By Robin Breindel

Today was our first full day in San Francisco. Some of us began the day with breakfast while others of us chose to sleep later. The need to walk only a few blocks and have a choice of where to go for breakfast really helped create the feel of being in a big city.

Our first meeting of the day was with Leon Veal, an advocate for adult literacy and an employee of the San Francisco Public Library. His work sprouted from his own experiences as a non-reader until the age of 44. He told us how he had struggled to make it in society and how learning to read improved the quality of his life. Listening to Leon’s story of how one person, his tutor, can have a ripple effect of change, was very inspirational as he is truly a picture perfect example of success. While I have much respect for his accomplishments, I did disagree with his thoughts that many people use being labeled with learning issues as an excuse not to learn.

After our meeting with Leon, we got our BART cards and were able to ride the subway to the Mission District for our meeting with Global Exchange. We spoke to Adrienne and Tom about fair trade. We learned about the difference between free trade and fair trade, and how our buying fair trade items such as chocolate and coffee could help reduce poverty, child enslavement, climate change, and environmental degradation.  A highlight for me was her giving us fair trade chocolate samples!

After the meeting, I feel that many of us, myself included, were convinced by the presentation and are planning to incorporate fair trade into our lives.

We had lunch in an authentic tacqueria and it was great to take advantage of the local culture, and something that was very different from what we are used to.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel for some free time to explore the downtown area around our hotel. I, with a lot of other people, went to Union Square and checked out the many street vendors.

After free time we took the subway to Berkeley. At the campus we learned about the history of the student free speech movement that started on that campus, and then we went to People’s Park and heard about the history of the people power movement. While Billy was telling us the history, a man we did not know came up to our group and told us his story of being one of the builders of People’s Park. It was great.

on the Berkeley campus

hearing about the history of the People's Park in Berkeley from someone who helped build the park in the 1960s

We then went to Beyt Tikkun, a chavurah-style synagogue, for Friday night services. At services we danced and prayed with the congregation and it was a truly unique experience. The synagogue is led by Rabbi Michael Lerner, who has been involved in many of the social issues, causes, and historical events that we have learned about on this trip. He spoke to us about his views and I was shocked to hear his position of blaming Israel for many of the problems between Israel and the Palestinians. However, despite my anger at his statements, I feel like listening to him helped me more clearly recognize my own beliefs.

The theme of the last few days has been power. As I reflect on the day, I am able to see the power that one person has to make a difference.