Sergio Vieira de Mello & the question of what to die for

Last night a coworker and I attended the viewing of SERGIO a documentary about a charismatic Brasileiro who in the process of mending our broken world was killed at a UN meeting in Baghdad. The movie was emotional, pulling, and sad. Sergio worked at the United Nations High Commissioner  for Refugees. An organization that plays the largest role in assisting persons displaced in their country. My work with refugees is seen both on the resettlement side and more recently on the education side. The truth is a lot of my field work involves going out into local communities here in Atlanta that serve a large refugee population and find solutions to some of their needs when it comes to education. I'm stuck at my desk only a small portion of the day. Other days I'm sprawled out on their apartment floor acting out words like " HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU HAVE?" (Picture this black american girl doing the shoulder shrug and holding up 5 or 6 fingers then cradling her arms to determine who is a baby and who isn't). Sergio made a statement that went something like: THE GREATEST REWARD & CHALLENGES ARE IN THE FIELD WHERE PEOPLE NEED YOUR SUPPORT. And I love it! (in the field I mean).

I'm straying from the point. After the movie my coworker and I had a conversation about what our futures looked like. Everyone in my circle knows that I'd really like to be a Diplomat.(don't roll your eyes. I'm coming through with diplomatic status with my nose ring!)

No seriously. Those are one of my hopeful goals. But then...then I saw Sergio up to his chest in concrete crumble, still alive, still breathing, still asking-WHAT ABOUT THE OTHERS?

When I go to the homes of refugees, I'm so naive. I am not hardly thinking about what could happen to me. Now in certain neighborHOODS, if you go to a persons home and it's not a party but all these different people start showing up for no reason and you have no idea as to who they are, you might panic. But in the refugee community, when people show up, you just shake their hand, tell them what you do and that YES YOU DID IN FACT GO TO A UNIVERSITY and go on about the business of community strategics.

But I'm doing this as practice for maybe in the future I can build up nations or on a smaller scale create some way out of no way (which is what it feels like I do now). But it honestly scares me. Do I really want to be in an embassy working in a country where I'm seen as an arrogant occupying American not knowing the fate of my day. Which, by the way, none of us know the fate of our day, but some activities put you at higher risk than others. I don't want to be extreme, but what if while I'm at a clients home, somebody in the family is so angry with their life that they see me as the next best thing to let off their steam and all of the promises of tomorrow are finished? Could I honestly sit here and say that I'd be willing to put my life on the line for Refugees? Maybe I'm making this too tunnel-but I just have not figured out what I'm willing to die for.

As far as Sergio-I don't think he had it in his mind that he'd be willing to die for UNHCR either but apparently the old saying of "If you live by it, you'll die by it" is just straight up a cold hard fact.

If you'd like to read more about Sergio Mello or see the documentary, please click on any of these links
http://www.sergiothemovie.com/

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8023

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