How learning should be like

Taking the #1 advice from Sacha Chua's list of 10 tips for new bloggers , I am going to choose an audience for this post. Today I would like to write to my fellow Beyond Bordians.

First off, I would like to thank all of you for posting on your blogs. I have enjoyed reading all of your entries so much. It is -very- comforting to know that I'm not the only control freak out there (hehe!). And to know that we are all learning and going through the same challenges is definitely a great source of support.

So yesterday I had my first day at the Working Centre . (For my other readers who are not familiar with the Working Centre, you can read all the Working Center 101 entries by Jess DB , Marissa , or Sabrina ). I had chosen to work at the Computer Training Lab, helping Sergiane (the instructor) with the Computer Basic course every Tuesday afternoon. I have always believed that technology can empower people, and I am very excited to be able to be part of a team that make that happen.

This Computer Basics course is for people who have no previous knowledge of computers, but are looking to pick up this practical skill, so they can get a better job, for instance. They pay $30 for this 8-week course, and yesterday was their 3rd class. Sergiane started by going over last week's homework, answering any questions they had, then started the lesson for week 3. They had to learn the concept of folder vs. files, how to create new documents, and save them into a chosen folder. My role was to go around and assist the students as Sergione asked them to perform certain tasks (like a TA) to make sure they were following and understood what was going on.

There are two important lessons I took away from the afternoon. On one hand, they are messages I tried to convey to the students. On the other hand, they could be extremely valuable if applied to my own learning.

Lesson #1: Don't just jump into things and start clicking. Pause and first think what you have to do here.

Lesson #2: Don't be intimidated to be starting from the basics. That's how all of us have always learned.

When we were kids, we were not afraid mistakes, we were used to learning new ideas everyday, we would not be embarrassed if we didn't know something. But as we grow up, all of that seem to have changed. For some reason, we expect ourselves to know all the answers in the world. We feel bad if we don't know the answer, worse yet, we apologize for asking questions. Why is that? Quoting from Scott, "You can only ask questions (the non-stupid ones) if you already know something."

But the truth is, we cannot learn without first making mistakes. We fell many times before we learned how to walk. We spelled everything wrong before we learned how to write. We mumbled and nobody could understand us before we learned how to speak. What's wrong with making mistakes? They are not supposd to make us look stupid, they just show that we're learning something new. Quoting from Joanne, "Learning -should- be frustrating."

While reflecting on all this, I thought of Freire again. Like what he said in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed regarding the teacher-student relationship, "People educating each other, mediated by the world." I went to the Working Centre to teach people how to use computers. In turn, my students have reminded me how learning should be like.

Whenever I come across something relating to the Beyond Borders program, I find myself thinking about Freire a lot. It's like people who wear bracelets that say "What will Jesus do?" I almost have an imaginary one around mine that says "What will Freire say?" ha!

To end this post, I want to remind myself that while all these projects at the Working Center are a lot of fun and very exciting, I shall not forget the original purpose of why we were sent there for this course - which was for us "to be engaged in justice, peace and development activities within our own local community".

Naming our own world

I met with a couple of my high school friends this weekend, and they were kind enough to agree to support my fundraising initiative. As expected, the question, "So, what will you be doing?" came very soon after. I paused for a moment as usual, trying hard to find words in my head as soon as I could.

I then said, "Well, the original placement I applied for was in Botswana with the Southern Africa Development Community working with the Gender Unit. They do a lot of work around gender equality in decision making processes, facilitating workshops to help women with all sorts of different skills, setting up programs to ensure girls get to go to school...etc. However, that placement has been put on hold so now I have applied to another placement.

This new placement is with the Farmer's Union of Malawi. They have 21 farmer organizations under the union, with its mission to act collectively in the interest of the farmers during decision making processes. The position I applied for involved doing research and collecting information to create briefing notes or instruction material on various topics, with a goal to build capacity in these organizations and promote coordination. I still don't know though, the field office hasn't confirmed yet."

My friends then asked, "Do you get training before you go? How would you know how to do all that?"

