Travel the backroads of World Learning

Over a period of several months in 2007, James Bernard - our Vice President of Communications - journeyed across the globe to capture the essence of World Learning through the magic of movie-making and a large dose of experiential learning. From Argentina to Vermont to the Kenyan coast and several countries in East Africa, James and a film crew from TEO Creative set out to explore the many textures of World Learning in a way that would visually convey how our work transforms people’s lives.

The 5-minute, 30-second video from those trips has recently been released and we are eager to share it with you. I also had a chance recently to sit down with James and get some behind-the-scenes back story on the making of the movie, that helped him understand, up close, the transformative experiences of those involved with World Learning programs — students, international development staff, local study abroad academic directors and staff, and homestay families.

The video project began in Argentina, where the team filmed students working on their Independent Study Projects on two SIT Study Abroad programs based in Buenos Aires. After nearly four days interviewing students who were exploring social movements, learning about a Catholic organization that works with children, and volunteering with a cooperative group in an impoverished neighborhood, the video team gained a great deal of knowledge about the Argentine people and how World Learning brings this culture alive for our program participants.

Next stop was our Vermont campus, where James and the team met with several SIT Graduate Institute students, faculty, and alumni to explore our graduate programs and understand the vast reach of our global campus and international student body. Through interviews with several people, the notion that “We teach what we practice and we practice what we teach” was echoed by students and faculty.

Finally, James and team spent the last leg of their journey exploring World Learning’s programs in East Africa. In Ethiopia, they met with staff and community members from our international development program in Awassa, where they filmed community discussions of parent-teacher organizations working to keep AIDS orphans in school. (World Learning works with more than 1,500 schools across Ethiopia on projects that help keep orphans and vulnerable children in school).

James, who wasn’t able to make it out to the Ethiopia portion of the trip because of a snowstorm in Vermont (ah, the beauty that is a good Vermont winter!) met up with the crew in Nairobi for a flight to the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu, where they were to catch up with SIT Study Abroad’s Kenya: Swahili Studies and Coastal Cultures program. After a few dodgy moments with the Kenya Airways staff and a debate about transporting seven bags of film equipment and four people on the tiny plane to Lamu, the group (baggage unscathed) managed to find their way to the thatched roof airport and landing strip outside Lamu town. Despite the fact that the camera equipment seemed to have a few hiccups, the crew immediately set to work and had an excellent day of filming, accompanying SIT Study Abroad students on a boat trip – in traditional wooden dhows – through the islands of the Lamu archipelago. The rest of the time in Lamu was spent talking with more than two dozen homestay families and tutors (many of whom had worked with us for over 10 years) and interviewing students, instructors and staff from the program and the Lamu community - including the mayor, a big supporter of experiential education himself.

James describes one of his many “a-ha” moments of the trip during a panel discussion students had with Kenyan Muslim women in Lamu:

Students were really able to get beyond stereotypes of Muslim women, and their questions changed over the course of the interview as they gained a better understanding of the women’s daily lives as smart, independent, and savvy Kenyans.

After another close encounter with Kenya Airways before the flight from Lamu to Arusha (where James provided marketing advice in exchange for getting baggage aboard), the group was met by Reese Matthews, academic director for Tanzania: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. The crew visited the private Endarakwai game reserve, where they saw firsthand how SIT Study Abroad students study the impact of elephants on the ecosystem of East Africa. After completing several interviews with wildlife officials, academics, students, and homestay community members on the slopes of Mount Meru, the crew participated in an overnight camping trip with students, where they went on several game drives and weathered a huge thunderstorm that almost blew the mess tent away!

Back in the states, James and the team marveled over the 50+ hours of video footage they had captured, and began the difficult task of editing the “World Learning story” into a neat, 5-minute package that could be easily shared. Meeting with so many interesting people and seeing so many colorful places made this process challenging, but the unused reels will undoubtedly be used in future World Learning multimedia projects.

