The Maps Edge - Spring 2017

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IN THIS EDITION: L E A D E R S H I P

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From Totombo: Lessons In Grace

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Osama Moftah: International Law & The House of Wisdom

by REBECCA WINSLOW

PAPI-THORNTON

by JUSTIN KIERSKY

by OWEN YAGER

by AMRIT ALE

by SCOTT COE

Thinlas Chorol: A Woman of Mountainous Courage

Moving from Social Entrepreneur to Social Impact by DANIELA

COVER IMAGE: CELIA MITCHELL | SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTO CONTEST FINALISTS ON INSIDE FRONT COVER

Visionary Nepal: Health Camps & Earthquake Recovery

Travel & the Search For the Moments that Make Us

Spring 2017

On the Cover WORDS & IMAGE CELIA MITCHELL This is an image from Sampela on the evening my host father, Taimba, took me night-fishing.

We met a few other waiting fishermen in a shallow part of the ocean in Wakatobi National Park. Each boat had its own gas-lit lamp to light the way, illuminating the water for the men to see small fish, sea cucumbers, and other ocean creatures. I sat still for 4-6 hours as Taimba stood poised, gripping a spear fashioned with a claw at the end. Sometimes they stay out all night, until the sun comes back up, using the low tide and quiet to their advantage. What this photo doesn’t capture was the incredible stars I saw all night, or the beauty of a few gas lamps floating out over a dark ocean. This is my favorite memory from Indonesia! *Cover image was a Fall 2015 photo contest finalist.

This Page FALL 2016 PHOTO CONTEST FINALISTS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BENJAMIN SWIFT, ANDES & AMAZON • ELLEN BROOKS, HIMALAYAS CLAIRE LINDSAY, WEST AFRICA • CHRISTINE TSAI, INDIA • AMELIE KONIG, INDONESIA • ELOISE PARISI, INDONESIA • ELIANA ROTHWELL, INDIA ELLA WILLIAMS, ANDES & AMAZON • EMILY ZISLIS, INDONESIA • TASHI BRUNDIGE, HIMALAYAS

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THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

In this edition of The Map’s Edge...

WE’VE CHOSEN TO SHINE A SPOTLIGHT ON LEADERSHIP. AT DRAGONS, WE AIM TO NURTURE A COMMUNITY OF YOUNG LEADERS WHOSE VOICES, THOUGH SINGULAR, POSSESS THE TIMBRE AND CONVICTION TO INSPIRE HOPE IN FUTURE GENERATIONS. IN THE PAGES THAT FOLLOW, YOU’LL READ STORIES FROM A HOMESTAY SISTER WHO IS BUILDING HER COMMUNITY’S FIRST LIBRARY, THE FOUNDER OF AN ALL-FEMALE TREKKING COMPANY, AND A HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER. YOU’LL HEAR FROM ACTIVISTS, POETS, STUDENTS AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS. THIS IS OUR COMMUNITY.

A LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER WORDS CHRIS YAGER

I

was once trained in a leadership exercise that has time-and–again

just good leadership, but great leadership. When teams go down

revealed the same leadership maxims. It begins with a narrative

this path they consistently identify great leadership as something

of an Everest ascent, and asks participants to identify the needs

not simply quantified by metrics of goal realization, but rather by

that would go into a successful expedition. The workshop reveals

metrics of the longer-term growth and development of a project’s

the best results when participants don’t know that it’s a “leadership

participants. A good leader gets the group up a mountain, but a

exercise,” and if they instead approach it as a genuine meditation

great leader inspires the group to fall in love with the adventure. A

on a successful mountaineering ascent—even when participants

great leader returns the group down the mountain with larger heart

have no background in climbing. Here’s how it goes: The person

and vision and with the capacity to lead others themselves.

leading the exercise presents the challenge of getting a group of

In the world of experiential education, we say that great

people from Kathmandu to the summit of Everest, and asks them to

leadership occurs when a leader “leads from behind,” wherein a

brainstorm all that will need to go into a triumphant endeavor.

group arrives at the goal and says of themselves, “we did this on our

The conversation follows a predictable flow, with participants first

own.” When individuals own their success and feel that they have

identifying material needs for the expedition: yaks for transport, tents,

lead themselves they become conscientious and caring stewards

crampons, communication gear and medical supplies. Inevitably

of others. They become capable and mindful leaders themselves.

the conversation trends towards the personnel who’ll be necessary:

Conversely, demagoguery-as-leadership, or leadership that comes

porters and cooks, a medical officer, technical climbers, a leader.

from cult of personality, results in tepid participation and leaves

As the exercise evolves, the conversation organically moves to the

followers dispossessed of much personal gain.

personality characteristics of a team that would be most successful.

Great leaders are visionaries who see and articulate a potential

Eventually, participants focus their discussion on qualities of ideal

reality that is better for everyone. They have learned through

leadership.

personal trial and personal engagement the best ways to navigate

In the numerous times that I’ve seen this exercise play out, the

the difficult terrain ahead. And they have a way of bringing out the

same narrative emerges when going deep about the qualities of the

best in those that work with them. Great leadership comes not from

team leader. Even when disparate people from disparate cultures

a place of celebrating the “I”, but instead comes from a place of

participate, they arrive at the same basic conclusions. And that is

building the “we”. It comes not from instigating a collective flight

this: a successful enterprise—from a goal hashed out in a boardroom

from anything fearful, but rather from an ability to inspire a bold dash

to a successful ascent of Everest—requires of its leader authentic

towards something affirmative.

character, vision, an ability to articulate a vision, knowledge of terrain, and an emotional center that genuinely values each member of the group.

In any brainstorming, the best ideas often emerge after the

There’s much more to great leadership: courage, patience, experience and wisdom, among other attributes. But without character, vision, knowledge of terrain and a degree of humility, guides aren’t going to get a group up and down the mountain

obvious ones are exhausted. In the case of the Kathmandu-to-Everest

safely. And they’re not going to benefit from the innate capability

expedition, when the conversation door is left open long enough,

of the group to lead themselves, wherein the greatest potential for

participants begin to talk about the distinguishing hallmarks of not

achievement lies.

CHRIS YAGER i s the Founder of Where There Be Dragons. After graduating from Bowdoin College with a degree in Asian Studies, he worked

with Colorado Outward Bound before launching Dragons and leading the first courses in China and Tibet. Having worked with over 1,000 field instructors, Chris has been closely involved with the design of Dragons curriculum, in-country programming and new program development.

WWW.WHERETHEREBEDRAGONS.COM

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Lessons in Grace WORDS OWEN YAGER IMAGES CELIA MITCHELL, INDONESIA FALL 2014

M

ost mornings in Sampela, Totombo, my host father, and I were awoken by boardwalk roosters crowing in the sun and would be on the water not much later. We went out in his boat, a battered blue canoe that was roomier and required less bailing than most other boats

in Sampela—a financial testament to his fishing capability—and were armed with a long speargun for him, a short, easy to reload speargun for me, and one extra for good measure. We would cruise across a sea peppered by waves big enough to make the boat rock a little until he, peering over the side of the boat, decided that he liked the fishing prospects of that particular spot of ocean. He’d flash me a terrific smile, say, “Ini bagus” (“This is good”), and launch overboard. I’d follow him, much less gracefully, and hope that I was in the water in time to watch him tie the anchor onto whatever monolithic coral structure we’d have stopped over.

Then we’d stretch the cut lengths of rubber on our wooden

given that they were speaking in Bajo, but somehow Totombo and I

caught the first fish, spinning up to the surface with a joyous smile

ended up a part of Mr. Helmet and Mrs. Hat’s crew.

before dropping his catch in the katingting and diving back down.

I took to calling them Mr. Helmet and Mrs. Hat as a way of referring

Sometimes my only role for a morning would be to swim his catch

to them in conversation with other Dragons, and their monikers

back to the boat, and it took me a few days before I caught my first

descended from their headpieces. Mrs. Hat always wore a huge

batfish, his most commonly sought prey. Those mornings were always

bamboo hat. It’s shadow rarely let the warm glow of her eyes out,

lovely. It was just the two of us in a small blue boat in the middle of

instead showing only her sun-leathered face and betel-stained teeth.

the ocean, swimming and fishing and basking in the Indonesian sun,

Mr. Helmet had a well-worn black construction hat which kept the

and it was blissful.

sun off his face and, more importantly, kept his cigarettes and lighter

About halfway through my time in Sampela, we started to go out

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engines. I’m not quite sure what was said over the next 45 minutes,

spearguns back, lock in the spears, and dive down. Totombo always

dry from the ocean’s spray and Sampela’s monsoon rains—it only

earlier and travel farther, fishing for upwards of six hours. On one

occasionally showed his face when we were there during the dry

of these days, we were taking a break in what was starting to be a

season. I never learned either of their names. I didn’t speak Bajo, they

blisteringly hot day when a few boats puttered up to us and cut their

didn’t speak Bahasa Indonesian, and we never needed names anyway.

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

They had one of the only nets I saw in Sampela, and certainly the largest. It had it’s own canoe, and Totombo and I (mostly Totombo) were recruited to help use it. Mr. Helmet and Mrs. Hat each had a large

through the water. By the time I got out of the water our boat was carpeted with fish.

