So... Geneva? Why Geneva?

People have been asking me what I am doing in Geneva. Some of what I'm doing in class is easy to explain and some of it is hard, so I will try:

1) We're learning Ruby on Rails which is a web design programming language that we will use in the design of our projects during the next year.

2) Digital video. We've made a couple videos, but we haven't spent as much time on this as we have on #1 and #3.

Speaking of #3...

3) This is the big one. This is the time we spend researching and listening to people who are working on some sort of project that is trying to improve conditions in the world. My final project will have something to do with this Project conceptualizing/speakers/collaboration - this is a lot of why we are here in Geneva. We've spent time hearing from all sorts of people working to change the world for the better in their own ways. We've heard from a man from the UNA in Congo who is working to improve the lives of people in the Congo (trying to prevent malaria by getting people mosquito nets, for example), we heard from the Director of Projects at WFUNA (World Federation of United Nations Associations), the ILO (International Labor Organization), the Loi Gai Project (this refers to people in prisons in China... there are some really horrible things happening there), tomorrow we will hear from the International Red Cross, and we've heard from some others as well... anyway. We've spent a lot of our time here on this part, but that's because it's the hardest part. I'm not totally sure what my project is going to look like yet, but I'm getting there...

Does this clear up, ever so slightly, what I'm doing here? Basically. We're learning the skills we will need in order to use technology to educate/advocate others/students about global issues. Or maybe I'm just here to hang out in Switzerland for three weeks! :)

I hope you are all well! Let me know if you have questions..

Peace,
Kira