Reflection
Within the Discipline
Being a sophomore and also the youngest on this trip, I have not had much class experience within my major. However, my major played a great role in relating to the trip. Being an international business major and overseas is like putting a five-year-old in a candy shop with unlimited money. In the future I will have a few courses that are related to the trip, such as international marketing and world religions. For now, I only have a marketing and business communications course that I can see how they were relative to my time in Ethiopia.
Business communications was a course I took at the same time that, we were in Ethiopia. The class was mainly about how to professionally present oneself in emails and in meetings. Truly, we did not hold professional meetings in our time in Africa, but Leah Taylor and Kalyn Brymer stayed an extra week to present the work plan for the Watershed Consortium Project that they plan on activating in college in Ethiopia. I was jealous, not only because they to stay an extra week, but because they had the opportunity to take the trip from an international business aspect. Personally, my business communications class was apparent when we were giving our presentations at the clinic. In that class I learned how to present myself professionally and appropriately to get my point across. For the final, we gave presentations over any topic we chose, and I mocked the same one we did daily at the clinic. I brought it to more of a business aspect and gave more of the shocking facts to my audience, to make them more aware of how much poverty is in Ethiopia. In both presentations, we gave major details about the LifeStraw, and especially during our time in Ethiopia we all had experience directly with the marketing of the LifeStraw.
We were lucky enough to be given the LifeStraws we distributed by the Jewish Voice Ministries group we were partnered with. However, we did not experience the best of service between LifeStraw and ourselves because we were not given the correct order of Lifestraws when we arrived in Gondar. We did make it work and still handed out all we were given. Whether our order was wrong or not, we still acted as the marketing team for LifeStraw while in Ethiopia. I have not taken my international marketing class yet, but from what I learned in my basic marketing course we were practically free advertisement for LifeStraw. We presented an idea, told the people all about what it does and how great it is, and then distributed them to the community. From there the people with the LifeStraws now will tell their friends about them and come back next year wanting more. It is a complete cycle in the business world, and LifeStraw and the people in Ethiopia are both profiting from it. As mentioned, I have not gotten the full experience in my courses. A course I will be taking in the future is on world religions.
World religion is a course I am most excited for because this is exactly where I would like to take my major, into the church aspect, but still keeping it in the business world. We witnessed first hand what the religion was like in Gondar. That, like any missionary group, there will be people hoping to convert them. Many people we came into contact with that were workers at the clinic were Jewish, because they had been to the clinic in years past and had been converted. But everyday we would hear the local religion’s prayer chant over loudspeakers in the city. It was quite eerie, but as we went on we knew to respect it and accept it. The people did not stop what they were doing to say their prayers; it was merely a reminder to the people of that religion to say their prayers. Within my major I hope to be able to learn more in-depth about not only Gondar’s religion, but around the world.
Since I am an international business major, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to go on this trip. It does not relate to just specific courses within my discipline, but it relates to the bigger picture. I was able to travel internationally as a 19 year-old-college student who wants to do things like this as a career. There will be plenty of opportunities for me to relate this trip to future classes, and I am sure that my professors will enjoy hearing how I made these same connections.
Beyond the Discipline
My core courses may have been easy to use because we were abroad, but little did we know that we would have basic courses take action that week. There were classes people normally never favored either, but to our surprise they helped. Math, history, and business and professional speaking were three courses I personally made a connection with during my week.
Math was quite a surprise to me, because it’s a well-known saying, “I’ll never use this stuff again!” We were proven wrong about that. Each night at our hotel we worked with hundreds of numbers at a time. Each LifeStraw had to be tagged with a specific number to be able to keep track of it and take data on it next year. Math came into play whenever our numbers would get out of order. We had a very efficient assembly line to put the numbers on straws, it was so efficient that we would get ahead of each other and numbers would jump around. Another unfavorable course I noticed one day was history.
History is by far my least favorite subject, and I also never expected to use it again in my life. Of course it did find a way to sneak back into my life. History classes occurred more than one-way as well. Almost daily there was a history lesson to be learned or taught between the locals and us. I remember driving to the clinic and sitting with my friend from Ethiopia, Michael Tadesse, and as we passed all things historical in the town, he would tell me about them. He was especially enthused about a man who stands tall in the Piassa of Gondar the Statue of Emperor Tewodros. In return I would answer the questions he had about the United States, and especially ones he had about Texas. Like the golden question, “Do you ride horses to school?” My favorite question because they always seemed so surprised when we said no. They knew little about America, but I was able to use knowledge from my history courses to enlighten the Ethiopians the best I could. Enlightening them required a public speaking skill, but that was not the only time we would use it.
