#globallehigh

[lehighu]

It was a beautiful day to be out exploring our 32 annual International Bazaar. The Bazaar highlights and celebrates the global identities and perspectives at Lehigh and from our local community. Thank you to everyone for your hard work!

[lehighinghana2018-blog]

Week 3 Post 2

I mostly worked on my paper and my presentation, but the Nkrumah burial site and Dubois house were amazing. I also loved the fact that we got a chance to talk to the NHS people and see Dr. Essien’s school.

[freddydvo-blog]

Holi 2K17 was lit! #lehighHoli #globallehigh (at Lehigh University)

[freddydvo-blog]

Today with my friends Kelsey and Sam, we hosted a panel at the United Nations on the status of African Women and Girls and discussed advocacy for healthcare access, public policy change, governance, and social equity. I feel proud today. Let's work y'all! #optimistic #influencer #csw61 #international #unitednations #thisisafrica #womensrights #socialjustice #advocacy #globallehigh (at United Nations)

[thingsaregonnastaystrange]

Day 48 | What an incredible 48 days it has been. I will be eternally grateful to @lehighu & Lee Iacocca for giving me the opportunity to work, travel and learn in Italy, and for helping to pave the way toward my goal of becoming an international journalist. I will always treasure all of the people, places and experiences that made this trip so unbelievably remarkable. Grazie mille! #globallehigh (at Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa)

[iaccocarome]

St. Peter’s Basilica; Rainbow flags in Rome; tree at the Anglican Church; Great Synagogue

[iaccocarome]

Rome Week One

Paige Pagan

6-27-16

I can’t believe it has already been a week in Rome, it’s true that time really does fly by. Last Monday when we first arrived, I didn’t know what to expect. It was my first international flight and I was nervous about being in another country where the language is not your own. However, as soon as we arrived at the Lay Centre and met Heather Walker, I was immediately reassured that this will prove to be an opportunity of a lifetime. Heather was so hospitable and I grew very fond of her right away. There were signs that welcomed us and we were brought to our rooms to settle in. The room is wonderful and the food is delicious. Even so, the best part about staying at the Lay centre is getting to meet so many diverse faces. All the staff and students are so kind and accommodating. I love the fact that they’re from different countries and are different religions but they unite as friends under the same roof and bond with one another despite their apparent differences.

On tuesday Andrew Boyd, who is studying for a doctorate at the Angelicum, gave us a tour of the neighborhood. He showed us around the colosseum and made sure to tell us about all the good pizza and cappuccino places. Then Filipe Domingues and Heather Walker gave us a presentation to inform us about the history and purpose of the Lay Centre. It was amazing to hear about how far the Lay Centre has come from when it was first started with Rickey. After that we went for a walk to pick up tickets for the next day’s papal audience with Rebecca Cohen. This day was busy but I got to see so much of Rome. My favorite place was the Trevi Fountain. It’s stunning in person, photos of it don’t reveal its true beauty. We also saw the Pantheon, the ceilings caught my attention the most. I have become obsessed with Rome’s high decorated ceilings and borough- style columns. It was also interesting to meet the sisters we got the tickets from. They were all very helpful in explaining what will happen at the papal audience. This was also my first day trying Rome’s famous gelato which was a nice treat on such a hot day.

Wednesday was dedicated to the papal audience which was such an eye-opening experience. It was touching to see the pope kissing the children and blessing the elderly and sick. He was so caring and it was so beautiful to witness a pope that was dedicated to his people. I’m so glad we were given this opportunity to meet such an influential and admired individual. The message given in St. Peter’s Square was a passage in the bible about leprosy. The message was powerful although it was a bit hard to follow because it was translated in so many different languages. Courtney Hartmann and Elyse Brazel, the two students that took us to this event, made sure to also bring us through the holy door into the Basilica of San Pietro. The most fascinating part of this experience was the fact that many popes’ remains were under us.

