Taipei and arrived in Kaohsiung about an hour and a half later, hung out and got a taste of his life. We went to Modern Toilet for dinner that night - twas quite entertaining. I mean, while you eat, you sit on a toilet and depending on what you order, you are likely going to eat out of a toilet (or a sink), and well, if you don't for whatever reason, you eat ice cream that looks like poo from a squatty toilet. Yes, it was quite wonderfully disgusting? How else do you describe it. It was fun though. We had a great time. The kind of humor my family enjoys. Then we played some guitar hero at his place, and I introduced the wonderful game of blokus to my cousin.

The next morning a driver came to pick us up for a day long drive down and tour of the Kenting area - the Southern coast of Taiwan. It was prettier than I expected. My dad had set my expectations low reminding me that it's not Hawaii or the Caribbean. I had Jersey shore in my mind, so I was pleasantly surprised. We stayed in Kenting for a couple of nights, vegged at the pool and beach for one of the days, and the next day went hiking through some national forest with lots of interesting trees and caves that we wandered through. Then headed back to Kaohsiung where we jumped onto the bullet train back to Taipei.

pictures to come....

Taipei - nonstop eating...

Wow it sure has been a whirlwind, super busy trip so far. After we all arrived in Taipei - mom first, then my brother, then me, and then dad - all arriving on different days and from different cities - our crazy days of meeting with friends and family, constant eating began and continued for what I feared might be never ending. Now, you might think - eating - Tammy loves to eat so she must love that. Well, I do love to eat, and while in the US, I usually say "I eat anything". Well, that's not totally true. In the US, I am pretty comfortable eating anything "American" or international foods that are "Americanized"; but I know myself well enough to know that in Asia, I definitely do not eat everything - in fact, far from it. In Taiwan, it's always hard because we're constantly meeting up with family and friends who tend to invite us to "nicer" meals - meaning, no beef and broccoli or general tso's chicken, but fancier seafood dishes - some of which are quite normal and really nothing to be afraid of, but I'm quite strange when it comes to certain sea creatures, and well, also some body parts hailing from some land creatures as well.

Anyhow, in an effort to not look like a totally uncultured Chinese-American kid, I try my best to try as much as I can, but quite frankly, some of it just makes me gag. Over the years, I have learned to discretely sneak food from my plate to my brother sitting next to me, but that can only get you so far. Strangely, eating can be quite a tiring and stressful times.

But anyhow, literally, our schedule everyday for a few days was: wake up, eat breakfast, head out to town, meet with some family friend for a nice lunch, hang out in the city, snack more, meet with another family friend for dinner, hang out, maybe hit the night market for some more food, head home, sleep... repeat the same the next day.

Lots of eating... lots of walking... very tiring...

Oh... don't get me wrong... there's awesome food here too. I love the street food here, and the pastries, and the coffee and milk tea and interesting fun drinks like bubble tea... it's just the "complicated" stuff I'm a bit tired of.

Enroute to Taipei!

It's been awhile since I last posted. I think I owe an update on life the past couple months. Here are a handful of things (in no particular order at all)...

1. I entered the world of twitter. Still trying to figure it out and all, but somehow I got it to connect to my facebook status (which btw I never used to update...so if you're wondering why all of a sudden I am... that's why). That's also why I have not replied back to any responses you may have sent on facebook - sorry but thank u for the responses - I do appreciate them!
2. StartingBloc Social Innovation Competition has occupied a lot of my time the past couple months and this past weekend, 1 of the 18 teams was crowned the winner! All the teams did an awesome job - I'm very proud of them... and gives me confidence in the future of our world - that there are a generation of people who not only want to, but can effectively collaborate and innovate and tell/sell a story around why we must change whatever it is we need to do to create a more sustainable future. A lot of work leading it but very rewarding as well.
3. My family is really cool and I love them.
4. I'm snowboarding and attempting to play sports on my knee again - the knee itself doesn't feel great but playing outside makes me feel really great and energized!
   
5. SmileTrain won an oscar award for Smile Pinki! Maybe I'll blog about SmileTrain another time, but I would say my experience interning there opened my eyes up to the world and to the issues our world faces... so the organization means a lot to me!
6. Gmail Offline capability... is great. On my flight, I was able to delete and respond to a bunch of old emails... going from (literally) over 3000 UNREAD items to 628 total emails!
   
7. I'm sure there's other things, but that's it for now... but last update - I'm headed to Taiwan right now to hang out with family and celebrate my grandpa's 90th birthday.
   

