Tag: international development

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SGA President: Katharine Lebrecque

With the new changes brought to SGA this fall, positions entail different responsibilities. Senior, Katharine Labrecque, serves as this year’s president, heading up the newly organized student government.

Labrecque has been involved in student government since her freshman year in high school. She served as secretary for four years and continued that role her first and sophomore year at Houghton for the class of 2015. Last year, she served as a senator for the political science department. This year she begins a different role, as president.

“There are a lot more responsibilities. It’s hard because I am overseeing the different officers, making sure they are carrying out their roles while also being supportive,” said Labrecque regarding the transition, “I like having a clear goal in mind and to write notes. But I do carry that into this role, I still take notes. And just being organized… that has been a strength.”

Her role is to oversee all of the executive council and to represent the student body: their needs and their voice. One of her biggest objectives is to make herself available to receive feedback from students.

“Whether that is from personal interaction with students in my classes or on the soccer team, a suggestion box, or just having people come in the office,” said Labrecque, “I think [my role is] just about the students and I don’t think that I am any more important than they are, but I am a way that they can get their voice heard to faculty, staff and to people who are in charge of the college.”

Through the reorganization of the cabinets, there are less members total. Without senators, the power of SGA is much more concentrated. Due to having a fewer amount of representatives, Labrecque has encouraged members to seek student input.

“It’s a whole new system set up and we are working on our constitution and bylaws and making sure that they align with the college policies,” said Labrecque, “A huge focus now is on the non-traditional students, in Buffalo, and what role we can have there.”

As a dual Political Science and International Development major, Labrecque’s interests of studies converge in her role. Although not knowing where she will end up, she knows how she has been called to act. Her involvement with SGA at Houghton is in line with her goals to prepare for the future.

“I definitely feel like God has put on my heart that I need to be a voice for people who are not heard,” said Labrecque, “And I feel that whatever it is, whether it is politics, which I am interested in, or for government agencies, specifically in development or public policy, that I can really advocate the people and make it about the people.”

Currently, Labrecque is lending her voice to Houghton students. Yet, beyond the population of Houghton, Labrecque is concerned with justice and advocacy on a broader scale.

“I feel like our politics, in the US, are very much separate, there is a lack of unity,” said Labrecque, “It has been frustrating to see that people are suffering because we can’t get along and we can’t make trade-offs.”

Labrecque’s passion to serve has allowed her to take on many roles. As president, Labrecque launches SGA into a new year structured by new organization. Perhaps students will respond to her vision of a refurbished SGA, sharing her passion for the voice of the individual, and creating the necessary dialog between the two.

“This is new for me. I want to make SGA something that is not a governing body, but a resource. It can be a way that we can communicate with students and let them know about the things that are going on in the world and on campus, just make it transparent.” said Labrecque, “I think there have been a lot of negative connotations attached to SGA and I want to rid that. I want to make it a place that people associate with this comfortable body of student leaders who are desired and work for the rest of the campus.”

Different ways to connect with Labrecque and other member of SGA include: looking for SGA members around campus, emailing SGA at sga@houghton.edu, sending a comment or sharing feedback through intra-campus mail marked SGA, scheduling a coffee date with the president, or visiting the office in the basement of the Campus Center and leaving a prayer request.

 

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Houghton Students attend Faith and International Development Conference

Between February 6 and February 8, a group of 22 Houghton students attended Calvin College’s Faith and International Development Conference (FIDC) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

According to Ndunge Kiiti, intercultural studies, Houghton students have been consistently attending this conference since 2006, though “we’ve missed maybe one (or maybe even two) years.” However while intercultural studies and political science faculty typically organize the trip to Calvin, this year the organization of the trip was mainly due to student initiatives from Sarah Slater and Hanna Kahler, juniors.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAKahler was most interested in attending this conference because of the influence her older sister who attended a few years prior and found the conference to be “wonderful.” To Kahler, “it was always something on my bucket list.”

