#rye barcott

Because this is an English project blog and this book is an English 1100 assigned book.  

It Happened On the Way to War details the story of Rye Barcott as he struggles with being a Marine both before and after 9/11, during the early years of the War on Terror, as well as being a college student, and perhaps most surprisingly of all, one of the founders of a Nongovernmental Organization called "Carolina For Kibera", whose goal was to inspire the youth of Africa's largest slum, Kibera, which is located right outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  It talks about the events that inspired him to initially travel to Kibera to research youth violence, the people he met there who inspire him to go even further and start "CFK", and the struggles with balancing his Marine career, his educational goals, and running "CFK".  

Right off the bat, this book makes every average college student grateful that they don't have to deal with the type of stress that Barcott dealt with everyday.  But it does more than that.  It presents the citizens of Kibera in a light different from how most media outlets portray them. It doesn't present them as people who need foreign help, but rather people who need to be empowered to help themselves.  And the memoir even goes on to mention why the former, more common, option does not work.  

Representation matters.  It matters in the media, in memoirs and books and short stories, in everything.  So when good representation of a community that is often misrepresented comes along, it's pretty important to at least give it a look. The hope is always that the reader of this memoir would come out having learned something about Kibera and the people in it.  

What works about this novel is that it tends to suck you in.  The first time I read it, I could  not put it down.  And I say that with very little exaggeration and I'm fairly certain I alienated a few relatives after reading whilst conversing with them, something that society tends to frown upon for some reason.  Apparently it's rude.  

Beyond that, it inspires empathy in people.  I read the memoir and I walked away from it feeling like that even though I had never met Barcott or Salim Mohamed or Tabitha Festo or anyone else mentioned, I still cared about what had happened to them, both what is detailed in the memoirs and what did or will happen afterwards.  

In short, It Happened On the Way to War is a bit of an emotional book.  Just a tad bit mind.  (Or very much an emotional book, who knows with amount of exaggeration and understating I do?) 

Would I suggest that someone read it? 

Yes.  Do it.  Do ittt.  

And then go and donate $26 dollars to CFK. You'll understand after you're done reading.  

And if you need more convincing, here's a clickty click to a video trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S45ZTdfjAVA&list=PL5B826E2B12028441&index=6

it happened on the way to war

is SUCH A GOOD BOOK

Dans une Amérique en ruines et un Manhattan en ébullition (Assemblée Générale de l’ONU, castagne sur la reconnaissance de la Palestine, occupation de Wall Street – par ailleurs fébrile - par des indignés américains), Bill Clinton réunit ces jours le gratin des affaires pour sa grande fête de la philanthropie : la Clinton Global Initiative. Nous sommes Midtown, au Sheraton, cernés par les sièges sociaux des banques américaines. Au coeur du réacteur.

C’est la 7ème édition de cet événement créé par Clinton pour Clinton, c’est à dire pour continuer à exister. Son idée : pour sauver le monde, il faut créer des alliances entre la sphère publique, le privé et les NGO. Why not ? J’étais venue en 2008, en étais répartie écoeurée par le lavage de cerveaux : http://florevasseur.com/fr/articles/21/bill-clinton/ Intéressant de voir combien en 3 ans, l'événement a changé.

Cette année encore JP Morgan, Pepsi, Cisco, corporate america est bien là, alignée dans des sessions à la gloire d’une vision sur l’humanité directement sortie des ordinateurs de leurs communicants. Rien n’est trop beau (ni trop cher, ici 20 000 dollars le ticket) pour partager le podium avec Clinton : elles annoncent leur « commitment » pour sauver le monde : des écoles en Afrique, des jobs aux USA, des vaccins pour le Bangladesh. Optimisme vissé au corps, Clinton avance sur scène, prêt à en découdre avec ce monde qui prend l'eau. Il ne manque que les trompettes. Dans un décor bleu et or, il martèle "dans chaque problème de la planète il y a une opportunité". Il parle probablement de business. Standing ovation. On est dans l’entre-soi ; même quand Nick Kristof, l’éditorialiste du NY Times, l’accroche sur son rôle dans la dérégulation financière. Les quelques 150 journalistes qui couvrent l'événement n'ont pas le droit de se déplacer sans escorte (et donc de parler aux participants). Rien ne doit gâcher la formidable opération de com' hollywoodienne.

Mais cette année, le lavage de cerveau est un peu moins explicite. D’abord, Clinton lui-même mâche peu ses mots, sur le déni ambiant quant au changement climatique, sur la politique "devenue émission de divertissement", sur l’apathie ambiante – pour rester politiquement correct : « le vrai problème en Amerique : les gens sont imperméables à l’idée d’avoir une information exacte. On va voir s’il reste sur la même lancée demain quand Obama sera là.

La grande nouveauté est surtout que l’establishment (premiers ministres occidentaux, CEO) est moins mis en avant. La sphère publique a disparu, comme elle a disparu dans la « vraie vie d’ailleurs ». Le monde des affaires fait profil bas, entre ses profits mirobolants et ses plans de licenciement. Du coup, les plénières sont trustées par des personnes de terrain, des humanitaires, des activistes, des chefs de gouvernement de pays dits « secondaires » (Zimbabwe, Mali etc..) plus habitués aux sessions du soir, quand l'assistance est assommée une journée de discours insipides.

Last night I finished an absolutely fascinating book. I read about it first in the magazine Our State and was very intrigued by the title: "It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace."  At first glance that seems like a contradiction but as you get further and further into the author's journey you realize that the military and an organization working in the biggest slum in Kenya are not at opposite ends of the spectrum. Rye Barcott, the son of a Vietnam veteran, graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and an Iraq veteran shares about the path that led him to found Carolina for Kibera, an organization that ten years later is still helping the people of Nairobi, Kenya's biggest slum, Kibera. Through the Tabitha Medical Clinic, soccer leagues, youth leadership programs, and a war on trash, CFK is continuining to help affect change in the lives of those living in Kibera. CFK's main focus is to raise up leaders within the Kibera community because "the future of fighting poverty and preventing violence lies in the hands of those who experience it every day. That's the essence of participatory development. With long-term investment in local leadership, communities will transform themselves."

Book trailer for It Happened On The Way To War: A Marine's Path to Peace by Rye Barcott.