So here I am, sitting in Narita International Airport for my connecting flight to Taiwan. In addition to Taipei where my gramms, gramps, and other family live; we're supposed to travel around the country a bit...

Thought I might share about my eventful (or not so eventful but nonetheless memorable) journey thus far. So my flight this morning left from Philly at 5:35AM. Horrible time of the day. Since I would have had to be there around 3'ish, I figured I might as well just go earlier when I could con someone into driving me to the airport (thanks Jenny). I was also worried that I'd snooze away my alarm and miss my flight entirely. So I arrive at the airport around 1:30AM or so, thinking I'd be able to go through security at least and hang out by the gate. That was a negative. It was so eerie because the airport was so empty - void of cars and people. A couple of airport workers and a handful of passengers similar to me; but not much else. The security checkpoint area was closed apparently until 4AM, so I took over a nice, soft bunch right outside the checkpoint. Not having passed through security, I was a little less comfortable with completely zonking out... but I did end up getting some shut eye here and there. I mean, I was pretty bored out there, and tired. I started taking pictures of myself (how vain of me) and my sleeping quarters. Here a couple of (glamorous...hehe..) shots. Umm... yeah, I was very bored and delirious.


So here was the next challenge that I was somewhat stressed about. Because I am cheap and was using miles and points to get to Taipei, I had booked 2 completely separate flights - totally unconnected. I was concerned I would have to go through customs and all in Tokyo, and then re-enter to get to Taipei. I had this whole luggage strategy in my mind which in the end, got all taken care of during my layover in Houston. Too boring to explain. In Tokyo, I did not have to go through customs and I was able to follow a group of other folks who were traveling to Taipei and squeeze myself onto their shuttle, and, well, here I am, getting ready to board my next leg to my final destination - gramms and gramps in taipei.

Signing off until the adventures truly begin in taiwan!

...and the Oscar goes to... Smile Pinki!

Lots has happened since my last update (I'll update y'all later). Congrats to the SmileTrain, an organization that I am quite fond of as I spent quite a bit of time with the organization during my college years. My experience there gave me the passion for helping the less privileged and poor... and the Oscar they received last week... is so well deserved. I'm so proud of them. Here's the (mass) email I received from the founder...

................................................................

Hi,

I got back from Hollywood at 2am last night and my ears are still ringing from Sunday night when they announced…

…“And the Oscar goes to… Smile Pinki!”

You could hear the deafening roar and wild cheering from Hollywood to Bollywood and everywhere in between. This is a great moment for all of us who are part of Smile Train… and the “cast” of The Smile Train consists of more than a million people. It’s a great moment for our incredibly hardworking and dedicated, TINY staff of 43 people who do the work of 200 people! For all the members of our Board of Directors, Board of Governors and Medical Advisory Boards who have spent many years keeping The Smile Train on the right track. For our 1,200+ partner hospitals that are on the front lines every day providing more than 300 free cleft surgeries EVERY SINGLE DAY! For the 5,000+ surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, speech therapists, dentists, orthodontists, social workers and other healthcare workers who through their hearts and their hands give each and every one of our patients the safest and highest quality care possible. For our 1,000,000+ donors and supporters who have been so generous and kind and loyal. None of this would have ever happened without their donations.

Most of all, this is a great moment for the millions of children in the world who are suffering with clefts. Waiting and wondering when and if anyone is ever going to come along and help them the way we helped Pinki.

With all of this massive publicity and exposure, good will and good wishes, we will be able to help MANY more children MUCH FASTER than we ever dreamed. And we aren’t just going to help MANY more children… we are going to help ALL of these children.

To all of you who have helped make The Smile Train possible I say thank you, thank you, thank you. This Oscar is for you. And for all those millions of kids with unrepaired clefts out there who are waiting for help, I say hold on.

The Smile Train is on the way.

All the best,

Brian
Co-Founder/President

P.S. To see the Smile Pinki trailer, please check out our web site http://www.smiletrain.org/.

Presidential Commission on Youth and Intergenerational Patnerships

After an awesome lunch at McDonalds with Efren, I trekked back into DC. I had a meeting with a friend who works with Synergy Ministries to debrief on the time I spent with Himadri at CSS India. I was hoping to make my way down to the Lincoln Memorial before heading to the Global Youth Action Network fundraiser, but time was not working with me. I did make it to the Capitol, took some pics, and then headed to help set-up for the fundraiser event.