Once the spear-gunners had sufficiently thinned the school in the

boat filled with several hundred feet of rope with some floating thing—

net, it was closed from the bottom and Mr. Helmet and a fisherman

a plastic bag, a water jug, a stick—tied every couple yards. Leaving the

who had helped set up the net pulled it in hand over hand. It wasn’t

net, the net’s canoe, myself and my canoe anchored, each boat began

until it had been landed that I realized that the catch from the net far

to go in an opposite direction, slowly paying out the rope as they went.

exceeded any individual’s spearfishing catch, and that Mr. Helmet and

The old man who had ridden in the canoe with the net was spending

Mrs. Hat allowing their helpers to spearfish the net was as much a

this time pulling the net out and setting it up in the sea and I, unskilled

method of payment as it was necessary to land the net.

and unable to help, watched like the five year-olds that sometimes accompanied their mothers and fathers to the ocean.

The rope-boats eventually finished unloading their ropes and began to arc around, back towards us. The miscellaneous debris spread along the ropes scared most of the fish in their way towards

The fishermen, triumphant for the day, spent a few moments enjoying their success and the sun before Mr. Helmet called us over to his boat. He gave us a few armfuls of miscellaneous fish and handed Totombo a massive wrasse, his further thanks for Totombo’s help.

Over the rest of my stay in Sampela, Totombo and I rendezvoused

the net and the net was soon teeming with a swirl of fish. I was told

with Mr. Helmet and Mrs. Hat three more times. Each time we fished

in no uncertain terms by Totombo to stay out of the net but I was

a different part of the ocean and each time our catch was better than

permitted to get in the water and watch from a distance.

when we fished on our own. On my last day in Sampela, Mr. Helmet

The net, I realized once I’d gotten in the water, didn’t have a

was on our porch when I woke up and we rode out to the reef with him

bottom. It was weighed down at the edges, so fish couldn’t get

as part of a flotilla of boats that carved its way to a white sanded reef

out, but to lift it out of the water like a trawling net reduced its size

that was farther from Sampela than I’d been since I arrived. I’d been

tremendously, so the Bajo would simply use it as a pen for fish instead.

taught enough by Totombo—about how to read a gesture towards

I spent a few moments ogling at the swirl of fish in the nets, filled with

a fish, about how to tie anchors to the ocean floor, about how to be

lashes of green from parrotfish and red from snapper, before a set of

safe with a speargun—over the past two weeks that I was allowed to

splashes indicated the arrival of the. The swirl turned into a frenzy,

participate now. Together on that last day, he and I swam over the sun-

punctured by the familiar swish of a speargun’s projectile whipping

dappled seabed as host and guest, master and pupil, father and son.

OWEN YAGER is a Dragons alum who spent his gap year working as a farm-hand on a ranch in Idaho and attending Dragons Indonesia semester

program. He is a Freshman at Carleton College.

WWW.WHERETHEREBEDRAGONS.COM

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Zimbabwe WORDS KANE SMEGO IMAGE ERIC JENKINS-SAHLIN

I WROTE THIS POEM AFTER RETURNING FROM AN ARTS AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY TRIP IN ZIMBABWE. MYSELF AND THREE OTHER HIP HOP ARTISTS WERE SELECTED TO TEACH A TWO-WEEK PROGRAM WITH A GROUP OF YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS AND PERFORM TWO FINAL PUBLIC PERFORMANCES WITH OUR STUDENTS. THE TRIP CHALLENGED ME TO REFLECT ON MY OWN IDENTITY AS AN AMERICAN, AND AS A TEACHING ARTIST ENTERING AN UNFAMILIAR SPACE. IN MANY WAYS, IT WAS A REMINDER OF THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMILITY IN BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS CULTURES, AND OF THE POWER OF ART TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS. At the hotel across from the

is called sadza,

so dope that their stage names

and 500 locals waiting wide-

college where I’m performing, the receptionist asks me if I’m

one of my new favorite words to

have better wordplay than most

eyed for a glimpse of Hip Hop’s

say…sad-za.

rappers’ verses

headdress.

Three of the standouts are

Things haven’t gone exactly as

afraid to go to Zimbabwe

It’s a hot cornmeal porridge,

because of the people,

sounds a little familiar.

“Elsewhere”, “Terra Firma”, and the

planned all week

I start to wonder if I should be.

When they bring me a plate of

“Illerstrator”.

the WiFi’s been spotty

steaming grits,

Else is Shona, Terra and Illerstrator

A student at my college show asks

the Southern boy in me feels right

are Ndebele.

the battery in my portable

me if I think Hip Hop is dead.

at home.

In my ignorance, I wonder if there

speakers has a lifespan of Vanilla

Another student asks me what a cypher is. When I tell them it’s

will be tension in the cypher.

They tell me there are two main

Ice’s career, Tonight I’ve got a migraine made

a circle of people beatboxing,

ethnicities in

In the States, Hip Hop was born as

of 808s and my head is a shotput

rapping, and sharing stories I can

Zimbabwe,

liberation music,

in my palm.

tell they don’t fully understand

Shona—the majority

a soundtrack for the urban

the magic of it.

and Ndebele—the minority.

struggle birthed by DJ Cool Herc,

Later in the week some of my

a Jamaican immigrant who

hand and squint with the other.

I teach poetry and rap in schools,

students will mention a conflict

scraped Dancehall flavor

Elsewhere, Terra Firma, and

I cover my right eye with one

afterschools and detention

that happened between Shona

from the streets of Kingston

Illerstrator take the stage.

centers

and Ndebele in the 80s

and waxed it onto records in the

The three have formed a group

and sometimes it feels like Hip

but leave out the details,

Bronx.

since they met in class

Hop is the cool kid in class

in the silence I can feel it’s not the

In Zim, my students tell me that

and are making music together in

everyone pretends to know

time to ask questions, I know

most people see Hip Hop as

Shona, Ndebele, and English.

at least a little. Like they could

there is so much I don’t know

bourgie,

their song is a trilingual offering in

tell me whether Hip Hop’s

here,

a flashy American import with

the church of microphones,

candy-painted imperialism.

it sounds like flowers on

earrings are cubit zirconia or real diamonds, but can’t remember

At a fast food joint the cashier

her favorite color.

becomes

They’re all up in Kanye’s wife’s

a turtle thrown back on his shell

is the music of the hood

mother’s ex-husband’s business

the air, a convulsion of limbs and

Which makes coming to Africa

unmarked graves, Over here in Zimbabwe, Dancehall

like bullets decomposing, I cover my right eye with one

but some still can’t tell me what a

laughter

to teach a genre founded on

hand and watch them build a

cypher is.

I just asked for a napkin

drumbeats

temple out of lungs and air, storm

in Zimbabwe,

and inspired four decades ago by

clouds gathering in their cheeks

I come to Zimbabwe with a team

where nobody told me that

Dancehall

I cover my right eye with one hand

of artists to find Hip Hop

‘napkin’ is the word for diaper.

and teach a two-week program

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the equipment won’t sync

kind of like teaching glaciers

and I’m Slick Rick at age 11, staring

about the rhythms of river water…

through a D-train window learning

this is the source!

to look at the world in rhyme

with youth and young adults.

On day one of the workshops my students are dope

After two weeks of class,

I realize that this, is not a

The first day we go out for some

I mean so dope that I feel

our final performance is in Glen

classroom or a project or a

authentic grub,

embarrassed calling myself

Norah township, on a stage built

program

they tell me the staple food in Zim

teacher

beneath a giant tent

this, is a cypher

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

in all of it’s magic

juggling sadza-s-s-sadza and

the god of dopeness

I been rebel music and party music

and I’m in my element

grits like a South Bronx Merry-go-

the god of better tomorrows

been matchmaker

I’ve never felt more Hip Hop than

round

right here, right now

proving we ain’t spinning different

when lonely shoulders met and I can almost hear Hip Hop

boomboxes

my speech swerves and skips until

records, just remixing the same

saying “I told you so!”

shell toes met tubesocks

my cadence curves my lips

song

Can hear her calling to me kind of

and flattops kissed cardboard

into a homage,

and I’ve been wrong if any part of

annoyed like: “Didn’t Grand Master

every two blocks

my knowledge

me came to Zimbabwe hoping to

Flash teach ya’ll nothin’?

told you paint your ideas on train

broken and put back together like

find Hip Hop

The tables can always turn,

cars

the Fugees never

as if it wouldn’t exist until I stuck

somebody’s just gotta be there to

to think outside the box

feeling unpolished

my flag into it

turn ‘em

Shit, I jimmy rigged the hood

And dead? dead fool?

together with gold ropes and fat

I’m flawless as Chris Wallace rocking a Coogie sweater,

Didn’t exactly know what I was

Tupac with a bandana knotted

getting myself into

Ain’t I always been right on time

laces the back brace for cats in the rat

tighter than all of the hearts of hip

Nobody told me ‘napkin’ was the

Ain’t I been chameleon medicine

race

hoppers

word for diaper

whatever you needed me to be to

and I may have been sold out

gripping lighters the night of his

Nobody told me Hip Hop could

heal all your brethren

spun round, pawned off

death in Nevada

be the Shona word for peace

to patch a gaping wound the size

commodified, spotified

and Ndebele for forgiveness

of a crack house

chopped, screwed, auto-tuned

that when spoken in both

or a trailer park festering

and watered down

Listen, I’m Kool Herc in the kitchen with

languages at the same time

of a bleeding city trying

but not a day in my life

his hands on two plates

it could summon the god of music

desperately to clot

have I ever been dead!”

