ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=312707] | 2008-08-16 08:53:13
 ncolsmith | Nicole Smith | Travel Blog |
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith
I graduated in May of 2006 with a BA in Human Rights from St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada. At that point in my life I wanted to get some field work experience in human rights. I was also interested in understanding human rights from the ground level, from the people living and experiencing the abuse. To work in the field of human rights having only experienced comfortable Canada seemed fradulant to me. So I applied to go to the Philippines as a social justice intern through the United Church of Canada to learn about human rights in Southeast Asia. I am now in the country, living and working with the people. These entries are my thoughts and feelings about my experience.
Joined on: February 2nd 2008
Last Login: August 30th 2008
Blog Entries: 54
Photos: 133
Last Login: August 30th 2008
Blog Entries: 54
Photos: 133
Status: BLOGGER
Blogs & Travel Journals
by ncolsmith, order by Date newest first.
So, because the people who know me are too polite to say it, I am just going to have to tell you myself, I don't listen well to instructions. I was given extensive training by the United Church before I came to the Philippines. I spent two weeks in a convent outside of Toronto with a big group of people, all preparing to go overseas for their church, learning how to handle myself properly in a host country. We were even given extensive medical information in order to stay healthy while outside Canada. This is where my problem lies. Apparently I [View Full Entry]
By ncolsmith
August 13th 2008
August 13th 2008
The Reason Why Plungers are Not Toys... or Maybe Why They Should be.
Asia » Philippines » Baguio
Yesterday in the market I saw the most hilarious thing. I watch two boys, about 10 and 11, in matching, man sized, canary yellow, fleece zip-up sweaters that hung to their knees, struggling to remove a miniature plunger head from the smaller boys cheek. They must have been playing when they stuck it to him, and seemed quiet panicked that they could not get it off. I laughed as I watched them from a distance, the smaller boy chattering in a high voice, the bigger one trying to seem calm as he worked the edge desperately with his fingers. I would [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=311642] | 2008-08-13 11:11:56
In my bi-weekly phone call with Mom yesterday I found myself enumerating the things we have done in the office in the last couple of weeks: we prepared for the State of the Nation mobilization, visited Licuan Baay again, documented an extra judicial killing in Kalinga (a province a few hours away) and monitored two encounters between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New Peoples Army to make sure that the Geneva Convention rights of the 8 killed rebels were respected. I could hear myself as if I was outside of my own body talking about these deaths as [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=308094] | 2008-08-04 07:24:21
By ncolsmith
August 1st 2008
August 1st 2008
Nicole Asks "Am I Passionate Enough About My Cause to Leap Through the Air, Dance with Flags and Feign Despair"?
Asia » Philippines » Baguio
Last weekend I went to the 2nd Annual Congress of DKK, the cultural group I hang out with here. This event took up my entire Sunday and was something I technically didn't have to attend, not actually being a member of DKK. I went anyway though, for a few reasons. Firstly, I promised to go to the Congress in order to get out of being in a play with the group a week earlier. Secondly, all of my friends are in the cultural group, and so would be at the Congress, and like a silly 15 year old I go where [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=307029] | 2008-08-04 05:20:57
By ncolsmith
July 29th 2008
July 29th 2008
In this Episode Nicole Wonders Why in the State of the Nation Address Gloria in Fact did not Discuss the State of Things at All
Asia » Philippines » Baguio
Yesterday the President of the Philippines passed more then 10 000 protesters, entered Congress, stood up in front of the other elected officials, in a pink ball gown worth more then most of the protesters make in a year, and lied to the nation. She presented her annual State of the Nation Address. She spoke about economic prosperity, about successfully weathering the global food crisis, about the ways that the government is working with farmers, is taking care of the most marginalized, is helping the typhoon victims... She spoke in her squeeky little voice with a tone that could only be [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 7 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=308119] | 2008-08-04 09:30:28
It is very difficult living in a world where instinct and intuition are not within your grasp, especially when you have to work in that world. I am still, after almost 5 full month in the CHRA, the green horn, which is unfortunate, because I love very much being good at what I do. Maybe it's a positive work habit, maybe it is a character flaw, but either way I love being good at what I do so much that I always strive to get over the learning curve and to very quickly start working off instinct. That has not been [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=303495] | 2008-07-23 10:19:02
On Sunday I got to participate in one of the most fun and entertaining activities I have attended since arriving. I got to be in the city's Gay Pride Parade!! But this was no normal Pride, this Sunday we celebrated the first annual Baguio Gay Pride Parade. The preparation for this year's Pride activities started about three weeks ago. Some of my coworkers from the activist circles, who are both indigenous activists and GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered) activists, convened a meeting in order to bring together all of the GLBT groups in the city. Though all of the gays and [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 3 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=303006] | 2008-07-22 09:37:36
By ncolsmith
July 14th 2008
July 14th 2008
Nicole's Adventures in Bonding, Canada-style, on the Exposurist Trail
Asia » Philippines » Cordillera
Standing Out
We were almost always the only foreigners on the jeeps in the bumpy part of the region where we did the exposure.
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 1 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=299542] | 2008-07-14 11:19:26
By ncolsmith
July 14th 2008
July 14th 2008
In this Episode Nicole Feels the Warm Breeze in her Leg Hair
Asia » Philippines » Bohol » Panglao
So maybe this is more information then some of you want to know, but I have stopped shaving my legs here. Taking a bath out of a bucket is hard enough, and absolutely not condusive to shaving, and most of the women I know in this region of the Cordillera don't shave anyway, so I have swallowed my vain pride and stopped altogether. I have been humming and hawing over this decision for a while, usually with the most conviction while perched shivering on the edge of my seatless toilet, struggling to get the hair out of my way too expensive [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=299476] | 2008-07-14 09:39:26
We had lunch today at the canteena jut down the street from out office. We eat there all the time and the food is fabulous. Today I used the bathroom behind their kitchen for the first time. The restaurant is a very small place which apparently is a converted garage, because their cutting and preparation surface in the kitchen is actually a clean piece of cloth stretched across the hood of an old car. Awesome. [View Full Entry]
ncolsmith - Nicole Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=291841] | 2008-06-26 07:49:54