Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Tea, Talk

Korrin B.

May 8, 2009 - 11:46 AM

Last night I went to McArthur Court and not for basketball. My friend had gotten tickets to go see a speaker and that was just about all I knew. She had briefly told me earlier in the week that I should go to see this speaker with her and that I'd like it. I remember her saying something about tea. Well, I'm always down to do something different, so I agreed. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I assumed the speaker would be in Columbia 150 or something. I went straight to campus after work and soon learned that the speaker was going to be at Mac Court when I saw an enormous line of people stretching out to 18th Avenue. I met my friend who had been there waiting earlier. She was at the front of another line that stretched down to the EMU.

Once we got into the building, we sat down to wait for the speaker. While we waited, some musicians played traditional music from Pakistan on stage. They were dressed in gorgeous fabrics that glittered in the spotlight. I love hearing music from around the world because it makes me imagine traveling to that land and all of the adventures, smells, sounds, sights, and tastes of it.

Finally, the speaker was introduced, Greg Mortenson, author of the book Three Cups of Tea. I knew there was something about tea involved! While the student body president introduced the speaker, he mentioned that this huge event was all free because the entire thing was being funded by student fees. My friend and I looked at each other in surprise. Then we looked around the audience. There were barely any students there. Most of the audience consisted of middle age community members. Although I think the event was great and an amazing thing to do for the community, I fail to see why our student fees should be used for things that aren't directly for the students. That's a lot of our student money to spend for barely any students to show up.

However, I put my disgruntlement aside and prepared myself to enjoy the wisdom of Greg Mortenson. He gave a really amazing talk, definitely a good speaker and very inspirational. He told his story about how he had gone to Pakistan to climb a mountain in honor of his late sister. He didn't make it to the top and then ended up sick on the way back down. He ended up in a small village where the community took him in and nurtured him back to health. While he was there, he realized that the children didn't have a school. They could only afford to have a teacher come three days a week. He decided that he would come back someday and build them a school. So, in short, he worked really hard to raise the money and when he finally did, he came back and built the school. He is now responsible for building several schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, promoting the education of both boys and girls. It was really an incredible story and it is so great to see these types of amazing people in the world. I'm really glad that I went to this event.

I guess I have to throw my own opinion out there though too. I feel like everyone always talks about how there is so much poverty "out there" in "those countries." There are so many children "over there" not getting a proper education. People "in that part of the world" are so hungry. This is all true. There is a lot of poverty in the world. Families are hungry and the public is not getting educated. However, all of these things that people love to so quickly label other countries as, exist right here in the United States in our own backyard. U.S. citizens live in poverty and are homeless. They are hungry. Many children fail to receive the education they need. How can we expect to strengthen the world before we strengthen our own communities? We must act domestically and empower our nation's impoverished, so that we may truly help the rest of the world. I have great respect for the work that people do overseas, but I also see the need for more of that type of work here. I just hope people do not forget our forgotten.