KANE SMEGO is a Dragons Instructor (Peru ‘15, Princeton Bridge Year Brazil ‘16), international touring artist, poet and MC. He has performed and

taught poetry and Hip Hop workshops across the U.S., Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Latin America. He is a native of Durham, NC and is currently based out of Los Angeles, CA where he enjoys raspberries, corny jokes and getting lost in the mountains on weekends.

PHOTO K ane performing spoken word at Dragons Summer Orientation and staff training in California’s High Sierras.

WWW.WHERETHEREBEDRAGONS.COM

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La Lucha: Reflections on Leadership WORDS & IMAGES FRANK COHN

I

have had the honor and privilege to live and work in over 100 rural and urban communities around the world, and in the process, I have learned powerful lessons about what matters, and what works, in terms of leadership. In addition to my roles as a community organizer,

facilitator, or Dragons instructor within the communities I have worked, I have played an ongoing role conducting impact evaluations of

different programs and initiatives, measuring over time the results of different efforts. I feel fortunate to have been able to return to many of these communities over more than a decade, and during that time I have been taught that the most impactful leadership is: 1) LOCAL 2) A STRUGGLE 3) ALWAYS IN TRANSITION

LOCAL The most valuable and relevant leadership comes from within

strong support network around them. I will never forget two small

communities, for communities. We often conceptualize social

communities way up in the mountains in Costa Rica that I was

change work as coming from the West to the rest, or from the North

working in 15 years ago, called La Lucha and La Luchita (The Struggle

to the South, or from the rich to the poor. In fact, that is not how

and The Small Struggle). Both were founded by individuals who

effective, sustainable, social change tends to happen. Traditional

moved their families from elsewhere to work land that was wild and

dependency-driven relationships, between unequal partners, driven

uncultivated, to start from scratch. These leaders taught me, through

by a sense of charity and not solidarity, do not tend to work in the

their humble but heroic hard work, it is often only by committing to

long-term. Recognizing that real long-lasting leadership comes

La Lucha that we can produce the results we need.

from within the community that is in need allows us to engage participants as owners and drivers of the process. Very often the

ALWAYS IN TRANSITION

most important role that we as outsiders can play in the positive

Effective leaders engage in a continuous process of delegating,

development of local communities ­­is to get out of the way. The

empowering, training and opening spaces for others to lead.

more we stand in the way, the more we overshadow, intimidate and

Whether due to an accident, old age, burn-out, corruption or

sometimes even repress the innate strengths, sense of ownership,

changing priorities, we cannot depend on just one individual alone.

and voices of those whom we are in fact seeking to empower and

Furthermore, by cultivating opportunities to practice mentoring

serve. This is particularly the case with historically marginalized

others, or helping others, each of us is able to engage in our own

groups, like youth, for example, and historically dominant groups,

journey toward self-actualization and leadership. Without such

like the adult, white, Western, male social identity group that I am

opportunities for practice, we remain stuck waiting for someone else

a part of. This also requires each of us to reflect on what groups

to take charge. Established leaders must always be in the process

we belong to, and consider how we might assume leadership roles

of planning and acting on an ongoing commitment to replace, clone

within our own communities. This can be very difficult. For example,

and share their roles. And unless we deliberately acknowledge

it is easy for me to say that I don’t like the direction that a leader like

historical power inequalities, and open spaces for non-traditional

Trump is providing for his primarily white male followers, however, if

leaders to engage, then existing stale power structures will remain.

I am not providing or supporting any alternative leadership for this

For example, in a community where historically the leaders have

group that I am also a part of, then I hold some responsibility for his

been older, wealthy, able-bodied males, we must acknowledge this

rise in popularity among them.

and overtly practice inclusion of youth, women, lower-income people and people with disabilities.

A STRUGGLE

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One of the youths I have been working with in Haiti since 2011,

A unifying characteristic I have observed among those who are

now a member of the Global Potential Youth Leadership Council in

successful in driving their communities and organizations forward

his country, recently posted on Facebook: “L’aide qui est l’aide c’est

is tremendous hard work, self-sacrifice and hustle. To ensure

une aide qui nous aide à sortir de l’aide.... Nous devons lutter pour

that commitment and struggle does not lead to burn-out, it is

faire briller nos idées.” (Help which is help is help that helps us to no

also essential for those who take on leadership roles to have a

longer need help... We should struggle so that our ideas may shine).

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

In working with communities around the world, we as outsiders must always consider whether our presence, and our efforts, are furthering opportunites for locals—including historically excluded locals—to

mountains of Haiti as well as someone who grew up there.

We must engage people from the communities in which we work not as passive participants or beneficiaries, but as actors and

gain the confidence to explore their comfort zones, push their own

benefactors, for themselves and others. We must not cultivate a

boundaries, and discover the strengths, ideas and talents they possess.

culture of waiting for outsiders, or ‘experts’, but rather a culture in

Today, I see the youth and women I have worked with over the years assuming strong leadership roles in their families and communi-

which the locals are recognized as experts in understanding their own challenges, and in designing, implementing and evaluating

ties, in companies and organizations that they work within, and in the

the pathways through those challenges. We as outsiders are

civic process of their societies. I will never be as effective a leader in a

collaborators and facilitators in the process, acting in solidarity and

community of young, urban Latinos, for example, as someone from or

in pursuit of our own personal, organizational and world­view goals.

with linkages to that community, and with whom they can identify. I

Acknowledging this power dynamic, and working together, is how we

will never be able to understand the needs of a rural village up in the

must begin.

FRANK COHN is a graduate lecturer in Social Work and Non-Profit Management at five universities, and has guest lectured at a dozen more.

Originally from Vancouver, he is the founder of Global Potential, an innovative youth leadership organization based in New York City. Frank speaks six languages and has 16 years of experience in 22 countries facilitating positive change for youth and communities as a facilitator, consultant, advisor and CEO. He has worked with Dragons since 2005 in China, Nicaragua, India, Peru, Cambodia, Thailand, and as a staff trainer.

WWW.WHERETHEREBEDRAGONS.COM

9

A Woman of Mountainous Courage INTERVIEWER REBECCA WINSLOW IMAGES KRISTIN BRUDEVOLD (L), THINLAS CHORAL (R)

BORN IN TAKMACHIK, A TINY HAMLET OF 70 HOUSEHOLDS SITUATED IN THE INDIAN STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR, THINLAS CHOROL IS A WOMAN OF THE HIGH HIMALAYA. SHE GREW UP TENDING HER FAMILY’S GOATS AND SHEEP WITH HER FATHER IN THE MOUNTAIN PASTURES, AND HAS SINCE BECOME INDIA’S FIRST PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED FEMALE TREKKING GUIDE.

T

hinlas received her formal mountaineering education from

and supports victims of crimes. She has written articles about

NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) India and the

the prevalence of sexual assault in Ladakh and is an advocate

Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. In 2009, she started the Ladakhi

for women’s rights in the region. When the Ladakhi Women’s

Women’s Travel Company, the first such company to be entirely

Ice Hockey league was formed, Thinlas provided support for the

staffed and run by women. Her company is one of the few in

nascent organization and appeared in a documentary promoting

Ladakh committed to the practice of Leave No Trace and they

the teams.

stress the importance of running a sustainable trekking company that neither pollutes nor compromises Ladakh’s fragile ecology.

Thinlas also co-founded the Ladakhi Women’s Welfare Network, a social organization that educates women on their legal rights

10 THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

In addition to the work she does in her community, as a social entrepreneur and activist, Thinlas is a respected Dragons instructor who guides summer and semester courses in Ladakh and will lead the 2017 North India four-week trekking-intensive course.

REBECCA WINSLOW: Leadership is an important quality in both

what to do. Last year we had four teams with 12 women per team.

Dragons courses and trekking. In your opinion, what are the qualities

But it is hard because there is a local club that runs the league. Every

that make someone a good leader?

year women have to fight to play. One year they didn’t allow women

THINLAS CHOROL: The main thing is being able to deal with conflict

to play because they said they didn’t have enough funds. But every

in groups. Maybe there are problems or a situation in which someone

year men are allowed to play. In 2014, they suddenly said there were

doesn’t get along, but as a leader you have to deal with conflict and

not enough teams so women couldn’t play. To the boys, they don’t

move on. You have to focus on the goal, the reason you are there.

say this.

RW: In what ways do you feel that Ladakh has changed since you

were in school? Are there things that haven’t changed?

TC: Ladakh has changed in many ways. Many Ladakhis no longer live

in traditional kinds of houses nor only eat traditional kinds of food.

Nowadays people are eating more food that they didn’t eat before, like rice. And people are more competitive with each other. I think there are very few things that haven’t changed in some way. Like in agriculture, people are farming in the same traditional ways [as they have for centuries], but technology has improved and the varieties of food has improved.

RW: Do you have any thoughts on politics in India?