Like any other student we must take a business and professional speaking course as a basic; this course will always find a way to show up. It is also much like my business communications class that I took as an interdisciplinary course. Everyday we had to recall our speech class when we would give our presentation on water quality and the LifeStraw. Granted, we could not fully present to our best abilities because the people could not understand us. We did have to figure out the best alternatives for words to put our presentation into layman’s terms for the interpreters to completely get our point across. To give it the most effectiveness we learned the presentation by the first afternoon at the clinic. To be sure they knew we meant business when we presented, we used stern and gentle tones of voices and body language to get the purpose across.
Who would have thought that all this time, our classes we disliked in high school would actually take part in our daily lives? Especially taking part while we were in another country.
Beyond Academics
Classroom education was not the only lesson that took place while we were in Ethiopia. Many life lessons, which I have been taught over the years, were very obvious, such as patience, thankfulness, and compassion. With a communication barrier it was extremely difficult to relay our message to the people as well and understand what they wanted us as a group to know. It required a lot of patience with our interpreters as well as the people. They would get very upset whenever we could not have a conversation with them.
One example specifically was when we would actually distribute the LifeStraw. We would exchange the yellow card that had their personal information on it for a LifeStraw. This was difficult because most did not want to give up the card, and we had to have patience with them to get the point across that they did not actually need the card. From past experiences of dealing with people I applied patience when working with them. When they were so difficult to communicate with, it led to frustration among some of us.
With frustration comes a realization of how thankful I am of my things. Walking around in the clinic alone, we would notice local workers were wearing outfits multiple times during the week. This was my first occurrence of thankfulness because I am fortunate enough to have clean clothes each day. We were not the only ones who felt thankful, however. Each moment we handed a LifeStraw to an individual we could personally see their faces light up when they received something that was actually theirs, not a hand-me-down, but theirs! This was another time that I realized how thankful I should be for my own possessions, even the ones I have not earned. Most of the women especially would hug us; some would thank us in English, and once I had my hand kissed multiple times by a very thankful woman. Their compassion would give me hope.
Compassion was not hard to come by when walking down the streets. We would see men holding hands, or with their arms around one another. This was not what we would think seeing that in the states; they were all so close and loved their friends very much, which definitely showed. They were all so caring for each other, and when we showed how much we cared about them they were very grateful for even our presence. The genuine smiles and hugs we received every time they entered our tent or received their LifeStraws was heartwarming. It was quite obvious how much we meant to some people, and I know our gratitude was returned.
Interconnectedness
All together my experiences have ways they connect directly. Whether it was thankful for an education, or having the patience to study and learn there is always a way to connect personal and educational experiences. There were a few students we met that had the opportunity to attend school, and their expression about school was so astonishing.
We take our educations for granted here. We feel as if it is torture, there are children there who are excited for class because that means they get to make a name for themselves one day. Education is not as much of a luxury as it should be. After seeing the children going to school and talk about their education, I am now more grateful for having the opportunities that I do here in America. With my education I will be able to give more children like my friends in Ethiopia the hope and desire to learn.
Our education is not something to take lightly. I was fortunate enough to realize that we take things for granted here. Now I take my stand at being grateful for all that is offered to me. I have to teach myself to have patience with my professors, like the people at the clinic had with us. Also, to treat everyone, including strangers with the sense of compassion that every Ethiopian showed to us.
Global Awareness
During my time in Ethiopia I had a personal global experience. The people of Ethiopia are not as well off as we are, obviously. They all have deeper struggles than some of us. There are few students who are fortunate enough to attend school, even the local college in Gondar. They have discipline within the intermediate school systems; daily we would see students in their uniforms walking to school. Watching the students walk with their friends, we could see how they interacted with each other. Also, while in the clinic we made friends with the workers that were from there. It was a great experience because we personally got to see how they interacted with people with which they made acquaintances.
They were all very hands on with their affection, which was not a problem to me. Sometimes when they would come in for a hug they approached it differently than we do here. That may be a cultural habit to them. Many things we would see the people of the city do would not have been socially accepted in America.
One thing especially was when women nursed in public, even during our presentations. That was a big shock to most of us. Another cultural norm for them was daily prayer, twice a day. Twice a day meant from around 3:00 to 5:00 AM and 3:00 to 5:00 PM. This may have been the hardest to get used to because it was over a loudspeaker that would reach all across the city. What frightened me the most was that it was in Amharic, and I wasn’t quite sure what was being said all over town. I have led myself to believe it was nothing negative.