James says the entire filming experience helped him see the full spectrum of World Learning and better understand the global impact of the organization and the importance of its deep networks in more than 77 countries. The process also forced him to think about how each piece and each person fits together to form the entirety of the World Learning community, and how we can celebrate the different parts while coming together as a whole. Finally it became clear to him that he - like most of us - had only scratched the surface of a few of our programs, and that there is much opportunity ahead to capture stories from our community.

Support the Simon bill on Facebook

Our colleagues at NAFSA have asked us to help spread the word about a new Facebook page they’ve launched dedicated to encouraging visitors to send letters to Congress urging it to pass the Simon study abroad legislation this year. As you may know, the Simon bill passed the House last year and has been approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but remains stuck in the Senate.

This legislation is aimed at achieving several goals that are core to World Learning’s mission, namely:

• Increasing participation in quality study abroad programs
• Encouraging diversity in student participation in study abroad
• Diversifying locations of study abroad, particularly in developing countries
• Making study abroad a cornerstone of today’s higher education

To learn more and take action, visit NAFSA’s Join the Movement Facebook page.

Race for a Reason

For the past six years, the SIT Graduate Institute has organized Race for a Reason, a 5k/10k race to benefit non profit organizations doing great work. Our PIM Admissions Blog writers share information about this year’s event:

The SIT campus is always bustling with activity and activism. One example is Race for a Reason – an annual event organized through the SIT Net Impact Chapter. Net Impact is a nationwide organization of predominantly business students interested creating change through socially-responsible business. The Race for a Reason is taking place at SIT on May 10 this year. The press release below provides more information on the event – I hope you can join us to support an important cause and have fun!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2008

On May 10, 2008 the Race 4 A Reason committee will welcome the residents of New England and the international community to participate in the 6th annual Race for a Reason to support survivors of the devastating cyclone that struck Bangladesh in November 2007. We graduate students of SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, VT have set a goal of $10,000 for the 5k/10k event, which is designed for walkers and runners of all ages and abilities. This year’s race will be held on campus, winding around the scenic landscape as runners raise money for BRAC USA, an independent non-profit created as a partner to Bangladesh-based BRAC International.

Race for a Reason is an annual project the graduate students take on each year. The Net Impact chapter of SIT is an international network of socially conscious professionals and academics who use business solutions to make positive changes in the world. Past years beneficiary organizations included Global Grassroots: Darfur (Sudan) Programs, American Cancer Society of New England, Windham Child Care, Spina Bifida Clinic at Dartmouth Children’s Hospital, and The ALS Association of New England.

Registration has begun in and around the Brattleboro community. Pre-registered participants pay $20, while those signing up after May 1st will be charged $25. Children under 10 are free or pay $10 with t-shirt. Walk-ins on the day of the race are accepted, and the race fee includes a t-shirt, post-race food, and plenty of SIT graduate students and community members will be cheering participants onto the finish line! Race day extras include The Jazzberry band, a silent auction, Reiki relaxation & massage, and prizes. There are various upcoming community awareness events including a dance at Moles Eye Café in Brattleboro, VT and an educational event, “Impact of Natural Disasters on Developing Countries” at the Brattleboro River Garden.

The BRAC organization began in 1972 in Bangladesh as a small-scale relief rehabilitation project. BRAC actively promotes human rights, dignity and gender equality. By organizing people for power through village organizations, BRAC provides opportunities for the poor to access credit and other services and break out of the cycle of poverty and despair. BRAC USA’s mission is to raise awareness of BRAC’s successful community development model, mobilize resources and cultivate business partnerships to support BRAC. We are lucky to have as one of our professors Dr. Samdani Fakir, who has been a part of BRAC since its early days.

For more information regarding Race for a Reason 2008 or SIT’s Net Impact Chapter, please email us at race4areason2008@gmail.com.

