Monday Musings - From Home to Homeland

[Photo Above: over the weekend I participated in a "Bridging Cultures Workshop: Enhancing Your Cross-Cultural Skills for Personal and Professional Growth" with Ambassador Martin Brennan, Dr. Liliane Koziol, Intercultural Trainer Breidi Truscott, Executive Director Emeritus Joe Lurie at International House - University of California at Berkeley. It was fantastic.]
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Dear Jazz and Erin,
I'm sorry to hear about the bullies at your schools. Know that you are not alone. (As a young girl, I was also bullied for being Chinese, adopted, and "different" at my very Euro-American school.) Bullies have an uncanny way of suspending your own good judgment, making you temporarily forget how very powerful you actually are. Don't fall for their spells. Remember this: YOU ARE POWERFUL. YOU ARE WISE. WORTHY. TALENTED. INTELLIGENT. BEAUTIFUL. While meeting an amazing group called "MAPS Adopted Teens of Portland, Maine," one girl (adopted from Vietnam) told me about a club she started at her school called "BULLIES NOT WANTED (BNW)." BNW held socials, raised awareness, and changed the social dynamics at her school. She took a difficult experience (being bullied by other students for being adopted and Asian) and transformed it into something positive by reaching out to others, thereby educating her entire school! I was so inspired by her story, so I thought I would share it with you. Keep your chin up. Keep nurturing your own special talents. We're here for you. We're all in this together ~ ONE WORLD. xx

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Kate Adie's Nobody's Child (Chapter 7 Title)
"WHERE IS YOUR HOME?"

"To go home, 'to return,' is -- at its core -- more about people (including the ghosts of our pasts, presents and futures), community, and a sense of continuity, belonging and pride: Adoption Pride...[ours] is a lifetime journey, one that varies as much as the vicissitudes and veracities of each individual human spirit."

----From "Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Mom" by Jennifer in the anthology From Home to Homeland (edited by Debra Jacobs, Dr. Iris Chin Ponte, Leslie Kim Wang, Yeong & Yeong, 2010)

THIS WEEK'S BLOG QUESTION:
(Kate Adie's Nobody's Child, Chapter 8 Title)
"What Schools Did You Attend?"

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Post #13 Dedicated with Love & Gratitude
to the CAL G2 Teen Ambassadors, to Lisa Kamino, Ambassador Martin Brennan, Dr. Liliane Koziol, Intercultural Trainer Breidi Truscott, Executive Director Emeritus Joe Lurie and Shanti Corrigan
to my fantastic "From Home to Homeland" editors Debra Jacobs, Dr. Iris Chin Ponte, Leslie Kim Wang - Thank you for making "From Home to Homeland" a beautiful fundraiser book for FCC Orphanage Appeal, which provides "foster care and sponsors 'grandma's' who offer supplemental care in Chinese orphanages...[and] The AIDS project in Anhui and Henan Provinces...supporting children orphaned when a parent has died of AIDS."
And to my sister Huan in Ireland and her mum, Cáit. Thank you for believing in our little volunteer project called CAL and ONE WORLD when other people told me it was impossible.

Congratulations to author Ruthanne Lum McCunn!

"BLOOM YOUR BEST"

~Love From Jennifer~

Native Province: Taipei & Jiangsu (mainland China) Hometown: Laguna Beach (OC), California Arrived in the USA: Dec 1979 / Jan 1980 Education: NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Harvard & UC Berkeley Generation: G2, “A Global Generation” Why This Blog: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller