Hi Folks!
So I thought it was about time that I post another blog about everything that has been going on. Kaity has been doing a great job keeping you all informed of our adventures so I wasn't concerned about not blogging lately. However, she keeps telling me I need to blog more and so I thought it was about time I contributed again.
In case you don't remember in my last blog I spoke about getting the chance to survey students and to sit in on a meeting. Needless to say many things have happened since then. In regards to work I have continued to analyze the sruvey data and we now have around 280 responses which is great. I did give out about 100 extra surveys to students in upperclass res halls on campus, but have yet to get back a single one. And since today is the last day most students are on campus I'm pretty confidant I won't have too many more surveys to analyze tomorrow. I was also supposed to have 3 focus groups with students to complement the quantitative and qualitative data from the surveys, but none of the groups showed up. It was very rainy last week as students continued to take their finals and I can't help but think that those two things combined limited participation. However, I have the questions all ready to go and will encourage Res Life to continue to try to set up the focus groups even after I am gone since it is important data that we want to capture. Tomorrow and next Wednesday I will start to analyze all of the data as a whole and write a report on my findings which I will present to Res Life next Thursday. I am excited to report on this project since I had such a large part in making it happen.
On Monday I was also given the task of going through resumes for an open position on campus, a seemingly normal task and something I have done at BG before. However, I was very intrigued by a couple of differences. The resumes/curricum vitaes I was looking at had pictures and fun fonts. This was quite different from the resumes I looked over back home which were very similar to one another, here every one I read seemed to have a personality of its own. I'm still not sure though what I think about it all. A part of me has been trained to consider those things unprofessional, but another part of me enjoyed the light hearted personable touches that existed on the pages and pages I read. After all, this position is about working with students, and if you plan to work with students it helps to not take things so seriously and to be personable and fun. I also found it interesting the data that some of the candidates included. Information such as marital status, if they were in good health, and religion just to name a few. Reading these pieces of information made me think how in the U.S. I could get in trouble if I enquired about some of those pieces of information. It must be noted that I didn't see what UWC was asking for in terms of background info so it could have just been candidates open to sharing their personal life instead of UWC asking to see this info. Either way it still caught me briefly off guard to see.
Kaity has already mentioned that there are a whole bunch of new folks from the states here with us including the entrepenurship students and a couple of nursing students. All of the students seem nice and I hope I can get to know them all, but Kaity and I have definitely gotten to know Giselle and Raji the best. Perhaps it is because it is just the two of them, just like it is the two of us, or maybe it is because the 25 other students are in an intense program. They have class all day then are still working in groups by the time I head off to bed. Perhaps once they get past the intial part of their class they will have more time to socialize with us. Overall it is weird though how much the environment of Theology has changed. It used to be filled with exchange students from all over Africa, folks from China on Buisness, and overall just a widely diverse group of people. However, now there are so many Americans here. It certainly feels a little more like home, but definitely does not feel as enriching as it was before. Seeing the difference has made me so thankful that both Kaity and I were able to get internships here at UWC. If we had ended up at UCT or Stellenbosch we would be surrounded by white South Africans and tourists with views of the most beautiful parts of the country. However, here at UWC we are so close to the townships and the struggles that South Africa is still facing as a country that I think Kaity and I have a much greater opportunity for growth than if we ended up at another university. It makes me think about our trip to Mzoli's and how it was three locals and four americans that together represented a diverse group in terms of experiences, cultures, etc. Looking around you could tell that there were some groups of white South Africans, including one wearing a John Deer trucker hat which was an odd sight to see. There were also large groups of white tourists including one playing games/ice breakers. Every now and then you would see a person who wasn't white, but it was a rare sight inside of Mzoli's. Which might have been because the locals were all outside helping to park cars for tips in order to make a living. It was sad to see such a disparity, to see a place where well off folks go to eat, that is located at the center of a township. Raji and Giselle were telling us that the owner tried to buy up the surrounding area in order to make it more tourist friendly and create places for tourists to stay. Thankfully that did not happen since it would have made Mzoli's a center for well off white folks to meet while surrounded by the less fortunate. I know Mzoli's helps bring money to the township which is great, but hearing that story made me sad that the owner of Mzoli's was more concerned about making money and catering towards the tourists than helping improve the township. I was also told that more locals do go to Mzoli's later in the day and I do hope that is the case since otherwise it would be sad if the populations of South Africa didn't come together.
In conclusion I will leave you with a comment that JP, our friend and taxi driver made. As we were all gathered around watching soccer (Me, Kaity, Giselle, Raji, JP, Eugene, Lunga, and other Theology patrons) JP suggested that half of the Americans should come to Africa and half of the Africans should go to the U.S. since he was enjoying the nice mix of folks that were gathered around through a commonality we all shared, just laughing, joking, and having a great time together. I certainly think it would be a great step towards breaking down steroetypes and challenging assumptions, but fear that at this point it wouldn't end well due to the actions of some folks who just can't seem to grasp the idea that we have more in common with each other than is apparent at first glance and can also learn a lot by celebrating and learning from our differences. Until the time comes when JP's idea could be in the realm of possibility, it is up to individuals to show the world a better way by uniting in the celebration of diversity and making a stand against racism and oppresion.
-Tim O.
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