TC: Generally, politics are in a negative way; this is true in Ladakh

and throughout India. Educated people don’t want to participate in politics. In India, only gundas (thugs) go into politics: they don’t have a good education or professional opportunities. So there are many uneducated people in Ladakh in politics. Intelligent, honest people

RW: You train many young women to be trekking guides. What do

don’t want to participate in politics. So these people work to change

you look for in the women you train? What do you try to teach them?

society through other means like NGOs and social organizations.

TC: When I hire a guide, mostly I want to see if they have an interest

RW: In addition to your trekking company, you run the Ladakh

must be capable of carrying 10 kilograms and walk for a long time.

in becoming a guide. They also have to be strong physically; they Women’s Welfare Network. What is the situation for women in

Once we hire them, we train them to speak English because many

Ladakh these days?

guides come from remote villages so their English is very weak.

TC: It [gender rights] has improved in some ways, but in other ways

Once it is improved, we train them on how to be porters. This way,

it’s generally still not good. Men control so much while women have

they learn the rules and get to know the area by shadowing the

to maintain the house, take care of the kids and often do/perform/

guides. We teach them about Buddhism and certain monasteries so

find a job. At the Ladakh Women Welfare Network we are trying to

they can teach the clients. We also teach them trekking skills and

push the government for women’s rights. Recently, they [government

environmental knowledge.

officials] asked if Ladakh is safe for women doing business. So we

Camping and trekking is becoming a very big industry in Ladakh

polled lots of people and wrote a petition to the government asking

and people are always throwing their waste in the mountains. I

them to improve transportation, among other things, and to make

recently climbed Stok Kangri (20,000 ft mountain near to Leh that

the situation safer for women. We also help individual women whose

draws many climbers) and there was garbage all over. I don’t like any

husbands are alcoholics or refuse to acknowledge or support their

garbage in the mountains. Leave no trace, right? We have to educate

children. No one is helping them, so we are doing it.

the local people on how to go into mountains without polluting. If guides are aware they can teach anyone with them, even the clients.

RW: You have also worked with the Ladakhi Women’s Ice Hockey

The environment in Ladakh is so fragile. If we destroy the land it will

League. Do the teams face any challenges?

take a long time to recover.

TC: Very few women play hockey in Ladakh. Sometimes they are not

allowed to play. We give them skates and equipment and teach them

This interview has been edited for length and content.

ORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED IN THE INTERVIEW:

Ladakhi Women’s Travel Company www.ladakhiwomenstravel.com Ladakhi Women’s Welfare Network www.facebook.com/groups/womensissuesinladakh Ladakh Women Ice Hockey Fund www.facebook.com/lwihf

REBECCA WINSLOW i s a longtime Dragons instructor (Sikkim ’15, Visions of India ’15, North India ’16, Himalaya ’16). She is a committed

experiential educator who has lived and taught in India for many years and speaks fluent Urdu and Hindi, in addition to passable Malayalam.

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11

Visionary Nepal: Health Camps & Earthquake Recovery WORDS STAFF IMAGES AMRIT ALE

L

ongtime Dragons instructor and current Himalaya Program Coordinator, Amrit Ale, is something of a

modern-day renaissance man. Artist, educator, activist,

adventurer, he is seldom sedentary. But Amrit’s voice gets low and resonant when I ask him about the mountains.

“They are my habitat,” he says in a way that suggests each peak not only has a name, but is sentient and singular.

“My life’s work is rooted in my explorations of and deep commitment to the sustainability of the Himalaya.”

Amrit began his guiding career on Nepal’s Class V whitewater. He was subsequently contracted by NOLS (Wyoming-based National Outdoor Leadership School) to work in the American Rockies. In 2008, Amrit returned to Nepal to work with Dragons as a summer and semester course instructor. Since 2013, Amrit has stepped into an administrative position, and now serves as a key pillar to Dragons Nepal-based summer, semester and educator programs. Amrit is an integral team-member who liaises with Dragons homestay communities and ISP mentors, manages Dragons treks, and in all other ways interfaces on our behalf with key community relationships.

In 2013, Amrit founded Himalayan Quests, a charitable enterprise dedicated to bringing healthcare to remote, rural parts of Nepal. Amrit’s foundation works with an international team of volunteer doctors and offers free access to health care to those in need. Over the course of four years nearly 5,000 patients have received care, thanks in large part to Amrit’s vision. Volunteer clinicians focus primarily on eye care and women’s reproductive health issues, treatments which are sorely lacking in these isolated areas of the Himalaya.

More recently, Amrit has been focusing his energy on earthquake relief initiatives, supported in part by $20,000 in contributions from the Dragons community. All proceeds go to rebuilding efforts in some of the hardest-hit villages in the Himalaya, some that have hosted students for many years.

Amrit’s commitment to the mountains continues to manifest in the form of altruism. It follows that his photographs do not tell a story so much as they speak from his soul. “Photography,” he says, “is a vehicle that has the capacity to bring the people and places I love to the rest of the world.”

RIGHT: Hundreds of ‘dancing shaman’ streaming up toward

sacred Gosai Kunda Lake in Nepal’s Langtang National Park for the full moon in August. Amrit traveled with thousands of pilgrims accompanying the caravan of shaman for a week during the Junai Purina festival.

12

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

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13 

TOP LEFT: 2014 Fall Himalaya students

reflecting on the tranquil shores of Gosai Kunda Lake (4,380m) after the first snows. The lake is typically frozen over from October to June.

TOP RIGHT: Elderly patient from

western Nepal wearing a pair of glasses prescribed by health camp volunteers.

LOWER RIGHT: Amrit and assistant with

an elderly dental patient at the 2013 health camp. She is seeing a picture of herself for the first time.

INSIDE RIGHT: Hundreds of rural villagers

waiting to register for consultations with doctors at the 2014 health camp.

Every year Dragons students have an opportunity to do homestays in this village, Yasangja, Nepal, with local host families.

BOTTOM LEFT: Eighteen-month old

Dikshya after a sight-restoring operation for congenital bilateral cataracts.

14

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

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15 

Tackling Heropreneurship WORDS & IMAGE DANIELA PAPI-THORNTON REPRINTED FROM THE STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW ON 2/23/2016 (WWW.TACKLINGHEROPRENEURSHIP.COM)

WHY WE NEED TO MOVE FROM “THE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR” TO SOCIAL IMPACT

S

tep aside, Superman, there’s a new kind

stream of new social entrepreneurship

and went on to work on solving it. These

of superhero in town. We’ve entered

training courses, and increasing numbers of

people shifted how systems worked through

an era of heropreneurship, where reverence

students graduating and jumping straight into

collaborative cross-sector efforts, and though

for the heroic social entrepreneur has led

launching a social venture. As I’ve watched

generating income was part of their work,

countless people to pursue a career path

more and more students focus their ventures

their efforts and influence far outreached the

that promises opportunities to save the

on problems they haven’t lived, such as

size of their businesses. Many educators and

world, gain social status, and earn money, all

building an app for African farmers when

funders share my concern that the focus now

at the same time. In business schools across

the founding team has neither farmed nor

is on a distilled and mass-produced version of

North America and Europe, the longest

been to Africa, my worries have grown about

the promise of the social entrepreneur.

waiting lists—once reserved for investment

the way we teach, fund, and celebrate social

banking interviews—are now shared by

entrepreneurship. I wondered whether others

hack-a-thons, accelerators, business incu-

entrepreneurship training courses and social

had the same conflicting feelings as me:

bators, and social entrepreneurship training

impact events. The coffers of social collateral

excitement about the good intentions, but

courses are around every corner. They mostly

have shifted, and starting a social business is

concern about how they were manifesting. So

focus on training people with the skills they

at the top of the Type A student’s to-do list.

I decided to do some research.

need to start a social business, neglecting the

I’ve watched this shift first hand, first as

16

I conducted more than 40 interviews with

In this “everyone an entrepreneur” era,

many other skills required to fully understand

an MBA student, and now through working

educators, funders, and entrepreneurs, and

in a business school and speaking with

had dozens of conversations with students.

students at universities around the world. I’ve

Many noted that the term “social entrepre-

people need a more holistic set of skills,

witnessed a significant increase in the number

neur,” which began to gain popularity more

including systems thinking, an understanding

of students listing their career ambitions

than 20 years ago, used to refer to people

of collaboration tools to further collective

as “being a social entrepreneur,” a growing

who had first-hand experience with a problem

impact, and lateral leadership skills such

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

a problem and fuel social change.

To really change a system, I believe

as the ability to lead without power and to

My conversations led me to a number of

galvanize movement toward a common goal

ideas for how we could work to redirect this

across a diverse and disjointed solutions

plethora of good intention. Here are a few:

ecosystem. They also need a grounded

We need to provide funding for learning,

they can help replicate, connect, and redesign broken systems.

