1. List ten things that make you feel human.

1. Having emotions towards people, places, and so many other things
2. Being able to communicate with other people and organisms to collaborate and work together
3. Feeling empathy towards others that are going through hard times
4. Having determination and passion to achieve goals and perform at certain levels
5. Making mistakes and then acknowledging it to help continue tackling a problem
6. Wanting contact with other individuals and enjoying spending time in groups
7. Forming relationships with people and becoming dependent on having someone in your life
8. The ability to learn information and to apply that information to create new discoveries and innovations
9. Not being perfect in everything I am and everything I do
10. Enjoying being in nature and finding the enjoyment in the simple things in life

2. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF.

Specifically discuss

1. Why should I engage?

I think it is important to engage in the project I am working on because it is affecting some of the most basic human rights of people.  In Almaty, the air quality issues continues to get worse and effect peoples health more and more.  It should be a basic human right to breathe clean air and have fresh water to drink because these are the things people need in order to continue living.  Almaty is dealing with issues that no one should have to endure so it is important to engage to help find a solution so people can protect themselves and live a healthy life that isn’t hindered by air pollution.

2. How must I engage?

Engaging in this issue is difficult because a lot of other cities with air quality issues have governmental policies in place to help reduce the air quality that my team and I wouldn’t be able to influence.  However, we have power on the community level so we can help people individually find ways to protect themselves from air pollution.  We can engage in listening to the people of Almaty talk about their experiences with the air quality problem and how it effects their every day life.  We need to make sure we don’t cross any cultural lines as we try to come up with solutions to the air quality problem.  Being proactive and listening to the people and hearing their stories is going to be the best indicator as to what type of action we need to take and what are some of people’s most urgent needs.  Listening and being responsive is how we should engage when traveling to Almaty.

3. With whom must I engage?

There are many different people that my team needs to talk and listen to when traveling to Almaty and working on our project.  The everyday people of Almaty that are dealing with the air quality issue first hand are definitely one group we should be talking to and understanding their perspectives.  We also need to engage with the power plant companies in Almaty to get a better understanding of how they are polluting the city and if they are trying to do anything to reduce pollution.  It is also important for me to stay engage with my team members and my advisor because these are the people that I will be sharing thoughts and experiences with to come up with a solution and need to make sure we are all on the same page while working on the same goal.

4. What kinds of challenges, opportunities, and approaches should I care about?

Challenges:  One of the challenges is the air quality issue and what is the best way to help people protect themselves against the bad air quality.  Another challenge is getting the resources my team needs in order to be able to contribute to fixing the air quality issues.  Another challenge is going to be engaging with the people and hoping that whatever solution my team comes up with will be accepted.

Opportunities:  Opportunities my team has is to help bring awareness to the pollution issue and trying to get the people of Almaty more engaged and proactive about protecting themselves.  We also have the opportunity to work with organizations in Almaty that also want to help solve the pollution problems.

Approaches:  Approaches that I should care about are ones that will have outcomes that directly effect the people and making sure their inputs are being considered when looking for a solution.  The best way in approaching this issue is to get a better understanding of how the issue is effecting real people.  It is also important that our approach is something on the community level verses governmental level because we won’t be able to change their laws.

5. What might my epitaph read?

I think my epitaph would read kind hearted and caring person that enjoyed the beauty in the simple things in life.