Economically, the people are not as lucky as we are. Their money system was confusing but when items were converted to American, everything was much cheaper. However, they were all willing to bargain with us just like they would on the streets of Mexico. They would do anything to get a birr, which is the equivalent of a dollar. The money was just as dirty as the streets. Every time I touched it, I immediately wanted to wash my hands.
The global aspect of the country changed my thoughts on how we live. It was nice to see how different our countries are.
Broader Implications (Global Issues)
Africa in general is known for having poor health and severe water issues. During our time in Ethiopia our sole purpose was to educate the people on germs and water quality. Over three million people die due to waterborne illnesses each year. This was one of the first points we would approach the people with, hoping to shock them. Because of the germ-infested water they drink, it causes them to become deathly ill. However, they are unaware of what is really in their water. We would go through each source of water that is in Ethiopia and they would mostly agree that the river water was by far the worst source. The concept that germs lived not only in their water, but on their hands as well was hard to get across.
An issue I saw a lot of was the spreading of germs among people. They did not know that they were causing their friends to become sick. Sneezing, coughing, touching, and talking are the prime ways germs can be spread. One thing we highly encouraged them to do was to sneeze into their arm and never into their hands, because germs live and thrive wherever they are at. Also, we would teach them the appropriate way to wash their hands with warm water. This was a fun part of our presentation because they would get involved with us and follow along with the steps. It was very obvious that some people came from unclean homes and it was easy to tell they were living a life of poverty.
You would almost think everyone in Ethiopia was not very well off. Actually there were people who did have clean water, showers, and different clothes. I was always raised to give back to those who are not as fortunate as me. This is why as a group we all gathered together items we no longer needed here and gave them away. Seeing families receiving new things was like Christmas to them. The joy on their faces did not go unnoticed. We gave other things away, like games and toys. The children in Gondar knew how to make games out of the few things they did have. We had given two boys brand new soccer balls and to see their faces light up when they were handed brand new items was heartwarming.
It goes without being said that this trip was to build someone up and tear them down. Gathering together all of my experiences, I look back and can connect how I could one day help better a country. Seeing that my education is not going wasted and making the connections to my class work, and hearing about issues that are unheard of in America, makes me realize how fortunate all of us are here.
Being a sophomore and also the youngest on this trip, I have not had much class experience within my major. However, my major played a great role in relating to the trip. Being an international business major and overseas is like putting a five-year-old in a candy shop with unlimited money. In the future I will have a few courses that are related to the trip, such as international marketing and world religions. For now, I only have a marketing and business communications course that I can see how they were relative to my time in Ethiopia.
Business communications was a course I took at the same time that, we were in Ethiopia. The class was mainly about how to professionally present oneself in emails and in meetings. Truly, we did not hold professional meetings in our time in Africa, but Leah Taylor and Kalyn Brymer stayed an extra week to present the work plan for the Watershed Consortium Project that they plan on activating in college in Ethiopia. I was jealous, not only because they to stay an extra week, but because they had the opportunity to take the trip from an international business aspect. Personally, my business communications class was apparent when we were giving our presentations at the clinic. In that class I learned how to present myself professionally and appropriately to get my point across. For the final, we gave presentations over any topic we chose, and I mocked the same one we did daily at the clinic. I brought it to more of a business aspect and gave more of the shocking facts to my audience, to make them more aware of how much poverty is in Ethiopia. In both presentations, we gave major details about the LifeStraw, and especially during our time in Ethiopia we all had experience directly with the marketing of the LifeStraw.
We were lucky enough to be given the LifeStraws we distributed by the Jewish Voice Ministries group we were partnered with. However, we did not experience the best of service between LifeStraw and ourselves because we were not given the correct order of Lifestraws when we arrived in Gondar. We did make it work and still handed out all we were given. Whether our order was wrong or not, we still acted as the marketing team for LifeStraw while in Ethiopia. I have not taken my international marketing class yet, but from what I learned in my basic marketing course we were practically free advertisement for LifeStraw. We presented an idea, told the people all about what it does and how great it is, and then distributed them to the community. From there the people with the LifeStraws now will tell their friends about them and come back next year wanting more. It is a complete cycle in the business world, and LifeStraw and the people in Ethiopia are both profiting from it. As mentioned, I have not gotten the full experience in my courses. A course I will be taking in the future is on world religions.
