A Small Adventure on Uncle Sam's Land 2.0

Hey guys, let's continue!

Proud to wave "Jalur Gemilang" (Stripes of Glory) here!

Week 2 (10-16/10/2022)

Frankly speaking, I felt the first week went in slow motion, am I right, my YSEALI Fellow friends (hehehe)? This second week was full with numerous academic contents compared to the first one yet we also having some fun moments as well. On Monday, we had some time in the morning to brainstorm our Action Plan to be implemented once we returned home while having consultation with Dr Patrick, Dr Jodi and Jonathan. I chose to continue with a community engagement entitled "Be Vigilant; Not Vigilante." This project aims to educate the general public on crime prevention procedures while preventing vigilante justice from happening in Malaysia. This is in light of what happened earlier this year when a suspected thief who tried to steal some money from a place of worship was punished by the local community who conducted "funeral bath" upon him. This act has tarnished the good name of my religion and even in contrary to criminal procedure as prescribed in the Criminal Procedure Code. Thus, I am convinced that this issue shouldn't be taken lightly and something has to be done!

On Monday afternoon, we went to the Joslyn Castle to join Indigenous Peoples' Day Celebration where we met Omaha and other indigenous groups. We listened to a storyteller who shared with the audience about the struggles faced by these people during the American expansion across North America. They also performed several dances and sang some folk songs while some others played traditional musical instruments. We also tasted some traditional foods prepared by them (I forgot the name actually hahaha; but it was a type of fried bread or "Cakoi" as what we call it in Malaysia). In brief, I could see that there is much more to be done in integrating these people with other Americans although there are numerous initiatives have been implemented like the recognition of "Indian countries" (recognized Native American lands/territories) in the United States and establishment of Native American schools.

At this point of time, US Mid-Term Election 2022 was around the corner and we also got the chance to meet Megan Hunt, incumbent State Senator candidate who ran for the second term alongside Tony Vargas who was also a State Senator and ran for US Congress representing Nebraska 2nd Congressional District (we even had a Debate Watch Party in watching him debating with the incumbent Rep. Don Bacon). During the engagement session, they shared their experience and ideals on empowering communities alongside common challenges faced as public officials. Earlier that day, Dr Jodi delivered a lecture entitled "Social Movements and Voter Rights" which we learnt about voting process in the US. It was interesting to know that American voters can cast their ballots not necessarily at polling stations but also at the comfort of their homes because the ballot papers consist of numerous candidates who ran for multiple offices such as Governor, Secretary of State, State Attorney-General, Auditor of Public Accounts etc. After that, they just need to put their ballot papers into nearest drop box before being collected by election staffs.

On Thursday, Dr Jodi delivered another lecture on the topic of "Nonprofits and Civic Action." In the United States, most nonprofit organization (or NGO as usually referred in Malaysia) are tax-exempted and benefit the broad public interest in many ways, among others, education, fundraising and sponsorships. Common nonprofits types here are arts, culture, humanities, environment, religious-based etc. and most of them even have full-time staffs including Director(s) or CEO(s) as they really value working in nonprofits sector as career as similar to other professions. On the day before, we also attended a lecture on "Citizen Engagement in the Public Budgeting Process" delivered by Dr Trang Hoang and it is interesting to know that citizens do have the right to involve directly in public budgeting process. Later that day, we got the chance to have a casual meeting with some representatives from nonprofits in Omaha whom we share experience and best practices in our countries while also learning from theirs. It was an inspirative and thoughtful session!

Next, here it comes my topic of interest which is...

INTERFAITH DIALOGUE!

This time, Dr Patrick delivered the lecture on Friday which he explained more about people and religion in the US. He opened the session by asking some thought-provoking questions to us like "How does religion/faith influence your life?" and "What is your thought on religious diversity around the world?." I took part actively in the discussion by sharing Malaysian experience on religious diversity and the ideas of Fiqh Taayush as-Silmi (Lit: Islamic Jurisprudence on Peaceful Coexistence) and Muslim Cosmopolitanism as championed by the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) while also quoted some books related to this topic, among others, Fiqh Muwatonah (Citizenship) written by the late Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent contemporary Muslim scholar and Islam & Kepelbagaian: Rahmat untuk Semua (Islam and Diversity: Blessings for All) written by Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa. I am not missing the chance to hear from other YSEALI Fellow friends about their experience and thoughts on this topic from their countries' perspective as well.

In the afternoon, we were accompanied by the program team in visiting the Tri-Faith Initiative, a 38-acre campus where a mosque, church and synagogue and interfaith center was built next to each other. The non-denominational mosque (open to all sects in Islam) is administered by American Muslim Institute (AMI) while the Countryside Community Church houses 44 various Christian backgrounds under one roof while managed by the United Church of Christ (this was my first time entering a church too!). Furthermore, there is a Jewish synagogue that is known as Temple Israel (yet we could not enter because there was a funeral service conducted at that time huhu) as well and these houses of worship are connected through the iconic "Abraham's Bridge" where we could embrace the greenery around the campus. Razman, Rada, Naban and I also performed Friday prayer at the mosque alongside greeting Muslim community especially Bro. Abdullah, a young Imam there.

Mosque

Church

Synagogue

Abraham's Bridge

Later that day, Dr Patrick invited all of us to his house for Shabbat Dinner which also coincided with Sukkot (a Jewish festivity) as his wife, Aveva is a Jew. Before having our dinner, we watched how Aveva offered his prayers that were recited in Hebrew based on holy books in Judaism (she even showed me the Torah after that) and performed some rituals to ask for blessings on that holy day for Jewish people. I was touched when they served Halal roasted chicken instead of Kosher (Jewish dietary rules) even though only six of us are Muslims :') Moreover, Dr Patrick also offered a room for me to perform Maghrib prayer [I am so speechless tho at that time :'') ] Once we had our dinner, we listened to the couple's interfaith marriage life journey and with respect to Islam and other religions' teachings, I think that this kind of marriage could only last long if both partners appreciate their differences and could decide mutually on which religion should they raise their children with (however I am still reserved when it comes to rulings on this topic).

As it was a quite hectic week, we also enjoyed our times exploring Val's Pumpkin Patch and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. Earlier one is a well-known amusement park with various attractions ranged from apple's farm, flower garden, BBQ place to haunted house. As Halloween was around the corner at that time, they already decorated the whole place with pumpkins and  miniatures. I bought a large bucket of popcorn to be shared with others while talking to some random Americans there (hahaha). I walked around with Razman, Monica and Ken (our Student Ambassador) and we also played some games together like Cornhole (tossing bean bags into a hole) and Apple's Cannon. Besides, we also went to latter which is one of the world's top five zoos (only knew that once the tour finished hahaha). There are some rare species of animal that I saw there like Snow Leopard, African pink-backed pelicans and Sable antelope. It was quite cold (around 10°C) but still an ideal weather to visit those places.

In brief, the second week here went so fast compared to the first one. But, I believe that I adjusted myself better this time and still keen to learn and explore for the rest of my time in the US!

To be continued...

p/s: Credit to UNO and friends for taking some of the pictures :)