For nearly a year now, a group of Dordt students led by Professor Mark Volkers have been working on a documentary about life in the slums of the Third World, where over one billion people now live. Filming for the Slum Documentary Film Project have taken these students to the Philippines, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Their final journey will take place this Christmas, when they travel to Kenya to document the lives of people living in Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world.
To raise money for this trip, these students will be showing some of their footage in a travelogue at the B. J. Haan Auditorium Saturday night. Admission for students is $3.50, $5.00 for adults. The travelogue starts at 7 PM. Come on out to support your fellow students!
Here is Camp 22 in North Korea, one of a string of prison camps across the country where political prisoners and their families (up to three generations) are held:
And here is Washington DC, shown at the same scale:
Want to know more? Come see Seoul Train Wednesday at 7 PM, in S101.
Since 1948, the nation of Korea has been divided into two states, North and South. The South has had its struggles and difficulties, but it has emerged as one of the world’s most prosperous democracies. Due to the secrecy of the North’s dictatorship, it’s sometimes difficult to get accurate information about the situation there. Fortunately for the oppressed of the world, we live in the age of satellite photography. This photo pretty much sums up the conditions of the two nations:
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have risked their lives to flee the grinding poverty and political oppression of the North for free countries. Find out more about how we can help them by coming to the screening of the Seoul Train documentary, Wednesday, November 11, at 7 PM, in room 101 of the Science Building.
On Wednesday, November 11, Dordt’s Justice Matters Club will be hosting a presentation by LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), an organization dedicated to ending the North Korean human rights crisis and assisting refugees from North Korea. A team of LiNK volunteers (called “Nomads”) on a 10-week tour across North America will come to Dordt to screen the documentary “Seoul Train,” which chronicles the efforts of hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees to escape to freedom.
The screening is in room S101 in the Science Building, at 7:00 PM. The event is open to the public. Mark your calendars!
From the SEOUL TRAIN website:
Today, there are an estimated 250,000 North Korean refugees living underground in China. They escaped a food crisis and other persecutions at home that have claimed the lives of approximately 3 million in the past 10 years. As the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stands idly by, the Chinese Government – in direct violation of international laws to which it’s a party – systematically arrests and forcibly repatriates hundreds of these refugees each month. Defecting from North Korea is a capital offense, and repatriated refugees face human rights abuses ranging from concentration camps and torture to forced abortion and summary executions.
For a lucky few refugees, however, there is hope. A group of multinational activists has taken it upon themselves to create an Underground Railroad. Via a network of safe houses and escape routes, the activists – at great personal risk – help the refugees on daring escapes to freedom over thousands of miles of Chinese territory. This is an odyssey where betrayal and deceit lurk around every corner, and the price of getting caught likely means death. It’s an epic tale involving years on the lam living in underground shelters, North Korean and Chinese agents, double-crossings, covert border crossings, and the terror of what happens if they get caught.
Come see Seoul Train to learn more about this hidden human rights crisis, and what you and I can do to help.
In these recession-troubled times, the Iowa legislature is considering cutting the Iowa Tuition Grant in its upcoming session. This could have a huge financial impact on Dordt students from Iowa. If you're an Iowa student, and you think higher education is a part of the state budget that should be protected, come to a letter-writing party in the Grille Area, today at 9 PM. Pizza will be served, and students will be heard from.
"We're not gonna take it. Never did and never will!" - The Who
Recently in CORE 300 class, the professors played a video of an interview of black liberation theologian James Cone:
This video was also played in class when I, your humble symposium news officer, took CORE 300 last semester. When I first saw this video, it made me angry. It also made a lot of my classmates angry. A protracted, heated debate followed, in which I’m pretty sure no one understood what anyone else was trying to say. A lot of shots were fired, and no consensus ground reached.
Looking back, I wish I hadn’t been so defensive. As a white child of the 90s, I sometimes feel like I’ve been saddled with guilt I don’t deserve. Long before I was born, people with my skin color instituted a truly horrific system of slavery and segregation on those with a different skin color. The effects of this massive crime against humanity linger to this day. As a white person, I have to contend with this legacy. I feel like this is unfair. After all, I never enslaved anybody. I imagine other white kids my age have the same feelings.
And yet, that legacy is a reality. And it is my calling as a servant of Christ to not turn away, to not get defensive, to not lie and say, “It’s not my problem.” It is my problem.
What better way to start dealing with the problem than by setting aside my defensiveness, and listening to people who come from a totally different background, who experience America in a completely different way than I do?
I still don’t agree with Professor Cone. But I’m not sure I completely understand what he’s trying to say yet. I think I’ll watch again. Care to join?
What do you all think? Look for Symposium to start a conversation about this in the near future. If you have any thoughts, please contact us.
"There's something happening here What it is ain't exactly clear ...Young people speaking their minds..."
- Buffalo Springfield Welcome to the C8 Caucus blog, a project of the Dordt College Student Symposium. Here, it's our mission to keep track of issues that affect - or can be affected by - college students, particularly college students in Iowa, particularly students at Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA. But the discussion is open to all!
From you, we need two things: issues, and ideas. The issues can be anything - student loan policies, academic freedom, relief efforts for Africa, global warming, democracy in Iran - the sky's the limit! If an issue discussed here jumps out at you, let us know what you think about it.
You're in college. You're young, idealistic and energetic. There's no better time to get involved. So get involved - and then let us in on it!