To do this, we launched a Social Impact Careers Conference at Oxford; are planning

understanding of themselves and their skills,

not just solving. A good example of this is

an Alumni Award; and are bringing in a wider

such as how they like to work, which roles in

the “Apprenticing with a Problem” funding

range of role models to inspire our students

a team best fit their skills, and if/how their

(inspired by Peery Foundation Executive

to apprentice with the problems they care

risk tolerance fits with the range of social

Director Jessamyn Shams-Lau, who first

about. For example, the unique journey of

impact career options. Finally, if they plan to

introduced me to the term) that I helped

people like Avani Patel—who apprenticed with

HEROPRENEURSHIP (noun): THE PROMOTION AND HERO-WORSHIPING OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS THE ULTIMATE SIGN OF SUCCESS, LEADING US TOWARDS A WORLD WITH A PROLIFERATION OF REPEATED AND DISJOINTED EFFORTS AND TOO FEW PEOPLE LOOKING TO JOIN AND GROW THE BEST ORGANIZATIONS take a leadership or strategic role in solving a

launch at the Skoll Centre at Oxford’s Saïd

education problems, first as a teacher and

problem, they need a deep understanding of

Business School. Only applicant teams

later as a school administrator, before taking

the reality of that problem.

that have lived the problem they are

a role managing philanthropic educational

trying to solve or can prove that they have

investments—serves to inspire others seeking

who get the funding to try their hand at

“apprenticed with” it can apply for funds to

ways to contribute to the social change.

solving global challenges haven’t lived those

startup a venture. But others can now apply

problems themselves. This comes from a

for funds to go out and learn more about

questions. If we want to create solutions to

range of biases. Donors, for example, often

the issue they care about—to support an

global challenges that are grounded in a

fund people they can relate to, and as the

internship with a social impact organization in

deep understanding of those problems and

Dunning-Krugar effect explains, we often

a similar challenge or geography, for instance.

primed to fuel collaboration and collective

Unfortunately, all too often, the people

think the problems we know less about are

We also need to create more incentives

We need to ask collaboration and learning

impact, then we need to fund only the ones

easier to solve. The obsession with becoming

and tools for students to learn about

that are primed to do that! But many funding

“a founder” also arises from a lack of diverse

problems and to identify a range of ways

applications and accelerator programs ask

educational funding programs. For example,

they might contribute to solutions—beyond

more questions about business competition

most universities offer competitions or

their business ideas. Our ecosystem mapping

than collaboration. What if every social

funding to help students start a venture, but

competition at Oxford’s Saïd Business School,

impact funder asked startup applicants this:

don’t have contests and tools to support

for example, aims to reward students for their

“What five organizations working in the same

them in learning about and then “apprenticing

understanding of problems they care about,

sector, within the same geography, or with

with” the problems they care about.

and I have developed an Impact Gaps Canvas,

the same demographic have you spoken with,

which others can build on, to help students

and how have you built on the lessons you

think through the solutions mapping process.

learned from their successes and failures?” If

We—the educators, social entrepreneurship training program designers, social impact funders, and university

We need to celebrate a range of social

we encourage and celebrate “building on,” we

professors who give money and accolades to

impact roles. Many students believe that

will hopefully end up with fewer innovations

students to go out and solve problems before

entrepreneurs are at the top of the impact

designed in a vacuum, and applicants will feel

we’ve given them the tools to understand

careers hierarchy, but this isn’t the case. We

less pressure to prove they are unique and

those problems—are largely to blame for this

also need people to join and help grow those

more pressure to prove they’ve learned about

phenomenon. We’re wasting limited resources

startups, as well as people to take roles in

the problem and current solutions landscape

on shallow solutions to complex problems,

more traditional businesses, governments,

before building their business solution.

and telling our students it’s OK to go out

and organizations to help transform them

and use someone else’s time and backyard

from the inside. Educators need to highlight

tackling heropreneurship will need to be a

as a learning ground, without first requiring

a range of high-impact career options and

collective effort. How do you think we can

that they earn the right to take leadership on

role models, spread out the accolades, and

better channel good intentions into collective

solving a problem they don’t yet understand.

help students identify a range of roles where

positive impact?

As with any other systemic problem,

DANIELA PAPI-THORNTON has been a partner in the development of Dragons Cambodia programs since 2007. She is the deputy director of

the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford’s Saïd Business School. She previously founded a social venture built on solving a problem she hadn’t lived, and she now works to share the lessons she learned in social entrepreneurship education and volunteer travel in an effort to try to help others apprenticing with problems before starting an organization to try to solve them. Daniela recently wrote Tackling Heropreneurship (www.tacklingheropreneurship.com) and is currently co-authoring a book on Learning Service (www.learningservice.info).

PHOTO D aniela speaking at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship’s Emerge Conference at Oxford with her son Skye Thornton, born September 2016.

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17

Reflections from a Homestay Sister WORDS MERTIN LUSI IMAGE FIONA SHERMAN TRANSLATION RITA SRI SUWANTARI, AARON SLOSBERG & LINDSAY OLSEN

AS INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENTS, WE ARE THE PERPETUAL RECIPIENTS OF SO MUCH SEEMINGLY UNCONDITIONAL HOSPITALITY. EVERYWHERE WE GO DOORS OPEN, CUPS OF FRESH COFFEE ARE POURED, AND THE BEST FOOD IN THE HOUSE TROTTED OUT. WE LIVE AMONGST KINDNESS THAT WE DO NOT DESERVE NOR COULD EVER RECIPROCATE. SO TO HEAR MERTIN’S PERSPECTIVE IS A WELCOME REMINDER THAT HOST FAMILIES ARE ENGAGED IN THEIR OWN PARALLEL EXPERIENCES.

D

ragons is a good teacher for the

community of Langa.

I am a writer, and still it is difficult to

In addition, there is the matter of discipline. Bule seem very disciplined with

The students of Rita Sri Suwantari, Matt

time, while the local community lacks

find the words to describe my experience

Colaciello Williams, and Rachel Russell were

punctuality. I have come to believe that

with Dragons. Even if I could use numbers, I

physically so different from us. These bule

being aware of timing is very important in

couldn’t count the ways to say thank you, to

had white skin. Their bodies were twice as

leadership. Bule love cleanliness; they won’t

express the sum total of my gratitude. Words

tall as ours. They seemed really intelligent.

just throw trash on the ground. The local

cannot adequately describe the feeling, the

There were so many facets to our difference

people still throw their trash wherever and

spirit that has been cultivated in the creation

that it made me even more anxious to

this negatively impacts our health.

of such a masterpiece.

interact with them.

I am just a countrywoman who lives in a small village in Indonesia. Our village is called

Before they arrived, we had prepared

Bule also seem very intelligent and like to master their skills. I have learned so many

everything. Every home in the village was

wonderful things from hosting Dragons

Bomari, and it’s located at the foot of Mt.

busy getting ready for the arrival of the

students, about their country, about their

Inerie, the highest volcano in Flores, which

students, prepping our houses, preparing to

lives, and about myself. I think Dragons is

rises above us like a grand pyramid.

communicate, even consulting “Mr. Google”

an extraordinary organization that provides

in case of a communication emergency.

exceptional experiential education to young people.

It is hard to believe that it’s already been four times, four times living with foreigners

Despite all this, we knew most of the

who we would normally just call “bule,”

time we would have to rely on non-verbal

sharing a life together for two weeks. It

communication.

all started in February 2015 when Aaron

Living in one home with two different

Slosberg surveyed my village and came to an

cultures there surely would be so many

agreement with my parents to use our family

things we both couldn’t understand.

as a homestay for Dragons students.

Many people in my village lack higher education, and most of us don’t even speak English. There are so many things about our lives that aren’t the way we wish they were.

Still, I feel we have something to teach

However, over time, I came to realize, all

Dragons students. I hope both the good and

these small differences, even though

bad experiences from staying in our village

however, I was really doubtful about trying

seemingly insignificant, began to deeply

will affect the students: make them stronger

the homestay program. It seemed like such

affect my way of thinking.

individuals, who are better prepared to care

As a young person, I like challenges,

an impossible task to host a foreigner.

Bule always say thank you and show

for others in their own communities and

appreciation for everything, even though

environments. I hope the students can use

“Why would a bule want to stay here?”

they may not like every situation. This is

our shortcomings as the basis to become

“Their life is so different from our life here!”

so different from our own people. In our

individuals who want to create change.

“Can they eat rice everyday?”

society, we feel awkward or shy saying

“What will they do about the food here?”

thank you or showing appreciation to others

so proud to have this friendship with the

“Oh, our house is too ugly for them!”

for small things. I believe this is the reason

students who have stayed with us. I’m sure

“Our bedroom is so tiny!”

why sometimes we can be held back in our

they are not just ordinary students that

“We do not even have a nice bathroom.”

18

I was so nervous when the first Dragons group arrived to our village in April 2015.

As just a simple village woman, I feel

way of thinking. I’m sure when someone

choose to come to Langa. I believe they want

shows gratitude to someone else, even if

to become part of our family—we become friends to make both of our lives complete.

All this negative energy spiraled in my

it’s not expressed perfectly, this practice

head. My nerves became so intense I almost

will build self-confidence in that person

There are so many people in our

backed out of our agreement to host a

and improve the quality of his or her work.

community who can’t hold back tears when

student, but the support and the spirit of

Lately, I’m starting to see our community

it comes time to say goodbye. Even I will

the youth in my village convinced me not to

show gratitude to others, which has been an

always have tears in my eyes each time I

change my mind.

amazing revelation.

have to say goodbye to my new friends.

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

EVERY HOME IN THE VILLAGE WAS BUSY GETTING READY FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE STUDENTS, PREPPING OUR HOUSES, PREPARING TO COMMUNICATE, EVEN CONSULTING “MR. GOOGLE” IN CASE OF A COMMUNICATION EMERGENCY. DESPITE ALL THIS, WE KNEW MOST OF THE TIME WE WOULD HAVE TO RELY ON NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION.