I then replied, "Well I am sure I will be briefed when I arrive at my placement..and I am guessing it'll be a lot of just learning on the job. Of course I can do as much research and preparations as I can before I go. But to a certain extent, it does seem like there is only so much I can prepare. My role there isn't necessarily to "do the job". Instead, it's more important to facilitate. I have seen how frameworks are developed here in Canada. Can they be adopted and applied to the Malawian context? That is something they have to decide for themselves. I'm not there to tell them how we do things here in North America; rather, I'm guessing it's more important to get into conversations with them, understand what the underlying issues are, ask the right questions, and help them come up with their own answers."

It was a great evening. I had a lot of fun seeing my old schoolmates. On my way home, I kept thinking about what I said. I noticed I was very careful with words such as "helping" and "teaching". Then I realized I was talking like what Freire has said in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. He always talked about how people strive to be more human, by naming their own world. I wrote the final exam essay not too long ago, so I still remember the famous quote, "Liberation must not be bestowed as a gift. Instead, it must occur through conscious action and reflection."

I am happy that I am starting to be able to relate what I have learned last term to the placement. I guess it shows I did learn something from the book. 

I'm not sure if I'm treating this whole thing with the right attitude. I'm not sure if I'm asking the right questions. Once in awhile I still struggle with the question of "Why am I going?"

One thing for sure is, I have more questions than answers.

On certainties..or the lack of

I received news last Thursday from the WUSC office that the original placement I applied for has been put on hold. The email ended with "Sorry about that, but these are realities of working in the field of international development." So now I must pick a new placement. My brain started to fill with thousands of questions. What do I do about my research? I don't even know which country I'm going to now. I can't get my immunizations yet. I can't have my ticket booked yet. And people keep asking where I'm going!

Look at how I'm so used to certainties in life. I recall the many stories I have heard previously about children being pulled out from school because of various reasons - parents ran out of money to pay school fees, parents fell sick so they must stay home to take care of siblings, family is having a bad season and need another pair of hands to help out on the field...and the list goes on. I tried to picture myself in those situation. I imagined myself going home one day and was told that I could no longer go to school tomorrow, imagined myself turning on the tap and no water came out, imagined myself not finding food in the house and that's it - there is no grocery store where I can go to pick up more food. All of a sudden,  life seems to mean something different altogether. Everyday we expect some kind of order and consistency to our life. Everyday we take that for granted.

Then I recall when Rebecca from the Working Centre said, "I grew up at a place which I thought was not structured, but at the Ugunja Community Centre, there is really no structure."

I can already picture myself losing patience without a plan, without knowing what to expect today, tomorrow, next week... I am looking forward to have my life turn upside down and be taught all over again what life could mean.  

So far so good

So I am 1/3 through the program now. My thoughts? I'm loving it. 

The second required course "Justice, Peace and Development" has just begun. Here are some highlights from the first class:

• Course requirements include: this blog (anything about our learning and experience in the program), community service hours at The Working Center in Kitchener-Waterloo, and presentation on our host country (economical, political, and environment challenges, history, demographics...etc)
  
• Public speaking is a skill that comes with practice and can only be developed by doing lots of it. Being able to present confidently about our projects and tell stories of our experiences are very important
• People stop learning at age of 30 and only use what they already know (no good!). When you're frustrated, it means you're learning; if you're not frustrated, then you're doing what you already know how to do.
• "Hurt people, hurt people", especially individuals who have been alienated and isolated. 
• When we're overseas, we need to think, "am I making matters worse?" Learn to do little things that make little differences everyday. Be there for family, be nice to strangers, smile and respect people.
• Reverse culture shock is guranteed to be greater than the culture shock we experience when we arrive at our placements. When we come back, we will feel that we are not understood, we will question why people don't care, and we must be prepared for that. Our journal will be our best friends at times, take advantage of the support we have from other Beyond Bordians.
• Blogs are great for sharing experiences and practicing community outreach. At the same time, they are also useful for self-preservation. A lot of times there are situations when we can only react and do what we have to do, there isn't time to process until after the fact, and this can happen the next day, the next week, or even years after. 