So I got connected to the Global Youth Action Network (www.youthlink.org) back when I was in college. The organization is HQ'ed in NYC, but I actually met the co-founders at an international education conference I attended in China the summer of my freshman year. Great organization. Anyhow, the co-founder Jonah drafted a Presidential Commission on Youth and Intergenerational Partnerships and submitted it to President Obama on January 8 of this year, and presented at tonight's fundraiser. I was helping out at the GYAN fundraiser tonight - it was great to see old friends and meet a bunch of new ones, young and old, all passionate about helping those around us in our communities and around the world. Here's a snippet of the proposed commission...

President Elect Obama,

In 1960, during his presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy asked Eleanor Roosevelt for her political support. She agreed, but not without his promise to create a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The commission was created the next year and had an historic impact on the lives of women, nationally and globally.

In 2007, as you prepared for your own White House run, you asked young people for their political support. You got it, but in exchange for what? Many young people supported you because they believed in your message of hope and promise for social and political transformation.

I'm sure you will agree that when young people are empowered with new technology and a new political vision they can revolutionize politics. They did so in 2008 by helping you raise more money and mobilize more people than any campaign in history. We believe that young people, when given the opportunity, can improve the social fabric of this country and transform what it means to be a citizen of the United States and of the world.

We want to create the space for this opportunity and believe that bringing the agenda of youth to the world stage will make that possible...

go to www.pcoy.org to read more.

Then I jumped on the metro to head back to Efren's place and met some "friends" on the platform who insisted on me taking a picture of them. Friendly couple... the lady had a bit too much to drink. Anyways, after I upload the pics, I'll share that with you. Quite funny. Looking forward to the craziness in just a few hours... inauguration day.

Church and Inauguration Kick-Off Celebration

This morning I visited Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It's a town I'm somewhat familiar with because I have family in the area, but I never really explored the area much. So the head pastor at this church is Josh Harris, the author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", a familiar book in the Christian community - introduced in youth groups in our teenage years. Anyhow, it's a pretty big church... very friendly folks. The topic of abortion was discussed - I think there is a walk for life next week in DC - and a woman who works at a pregnancy clinic shared her experiences. As she shared, I could not help but think of baby Tabitha at Asha House, the precious little baby girl whose 18 year old mother met a local pastor just before she was about to abort her, and instead, had her baby and gave her to Asha House at birth.

I headed back to meet Efren and dragged him to another church where many of his friends go to. It was funny because I ran into some friends from Philly there - Eleanor and Eunice! So random... then, Efren and I headed down to the National Mall to catch some of the "We Are One" Inaugural Celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. We got past the Washington Monument but the crowds stopped us before we hit the reflecting pool area. They had big screen tv's and speakers everywhere so we could all watch. It was pretty cool... a very civilized crowd... a true family, not just of Americans but of people who came together to fellowship together and celebrate and enjoy a free concert. It was amazing to stand there among a crowd of millions, and yet during any speeches, it was oddly quiet... everyone respectfully listened, cheered when it was time to cheer, and sang when moments called for it. After the concert, even the mass exit to the street was an organized chaos... more on the organized side. Here are some pics from the afternoon.

Heading to DC for Inauguration!

This afternoon, I left for my drive down to Washington DC. I stopped in Baltimore to have a late lunch with Burton and Candice. So I'm sitting in this restaurant in Baltimore and there is this guy who looks like someone from work, but I quickly told myself that that would be ridiculous. Later as we were getting ready to leave, we make eye contact, and yes indeed, it is him. How random!

Hung out at Burton's place for a little bit, and then made my way down to Vince and Connie's place in Virginia. They made an amazing dinner, and it was so nice to catch up with them and some other college/post-college friends. Fun times... oh, and Blockus... fun game. Then I made my way into Maryland to my other cousin's pad. Looking forward to church in DC tomorrow and the inauguration kick-off concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Miraculous Landing

What an amazing scene it was today on the Hudson. Thank God for the safe landing and that everyone got out safely. I was in NYC when 9/11 happened, and I can just imagine what people were thinking as this plane got lower and lower to ground.

I was sitting at my desk when I saw 2 of my colleagues approach the TV in our work "living room". ... a crazy scene to see folks standing on the wings in the middle of the water... I will pay more attention to the flight attendants and the safety procedures going forward.

Meet the Children at Asha House and Asha Mission

Wow - this was not an easy task, but I'm glad I did it. Not perfect but I don't think it's too bad for my first ever video production, or whatever you want to call it. So I put together a video I want to share with my colleagues at Lincoln. We had a team building event with my team before I left that focused on helping the 50 or so children and staff at 2 orphanages in Delhi, India that Jane and her team were affiliated and volunteered with. The video shows some photos of the event and introduces you to the lovely and extremely adorable children at the orphanages. As I finish organizing other photos and videos from the trip, I'll share them here!