Algados: film about Brazilian youth by SIT Study Abroad alum

I first came across Grupo Cultural Bagunçaço and the community of Alagados in the fall of 1999 while on SIT’s Brazil: Culture, Development, and Social Justice study abroad program. Over the course of the semester, we put in many miles traveling around Northeastern Brazil (an area roughly the size of Western Europe!) and getting a first hand look at the way people’s daily lives were effected by the huge inequality of wealth distribution and a legacy of colonialism and slavery. Professor Bill Calhoun guided our discussions as we delved into issues such as racism, poverty, land ownership, infant mortality, and the rich Afro-Brazilian culture. As we began to get a better understanding of the dynamics at play, I became increasingly interested in how development effects youth.

When I arrived at Bagunçaço, (a grassroots NGO focused on alternative arts education for at-risk youth) for my ISP, I was immediately struck. I was struck both by the extent of their poverty and social problems, but also- and more importantly- by their incredible vibrancy, musical expression, joy for life, and grassroots effort to help themselves. After spending a month working with them, I felt like I had barely skimmed the surface and I kept coming back to the question of how I could do something that would have a positive impact on this community.

After returning to the US, the inspiration of their energy and smiles and the memories of a people who have so little and give so much stayed with me. I had the persistent feeling that the world needed to see what I’d seen, and that in an increasingly inter-dependent world, global awareness and dialogue between people from different backgrounds is becoming more and more important. The idea that had been planted during my SIT semester grew into a much bigger project, and in the fall of 2005 I received a Fulbright grant to go back and spend a year in Salvador, Brazil. This time I would be seeing the community of Alagados through their eyes by teaching photography to a group of young girls, and making a short documentary film that would allow one of the youths involved in Bagunçaço to tell their own story.

The film, Alagados, is the story of Renato, a dynamic young ex-criminal turned percussion drummer doing his best to stay straight despite the odds. In Salvador, where social inequality, poverty, and racism combine to push a large segment of people into the margins of society, there are few options other than a predestined future of crime and violence for youth from communities such as Alagados. Renato, with the support of Bagunçaço, attempts to defy these odds.

The film was recently nominated for an award at the International Documentary Association in LA and has played at film festivals in Rio de Janeiro and San Diego. We are now organizing a national screening tour of the film and an exhibit of the kids’ photographs. And, based on the idea of education as the cornerstone for helping people to help themselves, we have established the Alagados Scholarship Fund. The scholarship fund will make it possible for a handful of extraordinary young people from the community of Alagados who manage to pass the difficult college acceptance exam to actually be able to attend college.

If you are interested in learning how to get involved, or in organizing a venue for screening the film, please contact Sylvia at 970-274-4732 or sylviamaria [at] gmail [dot] com.

To find out more information about the project, watch the film trailer, view the kid’s photographs, or listen to music clips, please visit their website.

An Exchange of Hospitality and Pancakes

Jo Koski, a student currently studying abroad in Vietnam this semester, shares a story about learning to cook during her homestay in Can Tho. To learn more about the SIT Culture and Development program in Vietnam, please visit our website.

April 11, 2008

Its 5:00 in the morning and my alarm is infiltrating my dreams. My initial reaction is to shove it under my pillow to silence it and go back to sleep for another three hours, but I roll over and grudgingly nudge Caroline to wake up. It’s the last morning at our home stay in Can Tho, and we had a promise to fulfill. I found my way out of the tangled web of mosquito net I was in, fumbled for my glasses, and felt my way down the steep spiral case that led to the kitchen.

Earlier that week, Caroline and I had expressed our wish to learn some traditional Vietnamese dishes during our studying abroad experience. Co Cuc, our home stay mother, was ecstatic at hearing this and demanded we cook with her the following night. Not knowing what we were in for, we hesitantly agreed to the proposal and made mental notes to eat a big lunch before returning home. When we arrived home that night, Co Cuc ushered us directly into the kitchen where bowls brimming with ingredients waiting to be diced, mixed and cooked.Usually, either our home stay brother, Truong, or sister, Thao, would be home at this time to help with translations, but for some reason neither were to be found; we were going to be forced to learn in Vietnamese.

