Our most recent blog post comes from Dominican Volunteer Katherine Maloney, who serves with the Dominican Leadership Conference at the United Nations. Thank you for your service, Katherine.
“Bloom where you’re planted” is a phrase that no teenager
with a lot of angst wants to hear. Yet, looking back, my mom was right - as she
often is - about the necessity of and the joy that comes from immersing
yourself in wherever it is that you are, rather than resenting that place. At
age 16, I wanted nothing more than to be far from Long Island and New York.
Fast-forward to age 22, and now I can’t imagine where I would rather be. My
time in Dominican Volunteers has given me an enriched and renewed appreciation
for the amazing city and state that I grew up in.
It’s no secret that I moved the smallest distance for my
service year. While some volunteers moved across the country, I did not. On a
good day, I can drive across just two counties from my parents’ home to my new
community in the Bronx in about 45 minutes. By public transportation, I would
cross four counties, take one Long Island Railroad Train, the 1, 2 or 3 subway
line up one stop to 42nd St, then the S or the 7 to Grand Central,
and then the 6 all the way to the end, and end up in my community in about two
hours. At my ministry site, I’m about 21 miles from my parents’ house, and my
community is roughly 19 miles from where I grew up. I may be close to home, but
the past few months have been a world of difference that I never could have
expected.
 |
| Katherine and the President of Ghana |
Growing up in New York, one would think that I would have at
least visited the United Nations once in my life, yet I had not! I wouldn’t
have been able to find the UN if I was walking around Manhattan, and I
certainly did not understand even a fraction of the work that goes on there
every day. Yet here I am, every day being transported around the world without
ever having to leave midtown Manhattan, learning about situations and conflicts
that seem so distant yet are inextricably tied to our collective human
condition and global narrative. Every day I attempt to be hope for people with
whom I may never come in contact, living in conditions that I can hardly
imagine. Every day I enter what is often a bulwark of bureaucracy, and every
day I leave not having solved all of the world’s problems, but having hopefully
provided the tools to both policymakers and ordinary citizens to get more
engaged, be more aware, and make changes that reflect the human faces behind
the world’s crises.
 |
| Speaking at the Migration and Immigration Conference |
I am so often reminded of the immense privilege that I have
to be from the United States. I would imagine that many of my fellow volunteers
are realizing how fortunate they were to grow up in the families or areas that
they did, and I am realizing that as well, but the awareness of my privilege as
an American has never been so stark. Worldwide, there are roughly one billion
people who live on less than $1USD per day. Approximately 800 million people
are suffering from lack of food security.
In many countries, girls and women still do not have adequate access to
education, and around 15 million girls per year enter into a child marriage.
There are people dealing with little to no infrastructure, corrupt regimes,
lack of clean water, and tremendous income inequality. Every person, at every
corner of the globe, is facing the difficult challenge of global warming and
climate change, and how to mitigate these risks. However, for some in Small
Island Developing States, the reality is that with rising sea levels, thousands
of people might very quickly find themselves quite literally stranded on desert
islands, without homes and without land to live, farm, or build businesses on.
While difficult economic and social problems persist in our own country, we are
guaranteed certain securities by our government and are often afforded
opportunities that those in other countries do not have access to. Across the
globe, there are people coping with realities beyond my wildest imagination,
and yet every day I seek to represent them in the Dominican Leadership
Conference advocacy space. Every day I “show up” for people who cannot do so
for themselves. What a true and immense privilege, honor, and responsibility
this is, and how lucky I feel every day that Dominican Volunteers has afforded
me it.
Community life has also been an experience unlike any other.
First and foremost, I am living in the
Bronx. When people mention “the Bronx,” images of the era of the “burning
Bronx” in the 1980s are conjured. There is a certain nervousness with which
people approach the Bronx. I myself, despite living on Long Island for the
majority of my life, had only driven through the Bronx, and never made an
effort to explore it. I had been missing out on so much! Not only is the Bronx
the largest of the city’s five boroughs, it is also the most diverse, with over
200 cultures represented. There are distinctly Italian sections of the Bronx,
there are Caribbean sections, Latin American, Irish – any culture that one can
imagine is likely represented here. High in the Northeast corner of the Bronx,
a stone’s throw from Westchester County, is my home at Our Lady of Assumption
Church, where I have been able to grow in my faith and learn valuable life
lessons from women who have seen and done it all. From sharing stories about
growing up in the Bronx, to deep and thought-provoking discussions on poverty
or the true nature of what it means to be “pro-life,” my community has shown me
the beauty of life well lived in pursuit of the truth, and has taught me
lessons that I know will stick with me long after the year is over.
So, yes, bloom where you are planted. In my case, it could
be that I am challenged to consider the plight of migrants and refugees in the
morning, and then asked to consider what role women should have in peace
negotiations in the afternoon. It has involved helping to plan a forum,
volunteering for the International Day of the Girl Child Summit, drafting a
proposal for an event on indigenous women in agriculture, writing statements
for a social development commission, taking an active role on six NGO
committees, collaborating with great people, and being tasked with professional
responsibilities that I never thought would be possible as a recent graduate. It has involved cooking for my community,
which I was terrified of doing. It has involved waking up at 5:50AM for prayer,
which seemed daunting at first, but has carried many personal rewards as well
as strengthened my relationship with my community. It has involved finding a
new home in an unexpected place, but still being so close to the home I’ve
known since childhood. It’s involved giving a place I was ready to leave a
second glance, and definitely not regretting it at all. It has involved
traveling around the world without ever leaving New York, and it’s involved
being in a center of global diplomacy every day, but returning to my quiet
corner of suburbia every night.
It’s been about five months since I formally said “yes” to
the Dominican Volunteers journey at our Orientation Retreat. While I don’t know
what the rest of the year will hold, or what the future beyond this year of
Dominican Volunteers looks like, I have learned that having faith in the fact
that all things happen as they are meant to, I will never be disappointed, and
will always be in for a new adventure, even if that adventure is just 20 miles
away from Long Island.
“Bloom where you’re planted.”