They may never know this, as it is a secret

maintain a strong relationship with Dragons.

inspired your students to become part

that as a community we keep. We do not

I truly believe Dragons is an amazing

of this community and feel comfortable

know when or if we will meet again, maybe

organization. You have a great mission to

relating to everyone here. Thank you to the

for the rest of our lives we will never meet,

make people into human beings, even a

students who have become my teachers, my

but the students will always be in our hearts.

village woman like me.

friends, and my family: Spencer Hardy, Eleni

When we think of the students here, when we miss them, we will sift back through all the

I want to thank Rita Sri Suwantari,

Fernald, Benyamin Yih, and Katherine Georgia

honestly you are one of my greatest

Comfort. Thank you Dragons, whoever you

beautiful memories we shared together. Like

inspirations. Thank you also to Matt

are, I am your family.

family, far away from us, it is all we can do.

Colaciello Williams and Aaron Slosberg,

I hope, as the years roll on, we will

both of you are amazing leaders who have

MERTIN LUSI is the first woman from Ngada Regency to graduate university with a degree in journalism, and later

committed herself to detailing the abuses of the prostitution industry in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city. She has since returned to Flores to work on community development projects in some of the island’s poorest, most remote areas, and is currently organizing youth groups in Langa to empower young women to share their stories through journalism.

Mertin built Langa’s first library, which doubles as the entrance to her house.

PHOTO A fter a week-long homestay in Langa, a Dragons group leaves for the airport in Ende with a loving send off from

their families. Mertin is pictured in the center of the image wearing a purple shirt.

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19

Mertin, Ita & the Langa Library WORDS FIONA SHERMAN IMAGE FLORES, INDONESIA FALL 2015

I WAS BLESSED TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO STAY WITH MERTIN AND THE REST OF THE LUSI FAMILY IN LANGA THIS SUMMER. IT MAY SOUND CLICHÉ, BUT I COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER HOST SISTER. I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN LANGA. THE SHELVES OF THE LIBRARY MAY STILL BE BARE IN SOME PLACES, BUT SOON THEY WILL HOUSE SOME OF THE BOOKS SHE LONGS FOR ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, THE TESTIMONY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. AND THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X. I HOPE TO PLAY A SMALL ROLE IN MAKING THAT A REALITY.

I

n the days approaching our departure from Langa, our homestay

brought me hot tea and homemade donuts. She cooked three meals a

families suddenly felt incredibly inadequate. This small consortium

day, every day, while working on a coffee plantation in a neighboring

of coffee farming villages seemed to think we were leaving because

town and caring for her three-year-old son. I was constantly amazed

of their limitations as hosts, even though we had all known this

by her diligence and enthusiasm.

day would come. From the moment we set foot in Langa, we were

I sometimes went with my other sister, Mertin, to visit Ita at the

told that we were part of the community; we were all immediately

coffee plantation. Unlike Ita, Mertin is a journalist. Actually, she is

brothers, sisters, and friends of every person and every clan. Our

the only female journalist in all of Bajawa, the capital of the Ngada

families worked tirelessly to house us, feed us, provide for us, all the

Regency in which she resides. She teaches introductory courses

while maintaining their more or less normal work schedules.

on journalism, leads a local youth group called the Langa Trekking

As we were hugging goodbye, they continued to apologize for

Community, and has founded and curated Langa’s first and only

not being able to give us the comforts we enjoyed in the States.

public library, the Public Library Isi Langa. Our family kept a portrait

It upset them that we might not have been happy in their homes

of her in a sleek black cap and gown, graduating from the Universitas

because we didn’t have our usual technology, plumbing, food, decor,

Tribhuwana Tunggadewi in Java, outside of the kitchen. They are all so

etc. Whenever I came home my sister, Maria Carmelita, nicknamed Ita,

proud of her.

20 THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

Many Indonesians who travel to attend university on islands

Langans have taken charge to cinch the promise of a bright future.

such as Java or Bali find few employment opportunities back home.

Mertin is optimistic; she believes that the community activism she and

Many graduates end up resettling in cities to find civil servant jobs.

others are involved in can channel the course Langa will follow as it

Many parents dream of sending their children off to college, but are

continues to develop. She was so happy when the Dragons students

shocked and dismayed that this dream may separate them indefinitely.

this summer offered to try and facilitate her library project from the

HER PEOPLE BELIEVED THEY WERE TOO SMALL, TOO SCANT FOR OUR WESTERN TASTES. THEY ASKED FOR OUR FORGIVENESS BECAUSE THEY COULDN’T PROVIDE US WITH MORE. ITA WAS SORRY THAT I HADN’T COME HOME TO HOT FOOD EVERY NIGHT. MERTIN WAS SHOCKED THAT I WOULD WANT TO VISIT AGAIN, TO LIVE WITH THEM AGAIN. THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BEEN SO PRIVILEGED TO STAY IN THE VILLAGES OF LANGA HAVE BEEN TOLD WE ARE KIN, FOR NOW AND FOREVER. In Langa almost nothing is as important as family, so Mertin has taken

States. She started to cry when we told her we would try to come

it upon herself to not only remain in her hometown, but to use her

back to help in person. We were all so grateful to Mertin, the Langa

skills to benefit her townspeople.

Trekking Community, and all of our families and friends for showing us

A recent study published by the Central Connecticut State

how love motivates innovation and fosters a tireless work ethic. Each

University found that, out of the world’s 61 most literate nations,

person in this community truly exemplified a level of commitment and

Indonesia had the second lowest rates of literacy and computer

tenacity that I doubt any of us had ever seen before.

access, ranking at 60. In her community, Mertin lamented that reading

Mertin told me that all she wants from us, from Dragons, or from

is not a popular pastime. Many people end up dropping out of school

anyone—more so than money—was books. She wants to fill her library

before receiving a high school diploma because they aren’t offered

with new and exciting literature: books on Gandhi, Mandela and Hitler.

vocational training that pertains to coffee farming.

According to UNESCO, Indonesia’s gross enrollment ratio for college-aged students in tertiary school was only 25 percent in 2011.

This is lower than both the global average of 31 percent, and, with the

In the future, Dragons hopes to have each student come to Langa with a book to donate to the library.

Real, meaningful, positive change in developing communities can only be accomplished through these communities identifying

exception of India, lower than any of the BRIC nations. Enrollment

the challenges they face and then working with their international

in high schools has improved, but still remains at 51 percent, just

friends to find a functional solution. In the case of Langa, we can

over half of the population of teens aged 15 to 18 and far below the

help expand and encourage education through book donations. As

average for Southeast Asia, of 65 percent.

students and teenagers ourselves, Dragons Indonesia students can

The Indonesian government wants to enroll at least one quarter of its college-aged residents in an institution of higher learning by 2020.

help realize the vision Mertin has for her people, by bringing an extra book in their carry-on. They can be a part of a sincere, humble

Mertin hopes to be a part of this change by working with the youth of

movement, and learn a paramount lesson on ethics in international

Langa. She wants to help children love to read, love their environment,

aid. What Mertin has started is important to us in ways I don’t think

love each other, love their heritage, and love themselves. She hopes

she’s realized.

that her work can help to combat human trafficking in Bajawa and generally empower local youth.

Langa is certainly a community in transition. With tourism on the

Her people believed they were too small, too scant for our Western tastes. They asked for our forgiveness because they couldn’t provide us with more. Ita was sorry that I hadn’t come home to hot

rise and more young people going to university, many village elders

food every night. Mertin was shocked that I would want to visit again,

are concerned about the future. They worry that more people will

to live with them again. Those of us who have been so privileged to

find work and settle down in cities far away, that their culture could

stay in the villages of Langa have been told we are kin, for now and

be swept off as they’re exposed to more technology and social media,

forever. Dragons students traveling there in the future will be told the

and that they simply aren’t ready for the drastic changes ensuing.

same. Our relatives in Langa have enriched our lives and changed

Forty years ago, the homes in Langa were still roofed with straw. Now,

our definitions of family and of love. Through Mertin and through the

all sorts of new products and technologies have been incorporated

library, we now have a way to give back to that community and to our

into Bajawan society, such as tin roofs, chainsaws and machines to

families that, in the same way they couldn’t understand how strongly

peel coffee beans like a cotton gin.

we were impacted by their kindness, is so much more powerful than

The future of this community is uncertain. But a few bright

we can ever really comprehend.

FIONA SHERMAN joined the Dragons family in 2016 (Indonesia ‘16). She is currently studying politics at Oberlin College in Ohio and hopes to

pursue a career in international relations. She will be attending the North India six-week program in the summer of 2017.

PHOTO Dragons student puts the finishing touches on the entrance to Mertin’s home, which doubles as Langa’s public library.

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The Power of GO WORDS SCOTT COE IMAGE LINDSAY COE, ANDES & AMAZON FALL 2016

TRAVEL AND THE SEARCH FOR THE MOMENTS THAT MAKE US.

GO. I can’t think of another two-letter word so heavily laden with

to honest moments that celebrate their belief system, expand their

possibility and optimism. It is adventuresome, full of directive and

perspective and challenge convention. And you can’t get that on a

imbued with hope. It compels you to action. And it’s perhaps the

Disney cruise, regardless of how many climbing walls and jet skis they

easiest way to describe the sea of change in human behavior that

offer.

spreads before us today.

