I feel that I took a lot from this project in awareness of others around me and realizing how privileged I am to live in a place that gives me freedoms, and the struggles people go through in our own country because they are not given the same privileges. I know I can't just give up my privilege, but it really helped me to understand what other people go through to experience the same things as me and gave me inspiration to help people who are not as fortunate as me.
Another takeaway I had was my new knowledge in a lot of economic and social issues that will affect my present and future family and I in the future. Issues such as social justice, racial equality, income/wage equality, and other important issues of our time. I never realized how much these issues would affect myself and my family if they are not addressed. It struck me even more when I put it in perspective of my future. For example, I thought about my future kids. I could not imagine my daughter making up to 30% less than my son in the same job.
A memorable moment
One memorable moment that I took away from the symposium is how many outside community members attended the event. I had expected people to just come for services at the clinic, but I saw that people who came stayed and saw some of the exhibition. It made me really happy to see that after all of the work we put in, we actually made a community impact, unlike most exhibitions where it is just parents looking at their kids' work.
Another memorable moment I had was at the end of the exhibition when Claire was delivering the closing speech. I was thinking about how all of our months of hard work had paid off and created a wonderful exhibition with many community members attending.