World religion is a course I am most excited for because this is exactly where I would like to take my major, into the church aspect, but still keeping it in the business world. We witnessed first hand what the religion was like in Gondar. That, like any missionary group, there will be people hoping to convert them. Many people we came into contact with that were workers at the clinic were Jewish, because they had been to the clinic in years past and had been converted. But everyday we would hear the local religion’s prayer chant over loudspeakers in the city. It was quite eerie, but as we went on we knew to respect it and accept it. The people did not stop what they were doing to say their prayers; it was merely a reminder to the people of that religion to say their prayers. Within my major I hope to be able to learn more in-depth about not only Gondar’s religion, but around the world.
Since I am an international business major, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to go on this trip. It does not relate to just specific courses within my discipline, but it relates to the bigger picture. I was able to travel internationally as a 19 year-old-college student who wants to do things like this as a career. There will be plenty of opportunities for me to relate this trip to future classes, and I am sure that my professors will enjoy hearing how I made these same connections.
Beyond the Discipline
My core courses may have been easy to use because we were abroad, but little did we know that we would have basic courses take action that week. There were classes people normally never favored either, but to our surprise they helped. Math, history, and business and professional speaking were three courses I personally made a connection with during my week.
Math was quite a surprise to me, because it’s a well-known saying, “I’ll never use this stuff again!” We were proven wrong about that. Each night at our hotel we worked with hundreds of numbers at a time. Each LifeStraw had to be tagged with a specific number to be able to keep track of it and take data on it next year. Math came into play whenever our numbers would get out of order. We had a very efficient assembly line to put the numbers on straws, it was so efficient that we would get ahead of each other and numbers would jump around. Another unfavorable course I noticed one day was history.
History is by far my least favorite subject, and I also never expected to use it again in my life. Of course it did find a way to sneak back into my life. History classes occurred more than one-way as well. Almost daily there was a history lesson to be learned or taught between the locals and us. I remember driving to the clinic and sitting with my friend from Ethiopia, Michael Tadesse, and as we passed all things historical in the town, he would tell me about them. He was especially enthused about a man who stands tall in the Piassa of Gondar the Statue of Emperor Tewodros. In return I would answer the questions he had about the United States, and especially ones he had about Texas. Like the golden question, “Do you ride horses to school?” My favorite question because they always seemed so surprised when we said no. They knew little about America, but I was able to use knowledge from my history courses to enlighten the Ethiopians the best I could. Enlightening them required a public speaking skill, but that was not the only time we would use it.
Like any other student we must take a business and professional speaking course as a basic; this course will always find a way to show up. It is also much like my business communications class that I took as an interdisciplinary course. Everyday we had to recall our speech class when we would give our presentation on water quality and the LifeStraw. Granted, we could not fully present to our best abilities because the people could not understand us. We did have to figure out the best alternatives for words to put our presentation into layman’s terms for the interpreters to completely get our point across. To give it the most effectiveness we learned the presentation by the first afternoon at the clinic. To be sure they knew we meant business when we presented, we used stern and gentle tones of voices and body language to get the purpose across.
Who would have thought that all this time, our classes we disliked in high school would actually take part in our daily lives? Especially taking part while we were in another country.
Beyond Academics
Classroom education was not the only lesson that took place while we were in Ethiopia. Many life lessons, which I have been taught over the years, were very obvious, such as patience, thankfulness, and compassion. With a communication barrier it was extremely difficult to relay our message to the people as well and understand what they wanted us as a group to know. It required a lot of patience with our interpreters as well as the people. They would get very upset whenever we could not have a conversation with them.
One example specifically was when we would actually distribute the LifeStraw. We would exchange the yellow card that had their personal information on it for a LifeStraw. This was difficult because most did not want to give up the card, and we had to have patience with them to get the point across that they did not actually need the card. From past experiences of dealing with people I applied patience when working with them. When they were so difficult to communicate with, it led to frustration among some of us.
With frustration comes a realization of how thankful I am of my things. Walking around in the clinic alone, we would notice local workers were wearing outfits multiple times during the week. This was my first occurrence of thankfulness because I am fortunate enough to have clean clothes each day. We were not the only ones who felt thankful, however. Each moment we handed a LifeStraw to an individual we could personally see their faces light up when they received something that was actually theirs, not a hand-me-down, but theirs! This was another time that I realized how thankful I should be for my own possessions, even the ones I have not earned. Most of the women especially would hug us; some would thank us in English, and once I had my hand kissed multiple times by a very thankful woman. Their compassion would give me hope.