Click on the link below - if it asks you for a password, it's "india". Yes, I know... very tricky.


SI&B Team Event - Asha Mission & Asha House from Tammy Wang on Vimeo.

Finally updated!

It has been awhile... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Coming home from India right before the holidays was great, but busy. I haven't had much time to organize and process the experience, but I THINK I'm finally up to date on my posts (I had typed several while I was away but didn't have a chance to post them up). Anyhow, I also added a few pictures and videos to older posts as well. Still working on the photos and other videos which I cannot wait to share! More to come later...

Oh, and yesterday Jane, Jenny, and I spent the afternoon at my office repacking the donated items that I could not carry with me to India and dropped them off at the fedex. Please pray that everything will get to the orphanage without a problem - we securely wrapped everything in lots of packing tape so it should get there in one piece, but getting through customs is a concern. THANKS!

Home Sweet Home

I flew in late last night... or rather, early this morning. It's nice to be home... took a nice, hot shower on my bare feet, drank from the tap without a worry, and slept in my bed at my parents house. It was awesome. The air is clean here, but it's too cold to inhale it! I was looking forward to cold weather, but it's pretty dang cold - perhaps I was really looking forward to coolER weather. Then I drove back to Philly all by myself - no taxis, no auto rickshaws, no bike rickshaws, and no Super Mario Kart style driving. Seriously, in many of the areas we frequented, it was like that. No lanes, well, in some parts lanes didn't matter... and lots of weaving in and out of other cars. Good thing I played a lot of Super Mario Kart Wii before I left - it was a good warm-up. I've got a backlog of posts I need to put online - it's all in word format right now. I'll also be adding in some photos and videos to give more color. I'll send an update post after I've updated everything - probably in the next couple days. Can't wait to share the experience - it was awesome!

Day 17 - Heading Home

Right now, according to the interactive journey map on the seatback in front of me, I am somewhere over Kazakstan. I’m still about 2517 miles from London which is where I have a 2 hour layover. His flight was delayed so hopefully I’ll be able to catch my connecting flight. This plane is much more comfortable than the one I flew to India on. Much more comfy…
So at the airport this morning, it was really odd. First of all, it seemed like a totally different place than the one that I came out of 2 ½ weeks earlier. It seemed newer, more modern, and more “civilized”. Having now traveled domestically in India, it was interesting to see international travelers and the process versus that of domestic travelers. So at the airport, as I’m sitting there, I met a guy who works in the fashion industry – a very nice man who travels to India pretty frequently. So as we are talking, in front of our row of seats forms the line for gate 9 – the flight that is going to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I wish I got a photo of this, but I thought it might not be such a good idea.

So the announcement is made, and a line of men push and shove together in front of our row of seats. It was all men – no bags in hands (well, a handful had a plastic shopping or small duffel but they were asked to go towards the end of the line of men) – dressed simply and some a bit scruffily. No words spoken – just a tight line of mostly Indian men. My fashionista friend explained that this was human trafficking. These men have signed a few year contracts to work on construction projects in Saudi Arabia. Once they arrive there, their passports are confiscated until their contract is complete. They are given an income but living standards are very poor and probably are not treated very well. It seems exploitative, but at the same time, it’s probably providing a necessary income. It was sad to watch this line of men. After the men were all aboard, a handful of women and other much nicely dressed and proper looking men joined the fleet. It was a crazy and scary scene. I just sat there staring. I felt like I had stepped into slave times – pile the working men into the back. In our 2.5 weeks in India, human trafficking referred to women and children forced into the sex trade. Seeing male trafficking was eye opening.

Okay, signing off until I hit home. Can’t wait to be back. And can’t wait to share more about the trip after I’ve had time to digest it all.

...interestingly, later in my flight, I picked up my old Time magazine from October that I had packed in my carry-on, and there was an article about construction projects in Saudi Arabia - sounds like they are doing some big development projects there... interesting...

Day 16 - Back to Delhi

We had an early flight this morning and arrived back in Delhi. We were both pooped so we went back to Wilson and Peru’s place and took a nap. I was not happy to have to wake up from that nap. We visited the house that Jane and her team had spent the last 3 months, then went to KFC for lunch – yum, and then Jane and I hit the metro “downtown” and hit the markets and shops. Ate dinner at Subway (we both miss American food), and then grabbed an auto rickshaw (our usual mode of transport in India) to our friend Robin’s place. Robin and I worked at Lincoln together, but he now works for Ashoka (another cool organization that supports social entrepreneurs) in Delhi. Jane and Robin went to middle and high school together. It’s a small world. Anyhow, it was really great to see Robin, and see another side of India – he lives with other expats in a more expat’ish area. Really great to catch up… and in India of all places!
Oh… and Delhi… Delhi is very dusty.