In my work, I spend a lot of time considering the emotional

Yet people of all ages are seeking out the edges. The raw and the new. The moments that wed us to a sense of place as travelers rather

triggers that cause us, as consumers, to act one way or another.

than tourists, and allow us to return home with perspective beyond

Those triggers evolve over time, and each generation—from boomers

ourselves. It is that last point that brings me to the concept around

to GenXers—has put their own stamp on what we value most. But I

which this issue is focused: Leadership and the opportunity we each

think we have today’s Millennials to thank for the power of “Go” as we

have to lead.

trade in our longing for things in favor of a quest for experiences.

In seeking out experiences, we are pulled further and further

As a Dragons parent of teenage daughters, I feel like now more than ever we have the responsibility to help our children gain that

from ‘home’, toward those unique, authentic moments that are

perspective. To see beyond not only ourselves, but also beyond our

neither manufactured nor pedestrian. Quite the opposite, they are

country’s borders. To help them lean into adulthood with a sense of

deliberately raw and unscripted, and there is good reason for this.

global localism, where we think and act both globally and locally.

Our interconnected global economy has forced the world (humans,

Today’s headlines have me concerned. Not so much in a partisan

businesses and nations) to rely on each other more than ever before.

way as in how the overall narrative seems to be getting reshaped.

Technology that is capable of pulling a live video feed from across the

As a nation, we seem to becoming more insular. And our cultural

globe onto our smartphones makes the world simultaneously smaller,

compass seems to be pointing back toward ourselves, rather than

and yet accessible and exotic. With today’s product innovation

further out into the world. And that is a scary thing.

changing so rapidly, people are tired of struggling to keep pace with the latest trends, and instead, they are trading their longing for a closet full of toys for a photo album full of moments.

At the core of our search for experiences is travel—the simple act of stepping past the doormat and into the world to seek out perspective. And at the forefront of travel today are those

If we homogenize society, we don’t just insulate ourselves from alternative perspectives. We miss the opportunity to expand our horizons. To invite history and culture and people into our worldview in a way you can’t learn in a textbook, or from a YouTube channel.

When my oldest daughter traversed Peru and Bolivia last fall, intimately bonding with people and cultures vastly different than

destinations, both near and far, that beckon to us with experiences

the ones she knew, she grew in ways I could never have imagined.

that challenge our perspective and make us feel like locals. This

She experienced people, not policy. She saw ambition and hope

shift from tangible things to evocative experiences is why converted

and determination and kindness. She saw the world. And she gained

sprinter vans are all the rage and Airbnb is outpacing traditional hotel

perspective.

brands 10 to 1.

If travel has become the new social currency, those destinations

Whether we rely on, or shun, the nightly news feed—whether we are hopeful, pessimistic, or even ambivalent to the cultural shifts

off the beaten path have the highest exchange rate. In fact, the travel

happening at home—there has never been a time more critical to

research company, Skift, recently identified such destinations as

lead the next generation and, along the way, provide them with the

Myanmar, Peru and India as top emerging markets, taking share from

perspective that will carry us collectively forward with eyes and arms

well-trodden destinations like Europe and the Caribbean. It’s not

and hearts open wide.

hard to imagine why. Pointing back to our Millennials, they are drawn

And what is more important than that?

SCOTT COE is a Dragon parent and the founder of a Colorado-based marketing and advertising agency that specializes in destination travel.

PHOTO On the second day of my homestay in Tiquipaya, Bolivia, a large bus full of people slowly screeched through the gate into the yard. The

flow of my distant “family” members pouring out of the van seemed endless, each one greeting me with a kiss on the cheek. I felt awkward and out of place in this very new world, armed with only some broken Spanish. Just as fast we all piled back on, this time plus five more: my new mom (pictured on the swing), siblings, and me. Everyone was giddy and chatty, and we drove for about 60 seconds before stopping and hurrying out to a sunny, flowery field with a columpio (chair swing) which was a sacred place for tradition in this family. We swung all day, into dusk, and sang Spanish songs of celebration while everyone took turns pulling the worn ropes that made it go “¡Más rápido, más rápido!” (faster!) By the end of the day, I felt like family. And by the end of the month, I was family. And that was the most beautiful part of my trip.

22 THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

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Leadership for Social Change WORDS & IMAGE ELLIE HAPPEL

ELLIE HAPPEL IS A SOCIAL JUSTICE LAWYER WHO HAS BEEN WORKING IN HAITI FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. SINCE GRADUATING LAW SCHOOL, SHE HAS WORKED CLOSELY WITH VARIOUS HAITIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS AND NYU LAW SCHOOL’S GLOBAL JUSTICE CLINIC ON CASES OF FORCED EVICTION IN THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE (IDP) CAMPS IN PORT-AU-PRINCE. SHE HAS A COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST THE UNITED NATIONS OVER THE INTRODUCTION OF CHOLERA INTO HAITI, AND MOST RECENTLY ON ISSUES INVOLVING HARD METAL MINING. THESE ARE SOME OF HER OBSERVATIONS.

CREATE SPACE

abolish slavery and create a free Haiti.

Leaders for social change create space

PRINCIPLES OVER POPULARITY: THE POWER OF DISSENT

for movements to thrive, change, and to

Leaders choose principles over popularity.

men in an attempt to cross the Antarctic

reinvent themselves. Often, leaders rise

They not only document injustice, but they

continent. Shackleton is famous not for the

not only because of who they are—their

demand action to change the status quo.

transverse—they failed—but for keeping

charisma or skills or vision—but because

They are the authors of (unpopular) dissent.

every member of his team alive. Shackleton

of privilege. Leaders acknowledge power

Justice Harlan was the lone dissent in the

led his team away from their ship, frozen in

and privilege, and work to create the

1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson, arguing

the ice, on a two year journey for survival.

space for those who are less privileged to

that the Constitution is color-blind. It took

Along the way, Shackleton “got proximate.”

speak, to contribute, to shine. Strong social

58 years before Brown v. Board, when

Shackleton did not use his position of

movements push themselves to be more

the Court made this the law of the land.

leadership to insulate himself from the pain

Sir Ernest Shackleton led a team of 27

inclusive and more creative, and demand

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously

of the journey. The ship’s captain, Frank

leadership that embraces plurality. Leaders

dissented to promote free speech. Recently,

Worsley, said that it was Shackleton’s rule

invite movements to grow in size and to

Justice Sotomayor has authored dissenting

that “any deprivation should be felt by

grow in imagination, to strive tomorrow for

opinions to document and criticize the racial

himself before anyone else.” For more, go to:

a dream that is unforeseen today. Strong

discrimination in our criminal justice system.

bit.ly/1qpL7G8

leadership and strong movements embrace

The authors of dissenting opinions and the

LEADERSHIP FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

nonconformity and embrace change. They

promoters of unpopular ideas are rarely iden-

practice inclusivity.

tified as leaders. They should be. In dissenting, in voicing the unpopular, they encourage

Movements make the leader as much as

GET PROXIMATE

alternative visions and promote change.

the leader makes the movement. Leaders

DARE TO CHANGE COURSE

ambitious, inclusive social movements.

Equal Justice Initiative, said “If you are not

Leaders dare to change course. Two

They not only listen to the people, but they

proximate, you cannot change the world.”

examples are Toussaint Louverture, leader of

work in close enough proximity to know

Getting proximate means knowing the

the Haitian revolution, and Ernest Shackleton.

the people, and they give the movement

People, the masses, the Other. True proximity

Toussaint Louverture allied with the Spanish,

the space it needs to thrive. Leading for

breeds empathy, and is possible only in

the French, and then fought for Haiti’s

social change is less about individual

the absence of fear. Proximity disappears

independence, the only slave revolt to result

qualities of character than about the back

Leaders get proximate. Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of the

for social change encourage broad,

the Other. It creates unity; differences are

in a sovereign nation. According to C.L.R.E.

and forth between leaders and the masses,

celebrated and respected, and a common

James’ account, The Black Jacobins, from the

the process of collectively dreaming and

vision is defined.

beginning Louverture had a singular goal: to

redesigning a more just world.

ELLIE HAPPEL ’S first experience with Dragons was on a summer program in Dolpo, Nepal. Ellie was later admitted to NYU Law School as a Root

Tilden Kern scholar in 2008 where she focused on racial justice issues. She has since worked on environmental justice and public health issues in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Washington, D.C. Ellie has led Dragons programs in Guatemala, India, and Peru. She most recently led Dragons Fall 2016 Andes and Amazon Semester.

PHOTO Haitian community leaders and Ellie conduct a survey on access to water in communities affected by mining in Haiti.

