September 9, 2016 - 17:01
My Revelation About Sense of Communities
Over two summers ago I went on a week-long volunteering trip with a group called Outreach 360 in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. Before this trip I was expecting to just meet some adorable children and do fun English lessons, but little did I know how much of an impact this experience would have on me. The night before the camp started, the organization that runs the summer camp informed us that there was no air conditioning or a running toilet, which immediately made me nervous. On the first day I did not know what to expect with not being in the conditions that I am usually in. The first thing that I saw was a concrete floor, two very small rooms, and a frail leaf roof. At that moment I could not possibly believe how I was going to be able to make my lesson exciting to these children in these poor conditions. After setting up we began to hear the laughter and see children with the biggest smiles on their faces. I have never seen so many children happy and excited to come to school. Many children came running up to me to give me hugs even though I had never met them, but they were so grateful to have us there to teach them English. The lessons were created in a way so that the teacher were not to say any Spanish and they were strictly taught in English. This presented a very difficult obstacle to children, because many of them had never spoken any English. Despite this hardship the children still did not stop trying and would overcome their frustrations, because they were so eager to learn something new. Although, I would see many students helping others that looked like they were struggling. Towards the end of the week it went from 30 students to 90 students who went to this small area to learn. Not once this whole week did I hear one child complain about the heat, or that there was no school equipment besides the concreate floor and rusty chalkboards. Now I understood the amount of privilege that I have and how important it is to give back to communities who don’t have the same opportunities.
I come from a fortunate family where I never had to worry about going hungry or not having all my school supplies. While in the Dominican Republic numerous children have to go to work to help their parents just barely get by instead of getting an education. Many of the children who came to the summer camp had to walk miles, but they would do anything to get an education. In contrast I only live a mile from my school and I still take a car or bus. Additionally, my school was well built with air conditioning, technology, and paid well educated teachers. Yet with all these amazing conditions I would still complain about not wanting to go to school and I found my peers doing the same. In America many children always want to get the latest technology and the trendiest clothes, but never stop to think about the other children who do not live that lifestyle. Since my parents had an education and did not have to work all the time I knew I could rely on them to help me with my homework. Meanwhile these children were so happy even though they do not have any of this. Children would the arrive to the camp worn down clothes or would not have any shoes at all. They also could not go to their parents for help because many of the Dominican people from the area never received any type of education, because they needed to go to work to support their families. These children were made me realize things that I should not take the things I have for granted, because other people do not even have half of things that I have.
Now seeing this story through the lenses of Mary Louise Pratt I realized how I was in a contact zone. Mary Louise explains contact zones as, “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power” (34). Although, I did not have any negative attitudes towards the Dominican Republic people I felt like their culture and my American culture learned from each other that past week. On one side I taught the children some of the techniques that American students use to learn, because they do not have the same access to this education. On the other side I was learning the Dominican culture from interacting with the children, hearing the music through the streets, and eating the delicious food. Pratt also refers to “safe houses”, which are “social and intellectual spaces where groups can constitute themselves as …communities with high degrees of trust, shared understandings, temporary protection from legacies of oppression” (40). I felt I could call the classroom a “safe house” because I understood as a mentor that all the children were at different levels of education, but they had put trust into me to teach them English. All the children that came to the classroom were given the same opportunities to learn and to express that they were having difficulties. They would share to me things about their culture, such as their signature dishes and what they would do in their free time like play tag with all the neighborhood children. Then I would share what I would do in my free time and it’s usually watching TV or running. That is when I really noticed they had a stronger sense of community because it is pretty typical for children in the U.S. to not do something as a whole community but rather themselves or a few others. Since both I and the children felt comfortable sharing different aspects of our individual lives allowed for a contact zone to be created. This is what Pratt describes as “joys of contact zone” where, “along with rage, incomprehension, and pain, there were exhilarating moments of wonder and revelation, mutual understanding and new wisdom” (39). Many of the children struggled with the lesson because they were not use to this type of work ethic, but with help from peers and myself they were able to overcome that. Despite our difference in cultures we were able to learn from each other, which is important because as a world community people should always come together. I went back to the United States wanting to create more “contact zones” in my classrooms to have a better sense of my community in my school. To conclude, seeing this experience through the perspective of Mary Louise Pratt showed me wanting to have a strong sense of community that I can learn from is a great part of my identity.