2011 Voices of Our Future Applicants, World Pulse

I am a working progress! So I applied for the 2011 Voices of Our Future Applicants, World Pulse. As an Applicant, I write weekly article to complete the task. I am not sure if I will make the cut but I am excited to gain new skills, make friends I have never met across the globe and an opportunity to excel in my writing! Check out my first assignment!

Hope; Citizen Journalist

Three years ago, I started a blog, titled “Curious and Determined.” The purpose of this blog was to share updates with friends and family on humanitarian projects, interviews and experiences. I conducted research on returned refugees in Cambodia for my Master’s degree. However, as I was deep into my research, I realized returned refugees, particularly women and girls, are suffering from many problems such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and discrimination in their village upon resettling back to their home country, Cambodia. Their stories echoed. I wanted to do something about it. I started to share their stories on my blog.

A few months ago, I fell upon PulseWire’s website. I started to read stories and profiles of women across the globe who are doing amazing things with limited resources! Then it hit me, these women inspired me and gave me hope again to do something about women and girls whom I left behind in Cambodia two years ago.

I am extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity to use these amazing tools (Web 2.0) in order to make social change happen! I am most excited to learn new skills from other “Voices of Our Future” candidates and I would like to expand on my social networking community in the media. I look forward to share my experiences and meet new PulseWire friends. I hope to exchange ideas and receive feedback from my fellow PulseWire users.

Through using Web 2.0, I believe these tools will bring many solutions and opportunities for the women’s empowerment movement, globally. For example, up until a few months ago, I had no idea that there are women who have similar interest as me and are either already established into their projects/programs or just started to make a difference in their community and across the globe. The Web 2.0 brings women with similar interests and goals together in order to make social change not only locally but also globally. This tool is also giving women an opportunity to share their ideas and the confidence to ensure that those ideas will be put into action! Most importantly, through PulseWire providing a safe place for women to express themselves and to write their opinions and experiences, allows other like-minded people to learn and provide feedback. Through this social networking comes a strong community of women who are empowering each other, encouraging each other and working together for social change and social justice!

The Web 2.0 empowers me to believe in myself especially expressing myself through writing. Since I recently found my new passion for writing, I hope to excel as a writer and learn new skills as a journalist. Through these new skills, I hope to continue to help women and girls in Cambodia as well globally by being their voice and sharing their stories to the rest of the world.

Million of Gallons Sewage Were Spilled, Beaches in San Diego are closed!

The San Diego power outage is no longer a problem for residents; however, the beaches are closed. As the weekend approaches and the summer has come to an end, many locals and tourists are looking forward to a relaxing time at the beach this weekend. Tourists from the Midwest are excited to get some tanning in before they head back home. Local fishermen are hoping to catch some fish. However, due to Thursday's massive power outage, more than a million gallons of sewage spilled onto San Diego's popular beaches.

The lights were back as of Friday morning in sunny San Diego. Residents are back to work, children are out on the street (they get a day off from school), and businesses are back up and running! The electricity was accidentally cut by one of the workers around 3:30 p.m. Thursday in southwest Arizona. Millions of Southern California residents were affected by the power outage. Those who were stuck in the freeway either had no cell phone service or did not have access to the radio due to the power failure. In other words, they had no idea what was going on. Some believed it was another terrorist attack since 9/11 is just few days away. One main resource that America depends on is their electricity. Without it, San Diegans are hopeless and vulnerable. Others thought the power outage was due to over use of air-condition since it was in the high 90s and low 100 degrees in the beach town!

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