Staying Safe Abroad by Bradley University blogger Ashley

Recently, a few friends of mine traveled to Dublin, Ireland for two weeks as part of our university’s study abroad program. I had the opportunity to ask one of my friends three questions about safety abroad. I paraphrased most of her response, but some sentences are direct quotes:


How safe did you feel? More safe than Peoria. There were times when I walked back alone. I think it’s because we were in a very tourist area. Also, it would still be bright outside at like 9, 10 o’clock, and plenty of people were still on the streets. I was never really on the street by myself. I feel like the culture there, crime-wise, are mainly people getting mugged more than sexual crimes, but I really don’t know. I’m not sure of the statistics.


How worried were you about yourself or friends meeting people in Dublin? People were really social, so meeting them was really fine. Most of the people we met were tourists. But I felt cautious because I know people knew that we were tourists, so they could take advantage of us if they wanted to. They know we’re trying to have fun abroad, so we might try to do things that we wouldn’t normally do back home, so it’s different.


Is there any advice you would give anyone traveling abroad (with a group for school or alone/with friends)? Realize that you’re naïve to the culture and the norms. Just because it might be a European culture similar to ours, doesn’t mean that it’ll be the same. People will know that you’re a tourist, based on how you talk and whatnot. Don’t go crazy, especially when drinking, just because you can’t really do that back here (since the drinking age is 18). You’re more naïve than you think you are. I’d say always use the buddy system, even though I did walk alone to places close by where we were staying, just because you never know.


………


According to the U.S. Department of State’s website on travel (


http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1145.html#crime

), “Ireland has a relatively low rate of violent crime. Petty crime and residential crime is much more common, especially in urban and tourist areas.” This reflects exactly what my friend said, but we also have to keep that Dublin has the highest crime rate of the country and is the most popular tourist area.




Whether you’re traveling to Ireland, England, China, Brazil, or anywhere abroad, the rule of thumb is to be aware of your surroundings, do your research on cultural norms, travel with a friend (or even a small group) if possible, and don’t get too carried away with the freedom and let down your guard.

A donde se fue el sentido humanitario? by Harold Washington blogger Juan

Hace unos días estuve en el autobús de camino a mi trabajo, y como de costumbre, esoty sentado, cabeza abajo, ojos en la pantalla de mi celular, tratando de encotrar algún articulo que vaya a entretenerme por el tiempo que pasaría en aquel autobús.Poco sabía yo que en unos 2 minutos desde ese momento mi búsqueda me iba a llevar de una sensación de paz, a una furia interna. Me topé con un artículo en la cual se me hizo difícil pasar. Este artículo es sobre una mujer en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos, qun país situado al sureste de la península arábiga en el Golfo Pérsico, que fue drogada y violada por varios hombres. Se encontró en una habitación que nunca había estado antes y no podía recordar el viaje que la llevó a ese lugar. Entonces procedió a hacer lo que cualquier persona haría en una situación similar. Acudió a las autoridades a denunciar a estos hombres y poder encontrar justicia y paz en el medio de la tempestad en la cual vivía en ese momento. Resulta que los funcionarios de los Emiratos Árabes Unidos tienen una creencia profunda que prohíbe a dos personas, legalmente, en tener relaciones sexuales fuera del matrimonio, y cualquier persona que no cumpla con la ley, pues el acto se categoriza como un crimen. No sólo los funcionarios descaradamente ignoraron el hecho de que fue violada, pero también le hicieron firmar unos papeles, escritos en árabe, los cuales afirmaban que ella supo lo que estaba haciendo, y el hecho de que no se acordaba tuvo que ver con la cantidad de alcohol que ella decidió tomar esa noche. Así pues pasó ocho meses en prisión.

Cuando yo reflexiono sobre la falta de compasión humanitaria que algunos países y culturas tienen, frustración asume el control de mi ser. Es como si mi mente no puede creer la ignorancia que existe en la creencia en la superioridad de género. ¿Por qué los hombres tienen que mantener constantemente un estado de poder sobre las mujeres? ¿Por qué las mujeres tienen que servir, contribuir, y dar constantemente a sus maridos, pero no pueden nunca exigir nada, o trabajar ciertas profesiones, o reclamar y obtener un sueldo justo de la misma manera hombres obtienen. Pero algunos países ejecutan y se basan en ideales que vienen de puro odio, ira, egoísmo y poder sobre todo. Y este es un tema que sólo podemos esperar confiados en algún cambio. Honestamente, la única solución que se me ocurre es criar una generación de hombres que piensen diferente; hombres que honestamente crean que las mujeres deben ser tratadas con respeto e importancia. Y quiero terminar este blog diciendo, que es bien importante ser amables con todas las personas que nos rodean; tratar a todos la misma forma que a le gustaría ser tratado. Yo podría animar a los hombres a centrarse sólo en el tratamiento de las mujeres, pero se trata de cómo tratar y ver a todos a tu alrededor. Se trata de un cambio de mentalidad en que uno quiera hacer cosas buenas, ser bueno para otros y aprender a tener un sentido de humanidad. 

Where did the humanitarian principles go? by Harold Washington College blogger Juan

A few days ago I was on the bus on my way to work and as usual, I am scrolling down some website on my iPhone trying to find something to read that will take my mind off my surrounding reality and place it somewhere interesting. Little did I know that in about 2 minutes from that moment my quest on finding the highly craved, interesting article was going to backfire on me. I stumbled upon an article that made it difficult for me to pass. This article was about a woman in the United Arabs Emirates, which is a country located southeast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, who was drugged and raped by several men. She found herself in a room she had never been before and could not recall the journey that led her to that place.And so she did what anyone in her position would have had done.

She went to the authorities to report it and find justice for her tragedy. Turns out that the officials of the United Arab Emirates have a profound belief that in order for two people to be allowed sexual intimacy, they have to be married first, and in the instance that intimacy does occur outside marriage, well then that is considered a crime. Not only did the officials blatantly ignored the fact that she was raped, but they tricked and made her sign some papers she could not read since it was written in Arabic. She later found out she had just signed a document stating she had sex outside of marriage and it was due to her choice of drinking alcohol. So she spent 8 months in prison.

When I ponder upon the lack of humanitarian views some countries and cultures hold, frustration takes over. It’s like my mind cannot believe the ignorance that exists in believing in gender superiority. Why men have to constantly maintain a status of power over women. Why women have to serve and contribute and give constantly to their husbands but they can’t ever demand anything, or work in certain fields, or get paid unfairly and differently than men. But some countries run and are based on ideals that are founded on hatred, anger, selfishness, and power-over-everything. And this is an issue which we can only hope to be fixed sometime soon. Honestly, the only solution I can think of is to raise a generation of men who think differently; men who believe women are to be treated of equal respect and not used to an advantage. And so I want to end this blog by saying, be kind to everyone you see, treat everyone the same way you would like to be treated. I could encourage men to focus only on treating women better and with compassion, but it comes down to how you treat and view everyone around you. It’s about a change of mentality that will allow one to want to do good things, be good to others, and learn to have a sense of humanity.