However, because of budgetary problems, it appeared at the beginning of this year that the trip to Calvin might not run after all. According to Slater, “usually there’s several thousand dollars in the budget in the intercultural studies department to do a conference trip but there wasn’t that money allocated this year” which prompted Slater and Kahler to take charge.

Slater and Kahler were mostly in charge of raising funds across many organization on campus, which included the SGA, the Intercultural Studies department, and GCF, in order to help assist the costs of transportation. Said Slater, many of the challenges revolved around funding and “keeping sane” during the two and a half week period that she and Kahler were given to organize the trip.

The group representing Houghton at Calvin was the largest at the conference at 22 students. Compared with years past, there were also more diversity of Houghton’s majors represented. Said Slater, “I’m pleased that we had more majors than usual. Usually it is just upper-level intercultural and political science majors, but this year we also had students from business, art, psychology, and physical therapy. We had a lot of student diversity.” Slater was particularly pleased because, “Part of the nature of international development is that you’re trying to include everyone so I feel like a conference about international development should reflect that.”

The focus of the conference revolved around the idea of “cultivating community” and, according to the conference handbook, to answer the questions, “Who is cultivating community? How? Who belongs where? Why? What does community look like?” by looking at these questions through the light of “Christ’s work on the cross.”

The keynote speaker at the conference was Brian Fikkert, a professor of economics and community development and author of “When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… And Yourself.” Fikkert spoke about his work involving microfinancing in developing countries and also, in keeping with the theme of the conference, his core belief that human beings were made for relationships with God and each other.

Other speakers at the conference included: Rob and Tara Cahill, directors of Community Cloud Forest Conservation; Dr. Minus Hiruy of Hope University College in Ethiopia; and Tarek Abuata, Palestine Coordinator for the Christian Peacemakers Team.

For Kahler, “it was pretty cool to meet these professors that were foundational in their field and had written these books…. Overall, it was nice to get a feel for the development organizations that are out there.”

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The Irrelevancy of Cheerful Intentions

With the close of another Thanksgiving season, I am excited to begin celebrating all things Christmas. I want to sing cheesy Christmas songs, eat lots of Christmas cookies, and wear wonderfully ugly Christmas sweaters, every-single-day. While this may actually be rather child-like, I have also come to appreciate the Christmas season’s emphasis upon giving unto others with the intent of selfless appreciation. Unfortunately, living in a consumer-oriented context, the bargain-hunting aggression of ‘Black Friday’ has come to more readily define ‘Christmas-like’ giving. The influx of consumerism during this season has simultaneously translated into innumerable opportunities for material charity amongst citizens of the Global North. It is initially daunting to challenge consumer-based charity, specifically with its popularity among respectable citizens. However, there persists a need to re-conceptualize consumer-based charities popular during this

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holiday season. A needed shift in perspective specifically highlights the lack of depth, cultural relevance, and disregard for recipient perspectives. At the core of its shortcomings, however, consumer-based charity needs greater understanding for the complexity of human-related issues.

At the forefront of consumer-focused charity during the Christmas season is an initiative facilitated by the Samaritan’s Purse named Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Since 1993, OCC has collected shoeboxes from its participants in North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Each participant is to fill a shoebox with hygienic items and toys that Western children typically see as essential or enjoyable to play with (i.e. toothpaste, socks, crayons, coloring books, kazoos, etc.). Through OCC, participants are encouraged to label their toy-stuffed shoebox with a sticker indicating a preferred age and sex of the child who will receive the box. According to the Samaritans Purse website, these boxes are intended for children of the Global South who are ‘living in difficult situations’. Through participant’s shoebox donation, OCC mobilizes ‘privileged’ families of the Global North to ‘share the good news of Jesus Christ’ with ‘underprivileged’ children of the Global South. Unfortunately, introducing Jesus Christ through toys and knick-knacks promotes a simplistic view of Christianity in association with Western consumer culture. As a result, the nature of Jesus Christ adopts attributes of our capitalist society rather than the magnitude of his humanity, divinity, and relevance.