After surveying our materials and using hand gestures, we deciphered the fact that tonight we would learn the fine art of making Ban Xeo, the traditional Mekong Delta pancake. Co Cuc pointed to each bowl and pronounced the Vietnamese name slowly, allowing us to absorb the new names. Then it was time to begin. Handing me a big bowl, Co Cuc motioned to beat the eggs. Seeing that the eggs were smooth, she began alternatively pouring water and flour into the mixture, making a yellow paste. While I was beating the batter, Caroline was finely chopping the green onion, making a pile of little green “o”s. This was then added to the mixture, along with a little coconut milk. Not once did Co Cuc refer to a recipe; it was as though the process was as natural to her as waking up in the morning.

Now that the batter was complete, it was time to begin the tricky part. Co Cuc’s niece had prepared the burner, getting the wok hot and adding oil to grease the surface. As we watched eagerly, Co Cuc ladled one scoop of the batter into the wok. Working quickly and with expertise, she rotated the wok, spreading the batter paper thin. Within seconds the batter bubbled with readiness and she swiftly arranged a small mixture of bean sprouts, finely shredded jicama, shrimp, pork, and mung beans in a small pile and covered the pancake with a lid. No more than thirty seconds later, the lid was back off and she expertly flipped half of the cake over onto itself, creating a half moon shape. Slipping the now complete pancake onto a nearby plate, Co Cuc shifted her attention to her two American apprentices, passing me the hot pad as a symbol of initiation.

With the unmerited nervousness, I took the worn-out pad and grabbed the wok, determined not to let mom down. The next minute flew by in what seemed like seconds; my clumsy hands could not keep up with the heat of the burner and my pancake began to get crispy before I had even half of the ingredients inside. I struggled through the motions, trying to imitate Co Cuc the best I could.

After a few attempts, we got the process down and were able to make enough Ban Xeo to feed everyone. Co Cuc was so excited about our progress that she didn’t want to stop cooking. After celebrating our skills with family, friends and a few Tiger beers, we returned to the kitchen to learn how to make Banh chuoi hap (steamed banana cake) and Banh chuoi nuong (baked banana cake), taking notes on everything to prove our cooking skills to family and friends back home. We sat with Co Cuc and Thao and made small talk, and the conversation quickly turned to food we loved back home. As we told them of wonderfully fluffy, sweet, American-style pancakes, Thao’s eyes grew big and she began to tear through the kitchen cabinets in haste. Pulling out a big yellow box, she proudly displayed a dusty and unopened box of pancake batter. She explained that she had recognized the picture on the box from an American movie and bought it, but did not know how to prepare them. Excited to see a familiar comfort food, we eagerly offered to make them for the family one morning.

Somehow, the week slipped by us and before we knew it was the last night before our return to Ho Chi Minh City. We stayed up late talking with the family, not realizing it was already midnight and we still had to pack. So now, groggy and even slightly regretting our offer to make breakfast, we stumbled into the kitchen and turned on the light. This decision became even more regrettable as we witnessed several cockroaches scurry over the dishes and back into the cracks in the wall. Already making it this far, we proceeded to get out the necessary materials for the cakes and began mixing the batter.

As the family members slowly gathered at the kitchen table and we proudly served our pancakes, I was reminded of the wonderful feeling of giving to others. Throughout the trip, we had been given so much kindness and thoughtful gifts that it had begun to seem like routine. After doing this small act for my home stay family, however, I realized the magnitude of all the small acts people have done for me: getting up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast, sharing their homes, their time, their customs with a complete stranger. Suddenly, getting up at 5:00 one morning to make pancakes did not seem so terrible. In fact, it became one of my most memorable experiences. Seeing Co Cuc so excited about our pancakes that she wrapped one up to show her friends was worth every cultural barrier and life struggle we had faced on the trip.

Join World Peacebuilders in June 2008

Part 1 of the CONTACT 2007 movie

As I watched the movie about CONTACT 2007 made by Dil Bhusan and sent all the way from Nepal, I became a little nostalgic. I miss all the 72 participants -I have been in touch with each and every one of them from their first inquiry to their campus arrival. I was happy to see them come and sad to see them go. Fortunately, nowadays we are only one click away and we have plenty of photos that captured the beautiful moments together.