For the last few days, I have been thinking long and hard about what I want to be posting on this blog. Here are some ideas:

• Research about my host country and my placement
• Stories from the Working Center
• Fundraising progress (email me if you would like to support me :) )
• Preparations for the summer (ie. immunizations, thinking about what to pack, enjoying warm showers while I still have them, worrying about everything...etc)
• Begging and harassing for emotional and financial support
• Other research, resources, links...etc about international development
• I am not sure? What do you think?

What's next?

• First visit to The Working Center tomorrow!
• Still waiting for a response from WUSC to confirm my placement.....(I applied to work with the Gender Unit of SADC (Southern African Development Community) but they haven't confirmed yet. Soooo wish me luck!)

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your evening.  =)

More about me

Why I joined the Beyond Borders program

For as long as I can remember, I have always been looking for opportunities to "make a difference". I am very grateful to have come across the chance to be enrolled in this program during my last year in university. I am aware of many other programs that also offer development placement opportunities. However, I feel that the Beyond Borders program is very unique as they incorporate courses and seminars that teach us theories, challenge us to think below the surface, and most importantly, provide the support we need to prepare ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally for this journey. 

My travel experiences

I was originally born in Hong Kong and have lived there until my family immigrated to Canada when I was 11. I am lucky enough to have parents that love traveling so I have been all through Asia since a young age. I probably picked up the travel bug since then and as I grow up, it only gets stronger. All through high school and university, I have studied in London one summer, volunteered in Costa Rica in another summer, and spent a whole year studied and worked in Germany just last year, taking advantage of my time there to see the many wonderful places in Europe. Finishing my last year of university, I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to do an international development placement this summer and going to Africa for the first time!

What I hope to get out from the program

Coming into the program, I had two objectives in mind (although I am sure by the end of it I will have gained so much more than that). The first one is to be able to gain a first hand experience of living and working with the people that are not as privileged as we are in the so-called "First World". Most of what I know right now, I either learned it from other people and heard it somewhere. I feel I lack the personal perspective when I am talking to people about development issues. So through this journey, I hope to collect stories of encounters that impact me, friends that I make along the way, as well as the frustrations I will experience working in a culture that is vastly different from my own. Secondly, I wish to continue to be involved in the international development field after I gradaute. I am hoping this journey allows me to find out more about myself, my skills, my interests, and the areas I can possibly contribute to as I say farewell to the wonderful student life and enter the next stage of my life.

So that's who I am as of this moment, and I'm looking forward to coming back to this post to see how much I have grown by the end of this summer.

Going beyond borders

My name is Ruby, and I'm a final year student at the University of Waterloo. I'm part of a program called Beyond Borders, and you will be finding out all about it. So let's begin with some introductions!

Introducing the Beyond Borders program...

The Beyond Borders program, offered through St. Jerome's University, encourages students to apply skills and knowledge learned in school to serve our community and work towards building a better society. It is an one-year long program completed through 3 terms, each component taking on a different focus. The program begins in September, and from then till April, students are required to take 2 courses and participate in 3 seminars to prepare us for a 3-month placement in the summer in a developing country. These placements are offered through 2 different partners, Intercordia Canada and World University Service of Canada (WUSC).

Introducing the Beyond Borders blogs...

This blog, quite frankly, has started because of a course requirement. However, I promise you that it is going to be so much more than that. This blog will be home to all my stories and reflections as I record all that I learn and encounter through the program. By sharing through this blog, I hope I can take all of you on this journey as well. There are 13 of us this year, and each of us came from different walks in life, studies a different major in school, has different amount of travel experiences and will be going to different countries working at different placements. On the other hand, we are all similar in that we share the same passion to learn more about the world with an open heart and an open mind. We know that we are not going to change the world, but we believe that by educating ourselves, we will be better equipped to make little differences, every day, in every way. Each one of us is going to have different insights and reflections, both when we are still preparing ourselves during the first two phases of the program, and when we finally go oversea in the summer. I encourage you to explore the blogs of other Beyond Bordians, enjoy the stories, and leave LOTS of comments :)