In addition to its non-contextualized approach to evangelism, OCC promotes a one-way relationship between the ‘giver’ and the ‘receiver’, lacking parameters for reciprocity or consistency from year-to-year. In narrowing its concept of charity to a linear flow of western materials, OCC has missed potential for deeper impact through long-term relationship building. Further opportunities involve the development of healthy relationships among consistently participating communities, while better engaging the voice of OCC recipients to define such relationships. Never accessing the capabilities of mutual relationships undermines the diverse expression of opinion amongst both donors and recipients, further hindering the determination of relevant outcomes. Just as one would wish to give a gift relevant to a family member’s indicated ‘wish list’, the voiced desires of OCC recipients need be better involved in determining the outcomes of donor strategies.

Operation Christmas Child currently represents a Westernized view of Christmas, evangelism, and the Global South. As members of the Houghton student body, it is critical that we better critique the premise of OCC and its campus-wide participation. From this perspective, we each are challenged to re-conceptualize the intents, means, and effects of how we choose to give. Moving forward into this holiday season, let us contemplate the wonderful attributes of Christmas, while also reflecting upon its increasing focus on consumerism. In doing so, may we continually contemplate our well-meaning intentions with the valuable humanity of our neighbor, both local and abroad.

 

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News

Houghton Students Attend Calvin Conference

Fifteen Houghton students and two professors attended the eighth-annual Faith and International Development Conference at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last weekend.
The conference, subtitled “From Here to Shalom: Participating in God’s Plan for Universal Flourishing,” was intended to inform students of current development issues around the world, and to supply them with new perspectives on how to address them. For conference attendees it was also an opportunity to interact with potential employers.

Courtesy of Derek Schwabe
Courtesy of Derek Schwabe

“It was a great chance to network with NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), some that I would possibly like to work with in the future,” said Moeun Sun, sophomore.
Approximately three hundred and thirty students from thirty colleges and universities attended the conference. It was organized by Calvin students with the assistance of their International Development Studies faculty, and featured representatives from twenty-five different NGOs. It lasted four days, during which attendees were able to enjoy the full extent of Calvin’s snow-covered campus and ventured into Grand Rapids.

The conference was constructed around a number of general plenaries for all to attend, which were interspersed with smaller sessions, in which representatives of various NGOs gave presentations on the nature and goals of their organizations. These presentations ranged the full spectrum of developmental issues, including peacemaking, healthcare, advocacy, and the environment.

Sun said, “I was pleasantly surprised at how many different kinds of FBOs (Faith-Based Organizations) were represented there.” The individual NGOs held smaller sessions to discuss general ideas or issues and the means by which the NGO seeks to address them.

Senior Andrea Pacheco said, “As someone who has attended the conference for two years now, I found it to be very instrumental in learning about the field of international development, and what it involves.” “This year there were key speakers, such as Steve Radelet, that I think added much more academic and professional credibility to the conference,” Pacheco continued, pointing out that many of the NGOs present have high-minded goals while not necessarily having the necessary expertise.

The conference was not simply a collaboration of NGOs from different fields, but also from multiple denominations. Among the speakers and leaders were Mennonite, Reformed, and Episcopalian Christians. Readers who know Church history might appreciate the ecumenical development exemplified at the conference.

While the conference was overall a success, the information which was presented tended to be fairly basic. There is an inherent difficulty in organizing such a conference, as the attendees all come from different backgrounds. While some might find the information to be basic, it might be entirely novel to others, who are more recent to the topic. This diversity shows up even among the Houghton students who went.

Freshman Matthew Munkittrick said, “I went because I am studying International Development and wanted to get to know a bit more about what I am going to be studying.”

Additionally, the speakers generally focused on their own experiences and contextual situations. Pacheco says, “I’d like to see some more presentations on concrete, current research of the field.” The attendance of Dr. Radelet was a step in that direction, but the vast majority of the speakers were still anecdotal.

Despite the criticisms some of the Houghton students had, they all enjoyed the conference, and everyone got more from it than they had anticipated. In the words of Munkittrick, “Overall, it was definitely worth the twelve-hour bus ride!”