Stephanie Muzekari
Ever since I was a child, I have had a heart for animals, the environment, and for people in distress. I can still remember vividly my days in school when I refused to take part in animal dissections, carrying other students’ worms to the trash can with tears in my eyes, and being taunted by students waving their frogs in front of me as they cut them apart. Yet I often struggled to explain to others, without feeling hurt or defensive, where I was coming from, and why it was important to me to try to make more compassionate choices.In some ways, it had become a lonely journey. I joined up with animal rights groups or environmental groups, but I was always struck with the disconnect I sensed between the two. In my heart, it seemed as though all of the suffering and injustice in the world was interconnected in some sort of way. However, I had no way in which to be able to articulate this.
After I graduated from college, I embarked upon a career as an accountant, working for a CPA firm. I felt lost and out of place and knew without a doubt that this type of work was not my calling. I will never forget running into an old high school acquaintance who, upon hearing what I was doing for a living, said, “What?! I thought you were going to save the world!” Those words left a lasting impression upon me, a reminder of how far I had strayed from my heart’s longing to be of service somehow in the world.
In 1997, after less than a year in this career, I attended a Sowing Seeds workshop held by IHE at Farm Sanctuary. Until then I had never experienced the joy in feeling such a deep sense of resonance with everything being shared. I remember feeling “at home”; that finally, I was meeting others who “got it.” It was at this workshop that I first found out about the Humane Education Certificate Program. I took all the information and was very excited about it. However, I did not have enough confidence in myself, so although I kept it tucked in the back of my mind, I did not pursue it.
Shortly after that workshop, I left my accounting job. Throughout the next several years, I worked for a national vegetarian information center, studied permaculture at an emerging ecovillage, coordinated a national Community Supported Agriculture information center, helped launch a community gardening program, and coordinated a gardening and nutrition program for at-risk youth and homeless shelter residents. Then, out of the blue, I received a letter in the mail about IHE’s offering of a Master of Education degree program in Humane Education. The timing felt so right. Because of the experiences I’d had throughout the previous years, I had confirmed that working to be of service to the world was indeed my calling. So, this time, I took the plunge and entered the M.Ed. program.
The M.Ed. program was an incredible learning and growing experience for me. It expanded my knowledge base on so many issues. And I learned how to articulate the interconnectedness of animal rights, social justice and environmental protection. The program reignited my passion to help open people’s hearts and minds to change.
As I neared the culmination of my degree program, I married my husband, converted to Orthodox Christianity, and gave birth to my first child. The fullness of my humane education degree and experience is now realized within the context of my faith and my family. The subject of my ILP was “Christianity and Care for God’s Creation.” One of my focuses has become dispelling the misconception many non-Christians have that Christianity does not care about animals or the environment, and to encourage other Christians to more fully live out their faith by making compassionate choices that take animals and the environment into consideration. And, as a parent, I experience on a regular basis some of the struggles inherent in trying to balance care for my family with care for creation. I feel this personal experience is incredibly helpful when trying to encourage others with young children to make compassionate choices.
This past summer, I was blessed to be one of the teachers for the vacation church school at my parish. Our subject of the week-long program was “The Earth is the Lord’s: Caring for God’s Creation.” I have started a blog, Everyday Synergy, in which I approach humane education issues from an Orthodox Christian perspective. My husband and I are also in the midst of launching a business selling 100% post-consumer waste note cards that weave his nature photography with sayings from ancient Christian saints about the sacredness of creation. And, on a daily basis, I am given a wonderful opportunity to attempt to raise my two sons to be faith-filled compassionate stewards of God’s creation.
Watch and share IHE President, Zoe Weil's TEDx talk -- an inspiring vision of how to create a just, compassionate, healthy world for all through solutionary education.
Teaching for the 21st Century Humane Education Workshop
April 28, 2012 - 8:30 am to April 28, 2012 - 5:00 pm | Location: Nightingale-Bamford School
How can we best prepare our students for the important roles they must play in meeting the challenges of today's world? How can we help youth to become creative and critical thinkers who embody the qualities of wisdom, compassion, and integrity and who focus their grea...
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April 28, 2012 - 8:30 am to April 28, 2012 - 5:00 pm | Location: Nightingale-Bamford School
How can we best prepare our students for the important roles they must play in meeting the challenges of today's world? How can we help youth to become creative and critical thinkers who embody the qualities of wisdom, compassion, and integrity and who focus their grea...
Read More