"Journey of Hope"

On October 12 Laura Ling spoke at Pruis Hall about her “Journey of Hope”. She is a TV reporter who was taken as a prisoner in the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong II; from late March to early August 2009 when she was finally released, after President Bill Clinton intervened. When the Introducer first spoke of Laura Ling I wasn’t really sure who she was at first, but as I looked over the pamphlet I realized that I have heard of her before, but I really didn’t know what she was known for. I have never heard her story before, which made no sense because what happened to her was a big deal. What I gained from her story is that there are serious problems still going on to this day. We really don’t hear too much of it, but it was her job to go and seek it out.
The video she showed us about Mexico she had interviewed some of the prison mates and a lot of them believed that once they were let out of jail, they knew they were going to be coming back. The violence in Mexico is extreme and a lot of it is between young men who only live to be in there early twenties or younger. There was a part in her video where she visited this graveyard where people built small building like graves where there is a glass window and inside you could see pictures, liquor bottles, and anything else that showed remembrance of these young men.
I do believe that going to this session was beneficial for me as a student because the information she gave let me know that there are places around the world that you don’t really hear about that have serious problems. I don’t think I would change anything about this session because it was very interesting and I learned a lot.