24 THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

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25 

International Law & the House of Wisdom INTERVIEWER JUSTIN KIERSKY IMAGE ELKE SCHMIDT

HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, OSAMA MOFTAH, TOOK A SABBATICAL LAST SUMMER TO LEAD THE JORDAN COURSE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL LAW, LEADERSHIP AND THE CIRCUITOUS GLOBAL HIGHWAY THAT LED HIM TO WORK WITH DRAGONS STUDENTS. WHERE THERE BE DRAGONS (WTBD): Welcome back to the world of

WTBD: Is it mere pessimism to doubt that the global community can

Dragons, Osama. I imagine it has been quite a transition to shift from

aspire to create a world in which human rights and social justice are

the mindset of an educator teaching in the Jordanian deserts back

equally valued because nations will always be unwilling to relinquish

to a human rights lawyer working in a Danish office. Thank you for

their sovereignty? What changes are needed to make the UN

taking time to sit down with us and share your thoughts. To begin,

effective?

can you tell us a little about the significant events that catalyzed your

OM: Human rights and peace and security are two of the three

commitment to human rights and democracy?

founding pillars of the United Nations. After 70 years, we can

OSAMA MOFTAH: The 2005 Egyptian parliamentary election is an

look back and say we have come a long way and human rights is

event that changed the face of political life in Egypt, and hence, my

undeniably a universal norm. We now have international human

political views. I was in my third year in university when the Egyptian

rights institutions such as the Human Rights Council that include all

government allowed civil society, for the first time, to monitor

UN members. Something we never imagined to happen 70 years

elections. I observed this election and through it was able to learn

ago. However, globalization brought complexities that are perceived

about democracy and be a part of the first Arab groups who worked

as threats to national sovereignty by many nations. Therefore,

on the election. This was the first election in an Arab country to

more nations are less committed and some are even considering

be observed by civil society. The 2005 experience put me in touch

withdrawing from international agreements. The UN can do more

with the right people who continue to be dedicated to the cause

by being a truly ‘global organization’ that upholds a universal

of democracy and human rights. That was the driving factor that

understanding of global issues. To achieve this the UN must reshape

motivated me to work in this field.

its programs and place individuals at the center of its work. A quick

When I finished university I wanted to do my master’s degree and, somehow, the University for Peace caught my attention. It is part of

look at the UN official records will show us that only 3% of the total UN regular budget is allocated to human rights. Moreover, concepts

the UN academic arm and exists in Costa Rica, the first country to

like global citizenship tend to fall through the cracks. The UN can do

demolish its army. The whole experience was fascinating to me and I

more by directing its work towards world citizens and not relying as

learned a great many things while I was there. I also wanted to meet

heavily on governments. There is a great chance for success if we

with Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica at the time, and I managed

raise the awareness of global citizens.

to do so. He was a fascinating politician who managed to play an important role in conflict mediation throughout Latin America. I had a

WTBD: What do you feel are the greatest challenges to human rights

conversation with him about his political role and I’m always imbued

and international rule of law?

with a sense of pride when I see my picture with him.

OM: The biggest challenge is the fact that most governments are

WTBD: For the youth who have grown up in Middle Eastern countries

success of the current international system rests on the success of its

embroiled in war, is it crazy to think that hope will one day soon

governments. The global refugee crisis is an example of the failure

spring eternal? How do we avoid those fatalistic tropes and clichés

of our international system. Governments are unable to receive more

unable to deliver services and many are in total collapse. The

that suggest it won’t?

refugees and do not want to contribute enough to the UN to look for

OM: Many writers say that the Middle East will have a lost generation.

solutions. It is fair to say that ideas such as entrepreneurship and the

This is the gloomy forecast about the future Middle East. There are

role of individuals do not exist in the current UN funding plans. There

two things to stay hopeful about the whole situation: 1) Thanks to big

is always a chance to fund UN projects through individuals but this

data, we are now in a better position to design policies that tackle the

is not considered a legitimate solution yet. Individuals can play an

root causes of problems and quicken the pace of change. 2) If we put

active and positive role in solving international conflicts and the UN

sufficient resources in play, change will take less time. Take the Syrian

can help in reaching this.

refugees as an example. In less than three years, Syrian refugee

26

groups reached different ends based on their destination countries.

WTBD: To many, the Muslim world has become synonymous with

The more the international community gets involved, the better off

divisiveness and intolerance. Can you elucidate a broader, more

refugees will be. I saw this when I worked with Syrian refugees in

nuanced, interpretation of leadership in Islam?

Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey. Same people, strikingly different

OM: It is unfortunate that the good guidance provided in the Quran

results in just three years, depending on international support.

and Sunnah does not deliver with its wisdom the power of self-

THE MAP’S EDGE Spring 2017

implementation. We have a duty as Muslims to understand and

‘American Dream’, the dream to live in a place that combines the best

materialize these teachings in a manner befitting our societies. In the

of all cultures and civilizations.

past, Islamic culture played a positive role in the Middle East when it was a blend of Arab, Egyptian, Persian and Greek cultures. This

We only advance when we open ourselves to others, even in Middle Eastern and Islamic countries. When I look at our history in

led to strong societies and stunning intellectual achievements. This

the Middle East, I see a similar pattern. Islamic civilization owes part

is what we call the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasid dynasty.

of its achievements to other cultures. The House of Wisdom that was

Islamic culture now plays a negative role in dividing Middle Eastern

built by the Abbasid caliphates is proof in this regard. It was built as a

societies, and each culture wants to impose itself upon others. There

formal institution mandated to translate books from other languages

are different interpretations of Islamic texts right now because we

into Arabic. This translation opened the door for Arabs to learn

have different types of Muslim intellectuals. In the past, Muslim

from other cultures and to build upon them. The House of Wisdom

philosophers used to be scientists who were brilliant in mathematics,

represented the top intellectual institution and nurtured many Muslim

physics and linguistics. This was the time when Al-Farabi wrote about

scientists and philosophers who shaped our understanding at that

the “virtuous city” and described types of societies and qualities

time. All people from all religions (Muslim, Christians and Jews) were

of the leader. Averroes, Avicenna and Al-Kindi are examples of

welcome to study there. It is hard to imagine the Islamic Golden Age

Muslim philosophers who translated major literatures into Arabic

without the House of Wisdom and the openness to others.

and described Islamic texts based on this understanding. Due to their intellectual leadership, previous Muslim philosophers invented

WTBD: After leading your first Dragons course in Jordan this summer,

comprehensive political theories about state administration and state

what unique lessons on leadership did you encounter?

institutions. Some concepts were too advanced for the time, and can

OM: This trip was remarkable in that it allowed me to gain different

be compared to modern institutions. For example, the concept of

perspectives on leadership and life in general. The chats we had with

Mohtasib can be seen as Islamic version of current ombudsmen.

Jordanians in cafés and supermarkets in the village showed their

Now we have different types of Muslim scholars and, hence, a

remarkable ability to provide solutions to world problems. In one

different understanding of Islamic texts. Current Muslim scholars are

conversation, some people explained to us that major business ideas

not scientists, they are not philosophers, and they hardly speak any

that we talk about in our daily lives are a replication of the simple

language other than Arabic. Their limited capacity can distort the

solutions that exist in small villages. One gentleman offered that,

good Islamic texts. This is the plain reality that we live in.

from his point of view, the ride-sharing concept adopted by Uber is merely a technological advancement similar to what village people

WTBD: While the foundations of the United States establish freedom

have done for many years on their daily trips. There are very few cars

of religion and a clear distinction between Church and State, violent

in the village, so the solution is to share limited resources for a fee or

clashes over ideology and laws of inclusion continue. Does this reality

service. Another example is Airbnb, which is the modern version of

contradict the global vision of the U.S. and its values?

a local house sharing business. This is interesting because when we

OM: I hear this question frequently and I think it reflects what people

think about all disruptive business ideas, we find them to be more

see through the media these days. My personal experience in the

similar to local traditions than outcomes summarized in books on

USA showed me another way of seeing the ‘other’. In 2012, I did a

business strategy.

brief fellowship at the U.S. Senate where I learned about American

Another example is the use of mobile financial transfers. This

democracy. The highlight of my trip was the meaning that I found

practice started in Africa and Arab countries as a way to overcome

in the design of process and even the architecture in DC. There is

the inaccessibility of banks. Some mobile companies developed the

a powerful drawing on the ceiling of the library of Congress. The

idea into a business model and it became the mobile bank. In one

drawing depicts twelve cultures, religions or countries that have

conversation, a Jordanian told us that it would be better to send

had the greatest influence on Western civilization prior to the early

American entrepreneurs to local villages rather than MBA programs

20th century. Those depicted are Judea (representing religion),

if they want to be successful. In his view, this is the place to mine for

Egypt (representing written records), Islam (representing physics),

new ideas and solutions. This is a pretty fascinating fact for me! And I

Middle Ages (representing modern languages), Spain (representing

think it is true to a large extent.

discovery), England (representing literature), France (representing emancipation), Germany (representing the art of printing), Italy

WTBD: What advice would you give to young Dragons as they

(representing the fine arts), Greece (representing philosophy), Rome

become leaders in their world?

(representing administration) and America (representing science).

OM: Travel more! I cannot see any transformative act that supersedes

This drawing shows that the USA was established as a country

the perspective that travel offers. I believe that to be a good leader

not afraid of others’ identity. In fact, it appreciated their success and

necessitates that one cultivate a love for this shared world. What

built upon it. This is the reason that many desire what is called the

better way to build empathy then to see how others live.

OSAMA MOFTAH graduated from Alexandria University with a degree in law before pursuing an M.A. in International Law and Settlement of

Disputes at the UN mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. Osama currently lives in Copenhagen where he practices international law with an emphasis on human rights and democracy, good governance and legal reform at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

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