1) Bathroom door in the KFC. What does this mean?
2) A Trenton, NJ sweatshirt for sale at a stall in the market!
3 & 4) This is the area where Jane and team stayed... very dusty...

Day 15 - Hope Foundation Mumbai

Jane and I visited a government school where the Hope Foundation has created a tutoring program for at-risk kids (defined as those likely to flunk out of school or be left behind) and built a computer lab for the students. We also visited a separate vocational computer training lab. The programs focus on education, but Joseph Dsouza stressed the critical piece of the puzzle – building motivation and leadership within each student. Most of the students their program reaches to are those with less educated parents and/or those with less parental support from a motivational support and leadership development side. They see that being critical, especially with the children and students they are reaching out to. Hope Foundation worldwide is an international charity that changes lives by harnessing the compassion and commitment of dedicated staff and volunteers to deliver sustainable, high-impact, community-based community-based services to the poor and needy. The India operation's mission is simple: to bring hope to those with no hope.

In the afternoon, we headed to Dharavi – the largest slum in Asia. Inside this slum, there are actual industries - very hard working, mostly men. Some come from rural villages and work and live in the “factory” slum in tiny rooms in poor conditions. We wandered through and saw the recycling industry – fascinating! It’s surprising to see and hear that recycling is all done there because there is trash everywhere! We also learned that there is a method to the madness. In slums, you’ll often see what looks like trash on roofs. Those are actually out there for a purpose – it’s part of the drying process that takes places before the plastic can be crushed and melted to be recycled. They recycle boxes there and create ones that can be used again. They recycle used oil/tin cans, clean them out, reshape, and sell them for usage again. They make paint. They recycle aluminum. They build machinery that they use within the slum and export elsewhere. They produce shoes. They make wallets – last month – they were making Gucci wallets – yes, Gucci. They sew clothing and bags. They manufacture leather – pluck hairs, hang and dry it, etc. They make puff pastries. I’m sure I missed other things they do. All of these “industries” are done in tiny, poorly ventilated rooms. Men are crushing metal without goggles or gloves. Men are melting paint and other toxic things in small rooms converted into furnaces – the ventilation is literally the crack b/w the roof and the side wall. While all of this work is being done, children are playing just outside in the alleys.

Out of respect for the hard-working people and families in Dharavi, I don't have any pictures to share of Dharavi, but I pulled one from the internet. It was an eye opening experience to learn about, visit, and see the slum. Here are a few quotes I pulled from others who have spent time there.

"Ramshackle corrugated tin, plywood, plastic, pukkah bricks, sheets of asbestos, sweat, toil, people and garbage make Dharavi, just like piles of earth, sand, clay and other materials make ant hills. Dharavi and many other slums like it are nothing but human ant colonies built by legions of our urban poor. They are places which are at same time sombre, moving, joyful and interesting .Push and pull factors, bring people from our villages here everyday in search for something better. They settle here much to the neglect of our apathetic eyes. But under the squalor is great spirit and ingenuity. I went looking for this spirit in this place most people refer to as ‘Asia’s largest slum’ but I would prefer to call the ‘Heart of Mumbai’."

Here's a link to this guy's blog who I pulled that quote from. His descriptions and pictures are pretty much what we experienced. http://trivialmatters.blogspot.com/2006/03/shadow-city-look-at-dharavi.html

National Geographic also did a piece on Dharavi as well: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text. They describe it as: "a teeming slum of one million souls, where as many as 18,000 people crowd into a single acre (0.4 hectares). By nightfall, deep inside the maze of lanes too narrow even for the putt-putt of auto rickshaws, the slum is as still as a verdant glade. Once you get accustomed to sharing 300 square feet (28 square meters) of floor with 15 humans and an uncounted number of mice, a strange sense of relaxation sets in—ah, at last a moment to think straight." I grew up with a yard the size of an acre and that still wasn't enough room to kick a ball around on. Sharing it with 17,999 other people? I can't even imagine!

After that, we met up at Esther’s and we all went out for a really nice dinner at Asura (I was feeling a little guilty after having just hung out in the slums; but it was our last night there). It was this totally hidden restaurant from the street, but once you enter, you realize how fabulous this place is. It faces the beach and ocean. ‘twas very nice and delicious.