But let me not get carried away by nostalgia and concentrate on the 2008 Group of Peacebuilders. Applications for the CONTACT program came in from 35 countries. Rich backgrounds, inspiring stories, determined personalities.

CONTACT, the Conflict Transformation across Cultures Summer Peacebuilding Program will take place June 1-20. For 3 weeks students from 30 or more countries, ages from 20s-70’s, who work in development, education, human services, mental health, peace, religion, government, and many other professions, will be immersed in experiential learning, skill development, and community building.

Now in its 12th year, CONTACT is an acclaimed program led by renowned faculty from around the world. CONTACT participants build mutual understanding and authentic relationships across the differences of identity, experience, and perception that keep us divided. Students practice the art of peacemaking, refine their skills, and explore the rich challenges of reconciliation and forgiveness. The learning community becomes a laboratory where participants make shifts in their own attitudes and behavior as they create a culture of peace, compassion, and tolerance. The group engages in conflict analysis, develops interventions and strategies for actions in situations of protracted conflicts, and practices skills of dialogue, mediation, training, and other essential tools of peacebuilding.

For participants who would like to expand their theoretical knowledge and practice base beyond the CONTACT Summer Program, CONTACT also offers a one-year distance learning Certificate Program in Peacebuilding. This includes two online courses and a very meaningful midyear seminar of 10 days in Rwanda, where the group meets to learn directly about post-genocide healing and reconciliation.

Certificate students are then halfway to a MA degree, which they can complete on campus or through a new low residency program.For an application form and additional information, please visit our website or write to us, or call 802 258 3433.

Bearing the brunt of global warming?

As we approach Earth Day, I’m reminded of a provocative article with a disturbing headline that appeared a year ago in the NY Times - Poorest Nations Will Bear Brunt as World Warms. I won’t attempt to capture the full analysis - it’s rich and merits a separate read - but the article makes it painfully clear that our actions (or inactions) here in our own backyards have profound consequences for distant communities already teetering on the edge of survival.

While developed countries account for the lion’s share of emissions contributing to global warming, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that poor nations in Africa and elsewhere are on the front lines of global warming’s environmental and social impacts. Those nations close to the equator are more vulnerable to the drought, depleted water supplies, flooding, and intensified weather events that most scientists connect directly to rising air and water temperatures. As the Times article points out, those nations also don’t have the resources to build wind farms, desalination plants, and flood barriers to guard against an uncertain future. Some analyses have gone further, tracing the violence in Darfur, for example, back to drought and from there back to climate change.

Here in the US, the environmental justice movement is well-established and has been successful in countering trends and policies that have long tended to locate coal-fired plants, landfills, nuclear waste and other health hazards disproportionately in the backyards of the nation’s poor. In the age of global warming, our very notion of “backyard” has changed as we see the connection between choices we make in Chicago and the consequences they have in Chad. We need to shift our units of analysis and action from the watershed and neighborhood to the planet.

The questions that emerge from this new awareness are not easy to answer, nor are the solutions easy to nail down. Should developed countries (carbon culprits) invest more in helping developing countries prepare for the consequences of global warming? Or should we focus 100% on changing our ways and decreasing our own footprint in what’s clearly a race against the clock? Can we afford to do it all? Can we afford not to?

What is the promise of citizen diplomacy?

World Learning, Georgetown University, and the Aspen Institute’s Global Interdependence Initiative are excited to present a symposium on Tuesday April 22, 2008, examining the contribution of citizen diplomacy to shaping the role of the United States in the world.

This second event in our lecture series with Georgetown and the Aspen Institute will be featuring Hon. Earl Pomeroy and Hon. Mac Thornberry, and focuses on how we as citizens can have an impact on international diplomacy through international exchange opportunities, and the larger strategic questions about US foreign policy in regards to “high-road” citizen diplomacy.

The event will feature a keynote and two panel presentations. We hope that you will be able to attend!

