POSTCARD: Whats Up?

So proud to announce that Trade and Row received a micro-grant from the Long Beach Arts Council in support of Postcards 2012! 

This piece highlights a student from Khmer Girls in Action. Keo’s story is truly inspiring. We look forward to learning more about KGA this weekend at Docs on the Block.

Growing up in Eastside Long Beach means you have to fight for your dreams and the most basic needs for living.  Poverty wears different faces and the youth who survive the daily hustle know this.  From over-crowded schools, unstable and poor housing conditions, not having enough food on the table or seeing their family less because a sibling gets caught up in a gang or their parents work longer hours in poorly lit sweatshops to compensate for their low-wage hourly labor.

Keo Ouk, a young Khmer woman, born and raised in the Eastside is one of many who know this story all too well.  She joined Khmer Girls in Action, shortly after she lost her childhood friend in a random drive-by shooting.  She was sitting next to him on the front porch when it happened.  It took her two years to begin sharing this story.  She recalls getting kicked out of an advanced learning program because her grades had dropped. She was only a freshman at the time. 

“I joined KGA because it’s like a second home to me.  My sister used to go there and my friends too”.  One of the staff organizers, Sophya Chum, is also a close family friend, making it really easy for her to feel comfortable.   It was also through KGA’s writing program called Tongues Afire that she was able to face and talk about her loss.  She’s written several pieces including “The Stranger That Wears Your Skin” and “Super Womyn”.  The first is about not being able to recognize her own brother once he joined a gang and the second is about her mom’s round-the-clock daily routine on her Singer sewing machine.  “The program taught me how to write down my emotions and thoughts that give justice to what I’ve been through.”

Just a couple of months after she shared the story about losing her best friend, an even greater loss took place.  Keo’s oldest sister was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident just one week before her sister’s 26th birthday.

“How can I go through all of this and still be okay?”  She was getting straight F’s during her junior year when grades for college admission matters most.  KGA’s academic and personal support program called LIFE (Learning to Impact for Empowerment) worked one-on-one with her.  Keo recognizes LIFE Coordinator, Ashley Uyeda, for stepping in to create structure and an academic to-do list for her.   Ashley intervened by talking to her counselors and teachers.  “ I was able to talk to my teachers and wasn’t intimidated by them after that.  I’m usually scared to talk to adults with power.”  At the end of the school year Keo’s GPA for her junior year was close to a 3.0.  She flipped her F’s into an A, four B’s and two C’s.

“I’m still going to school and now I’m applying to college.  I’ve seen a lot of people where I come from just give up and I’m glad I didn’t give up.”   Keo is in the process of applying to college and is amazed that she has options and a door to a better future.  She wants to work in a health related field—after all, the A she earned was in Biology.

Youth in Long Beach need more public resources and organizations like Khmer Girls in Action to help them understand the world in which they’ve inherited and be proactive in making individual and social change.  Specifically for Khmer youth whose parents survived genocide in Cambodia, daily living means healing from that loss and then surviving high-rates of poverty.

KGA offers youth a framework they can use to see how their individual experiences are connected to a collective struggle in which political education is the key to empowerment, self-determination and justice for all people.

Hey guys! Our friends at ¡DUENDE! Long Beach will be performing at this years Brave New Voices, an annual gathering of poets from across the globe. Read more about the event here. 

¡DUENDE! Long Beach is a grassroots community arts organization founded by women writers, artists, and performers in August 2011. The organization aims to provide inclusive programming, mentorship, and performance opportunities for youth in the Long Beach area. Their goal is to empower youth to be creative leaders for change in their communities. For more information, e-mail duende.longbeach@gmail.com or visit http://duendelongbeach.weebly.com.

Caleb Walker of Long Beach Community Action Partnership (one of Postcard’s participating organizations!!) spoke last week in support of a resolution that would grant the city of Long Beach funding from the California Department of Transportation through their Transportation Planning Grant Program, a program in which Caltrans annually grants awards for the preparation of major transportation planning studies that “promote strong and healthy communities, economic growth, and enhanced mobility within cities.” 

The city manager will apply for the grant by April 2 and the winner will be announced later this year. Read about how the grant could help improve the entire west Long Beach landscape here. You can also watch the video of the city council meeting here.

We love seeing young people do big things!