Compassion was not hard to come by when walking down the streets. We would see men holding hands, or with their arms around one another. This was not what we would think seeing that in the states; they were all so close and loved their friends very much, which definitely showed. They were all so caring for each other, and when we showed how much we cared about them they were very grateful for even our presence. The genuine smiles and hugs we received every time they entered our tent or received their LifeStraws was heartwarming. It was quite obvious how much we meant to some people, and I know our gratitude was returned.
Interconnectedness
All together my experiences have ways they connect directly. Whether it was thankful for an education, or having the patience to study and learn there is always a way to connect personal and educational experiences. There were a few students we met that had the opportunity to attend school, and their expression about school was so astonishing.
We take our educations for granted here. We feel as if it is torture, there are children there who are excited for class because that means they get to make a name for themselves one day. Education is not as much of a luxury as it should be. After seeing the children going to school and talk about their education, I am now more grateful for having the opportunities that I do here in America. With my education I will be able to give more children like my friends in Ethiopia the hope and desire to learn.
Our education is not something to take lightly. I was fortunate enough to realize that we take things for granted here. Now I take my stand at being grateful for all that is offered to me. I have to teach myself to have patience with my professors, like the people at the clinic had with us. Also, to treat everyone, including strangers with the sense of compassion that every Ethiopian showed to us.
Global Awareness
During my time in Ethiopia I had a personal global experience. The people of Ethiopia are not as well off as we are, obviously. They all have deeper struggles than some of us. There are few students who are fortunate enough to attend school, even the local college in Gondar. They have discipline within the intermediate school systems; daily we would see students in their uniforms walking to school. Watching the students walk with their friends, we could see how they interacted with each other. Also, while in the clinic we made friends with the workers that were from there. It was a great experience because we personally got to see how they interacted with people with which they made acquaintances.
They were all very hands on with their affection, which was not a problem to me. Sometimes when they would come in for a hug they approached it differently than we do here. That may be a cultural habit to them. Many things we would see the people of the city do would not have been socially accepted in America.
One thing especially was when women nursed in public, even during our presentations. That was a big shock to most of us. Another cultural norm for them was daily prayer, twice a day. Twice a day meant from around 3:00 to 5:00 AM and 3:00 to 5:00 PM. This may have been the hardest to get used to because it was over a loudspeaker that would reach all across the city. What frightened me the most was that it was in Amharic, and I wasn’t quite sure what was being said all over town. I have led myself to believe it was nothing negative.
Economically, the people are not as lucky as we are. Their money system was confusing but when items were converted to American, everything was much cheaper. However, they were all willing to bargain with us just like they would on the streets of Mexico. They would do anything to get a birr, which is the equivalent of a dollar. The money was just as dirty as the streets. Every time I touched it, I immediately wanted to wash my hands.
The global aspect of the country changed my thoughts on how we live. It was nice to see how different our countries are.
Broader Implications (Global Issues)
Africa in general is known for having poor health and severe water issues. During our time in Ethiopia our sole purpose was to educate the people on germs and water quality. Over three million people die due to waterborne illnesses each year. This was one of the first points we would approach the people with, hoping to shock them. Because of the germ-infested water they drink, it causes them to become deathly ill. However, they are unaware of what is really in their water. We would go through each source of water that is in Ethiopia and they would mostly agree that the river water was by far the worst source. The concept that germs lived not only in their water, but on their hands as well was hard to get across.
An issue I saw a lot of was the spreading of germs among people. They did not know that they were causing their friends to become sick. Sneezing, coughing, touching, and talking are the prime ways germs can be spread. One thing we highly encouraged them to do was to sneeze into their arm and never into their hands, because germs live and thrive wherever they are at. Also, we would teach them the appropriate way to wash their hands with warm water. This was a fun part of our presentation because they would get involved with us and follow along with the steps. It was very obvious that some people came from unclean homes and it was easy to tell they were living a life of poverty.
You would almost think everyone in Ethiopia was not very well off. Actually there were people who did have clean water, showers, and different clothes. I was always raised to give back to those who are not as fortunate as me. This is why as a group we all gathered together items we no longer needed here and gave them away. Seeing families receiving new things was like Christmas to them. The joy on their faces did not go unnoticed. We gave other things away, like games and toys. The children in Gondar knew how to make games out of the few things they did have. We had given two boys brand new soccer balls and to see their faces light up when they were handed brand new items was heartwarming.
It goes without being said that this trip was to build someone up and tear them down. Gathering together all of my experiences, I look back and can connect how I could one day help better a country. Seeing that my education is not going wasted and making the connections to my class work, and hearing about issues that are unheard of in America, makes me realize how fortunate all of us are here.