Details of the event:

Date: April 22, 2008
Time: 8:45 am - 12:45 pm
Location: Copley Hall, Georgetown University
Cost: Free

To RSVP for the event, click here. Our third and final event will occur sometime in September. Keep returning World Learning NOW and our website for the latest information as it is released.

Where bottom-up meets top-down

In the world of development and social change, “top-down” = bad. It tends to suggest expensive solutions imposed on communities by government agencies or others with little regard for or involvement of local knowledge and input. Invoking bottom-up, grassroots, or community-driven approaches is, across the non-profit sector, a surefire way to garner consensus and make friends. But is it top-down always wrong, and is bottom-up ever sufficient?

As I leave Ecuador, World Learning´s Winari staff are assembling a series of workshops with Ecuador´s national child labor agency. The goal of these workshops is to transfer Winari´s knowledge, methodology,and lessons to the agency with long-term responsibility for eradicating child labor in the country. Winari, like every such intervention, is a short-term engagement (four years, in this case). When the time comes for the project to pull up stakes, they need to ensure that the baton is passed on effectively, that there is capacity and commitment at every level to continue and build on the success of the project to date - in effect, institutionalizing successful models so they become the new norms.

And so, Winari has to work it from every angle. From individual schools to communities, parents, teachers, indigenous organizations, national agencies, the private sector, and government - a project like Winari must build capacity at every level of society to inherit and sustain the models that effect change. It´s not enough to develop specialized curricula if there isn´t sufficient funding to hire teachers and train them properly to deliver it. It´s not enough to help more of these students obtain a secondary education if there´s not the economic development to provide them jobs when they graduate.

It seems to me (IMHO as a non-development-professional), this is where bottom-up meets top-down and it´s also where the rubber meets the road for true social change. And this is, I think, the sweet spot where World Learning does its very best work. Whether the focus is children, HIV/AIDS or some other global challenge, our approach is to build capacity and enhance civil society to carry the weight of change forward.

Bill Drayton of Ashoka recently described social entrepreneurs this way (paraphrasing): Social entrepreneurs aren´t satisfied giving people fish or even teaching them to fish. Social entrepreneurs won´t rest till they´ve overhauled the entire fishing industry. I think that´s what Winari´s doing here in Ecuador and what our development projects are doing the world over. And I can tell you one thing from watching it happen on the ground this past week: It´s hard work.

Teach your teachers well

Apologies to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but we all know you can’t teach your children well if you don’t teach your teachers well first. The proverbial apple never falls far from its tree. The Winari project in Ecuador recognizes this basic reality, as it works its way up the chain of change from students to teachers to parents and beyond. That’s why Friday they organized one of several 2-day workshops for 60 or so tutors who work in Winari’s after-school program. One fact that’s important to know: in Ecuador the school day for primary school kids ends at noon. For kids pressed into child labor, that means even if they do go to school for the morning, they might still end up working 5 hours at home or in the field or on the street before dinnertime rolls around.

To address this concern, Winari developed an after-school program that serves a dual purpose: on the one hand, it helps develop students’ non-academic skills by introducing art, drama, music, dance, and plenty of good old-fashioned play. On the other hand, it fills an afternoon with child-centered activities that might otherwise be taken over by far too many hours of hard, adult labor.

The tutor session was great fun, I have to say. Participants, mostly school teachers, came from the area of Cotopaxi in Ecuador’s sierra. They ranged widely in age from 23 or so to 50+. Some wore the beautiful traditional dress of the Cotopaxi Kichwa while other young men and women sported the latest urban fashion. For me, it presented a wonderful snapshot of modern Ecuador in one room. Teambuilding exercises, including a rather wild congo line, broke the ice, kept everyone awake, and modeled the kind of playful approach they want tutors to take with their kids in the after-school program.

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. The facilitator really pushed the teachers on their own capacity to teach and mentor the kids in their charge. “How many of you read a book a month?” he asked the group. No hands raised. “A book every two months?” No hands raised. He paused and then asked, “How do you expect your students to read when you don’t?” He went on to ask about how much these teachers write, and how well they listen. His point hit home: we can’t ask more of our children than we ask of ourselves and our institutions.