Thursdays visit to Castel Sant’ Angelo with Mandalar and Minsu was very beautiful as well. It was nice to see the relics from centuries ago, however it was quite intimidating to see how people were executed on those grounds back then. I really liked view on the roof, it seemed like you could see the whole of Rome from there.

[usipp]

Number Matters

Hi #USIPP2016 ! It's Eid, and Eid Mubarak to my friends here who celebrate. As the Indonesia's Eid greeting says, I'd like to appologize if I did something wrong in our very first month knowing each other and doing the program together. Anyway, It's been a week or so, since we closed the program. I got mixed-feeling ever since, and every moment we share provokes me to think and contemplate even more. And I get few things to highlight with me, as a conclusion (?). Too bad we didn't have much time to hear individual reflection like after we finish US part :(((((, but I'm happy to write it here so other people can read and I can get back to this whenever I need it. I name my post with "number matters" for I applied this program because I want to see the dynamics of religious majority and minority groups in democratic society. It scares me, that throughout the visits and lectures, I can see my initial assumption was true, that numbers matter. Being large in numbers can be very prone to make a religious group arrogant, feel as the righteous and when they got governing power, policies can be so much self-centered on their own religion. Meanwhile being small in numbers can easily make a group feel less-worthy, voiceless and oppressed, even though they are not. But, I adore late President Abdurrahman Wahid and all his family's movement which untill now strives to make Muslims as majority in Indonesia as a friendly community, who are not judgy, but appreciating and respecting religious diversity in Indonesia. Knowing that being majority in number nationally, does not always mean majority regionally, keeps this movement humble. At many regions, Muslims can be the minority and can be prone to oppression, just as prone as other minority groups in regions where Muslims are majority. I adore how the movement also chooses to interpret verses in Holy Scriptures for the good of not only Muslim community, but the good of the nation, for the harmonious relationship between any believers. As strong religious figures, people in Gusdurian network can be very influential in driving Muslims to be friendly, as majority nationally. I love this initiative. Because minority who speaks up for religious harmony might make changes, but not as big as if the majority who speaks it up to their brothers and sister who are very prone to be the actors of conflict and oppression. I adore, in US side, how Jewish community never felt less as citizens, just because they are small in numbers and been experiencing the terrible Holocaust. Also the Confusians we met in TMII Jakarta and local believers of Kejawen we visited in Yogyakarta, never felt less as citizens. Both are in faith with their religions, and always feel like the government should protect them in exercising their beliefs even they are small in numbers. Thanks to constitution in both US and Indonesia. I deeply hope, may any pretentious government officers who are still oppressing minority get an enlightment to look back at the beauty of protection granted in constitution. The beauty of this program is not only it answers a lot of my questions through lectures, visits and individual sharings, but it leaves me questioning further, which I would love to find the answer: If rights belong to human as an individual, why less numbers make somebody feel less worthy as a human? why more numbers drives arrogancy and oppresion? why religious groups play with numbers? why religious groups "play" the games of oppression to others? can somebody just believe in religion and keep it in private spehere with God, not using it as a tool to create chaos? As a final note, I believe everyone (participants and committee members) is tired, physically and emotionally, feel uncomfortable with all the culture shock, but all the lessons, all the good and bad feelings are worth for memories so much to me. I'll carry the lessons in every steps in life I take after this. Thank you USIPP for putting so much on my individual development to acquire your beautiful values, so much different with other programs I ever joined which demand participants so much to spread out the thoughts to home communities without concerning how the program values play out in participants' mind. At the end of the day, if I think the program lessons are good, of course I would like to share some with people at home whom I feel would appreciate the lessons, without me necessarilly required to be " a preacher of religious pluralism and democratic society", with a sudden burden to make my home community better in understanding pluralism. What a naive goal, thank you for not imposing that much naive things, USIPP. You're good and keep it good by keep involving people who are passionate in the theme, like you always do. Gayatri 'Gya' - Universitas Indonesia