Periclean Scholars Newsletter

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Update from the Director-Tom ArcaroScreenshot 2015-11-30 15.05.01

Hear from Elon’s Periclean Director Dr. Arcaro about all the initiatives Periclean is undertaking this fall.

Interview and Visit with Amber Camp-Class of 2006Screenshot 2015-11-30 15.29.04

Periclean members Meg Griffin (class of 2016) and Chace Blackburn (class of 2017) had the opportunity to interview Periclean Alumnus Amber Camp King, who graduated in 2006, about her experience with the beginnings of the Periclean program.

Interview with Todd Ruffner-  of 2008
A Periclean Alumnus from the class of 2008, Todd shares with Meg and Chace what it was like to film a documentary in Chiapas, Mexico.

Updates from the Speakers from Each Class

2018

Representatives from the Classes of 2016 (Honduras), 2017 (Namibia) and 2018 (Zambia) share their class’s current undertakings and future goals at the Celebrating Periclean Scholars event held on October 21st.  Though we have no photo proof, Dr. Lambert did stop by for a short visit.

Update on the Periclean Foundation

foundation

Periclean Director Dr. Arcaro gives an update on the Periclean Foundation website, which is now up! He urges alumni to take part in a giving challenge in which every alumni is encouraged to donate 10 dollars a month.

 

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Note from the director

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Note from the director

Welcome to this first edition of The Periclean Scholars e-newsletter.  Our plan is to send these out quarterly in November, February, May and August, serving as way way to inform our entire Periclean community about current Class activities and also about the Periclean Foundation and alumni updates.  Please let us know what you think about this first edition and what we can do to better serve your needs.

A huge thanks to Chase Blackburn, ’18 and Megan Griffin, ’16 for putting this edition together and for doing the interviews with alumni Amber Camp King, ’06 and Todd Ruffner, ’08.  Also a big thanks to Morgan Spoon, Pericles Project Assistant for her critical support.

I have many important and exciting updates:

Travel to countries of focus
A first for the program: all three current Classes are in the planning stages of traveling to their respective countries of focus.

  • ‘18’s Under the leadership of Mentor Dr. Steve Braye and accompanied by associate director and Class of 2019 Mentor Dr. Mat Gendle, the ‘18’s are planning a May/June trip to Zambia. I will join this group for a few days at the end of their travel in Ndola and help with some assessment of the impact of the Class of 2009 who visited Zambia with Dr. Braye their senior year.map-of-zambia
  • ‘17’s Mentor Dr. Carol Smith and I will travel to Namibia this June and the Class is working on a grant proposal that could
    fund some of the Pericleans to join us as we move forward plans for the ‘17’s working trip to Namibia in January of 2017. We hope to meet with partners old and new and to lay the groundwork for sustaining our work there.
  • ‘16’s Three members of the Class of 2016 will travel to Honduras for a short visit this coming January and will work to further deepen our partnerships there and to vet the partner they will support beyond graduation. The rest of the Class will remain on campus and work on plans for the People-Planet-Profit conference to be held on campus this spring.  The ‘16’s will all be taking COR 445, a course for senior Pericleans that satisfies their upper level COR requirement.  Mentor Professor April Post is currently working with the Class to flesh out the details of the syllabus.

Pan-Periclean initiatives, current projects and tentative plans
The Steering Committee and the Mentors meet on alternate weeks, and both groups have been working on to deepen the program in many ways.

  • The original editors of our Periclean handbook Mapping Our Success, Sam Lubliner, Kelsey Davis and Erin Luther, are working on a more comprehensive second edition of the book. This new edition will be passed out at our April Induction Ceremony to all of the members of the new Class.  Peter Levine of Tufts University, a national expert in the field of engaged learning, has agreed to write a foreword for our book.
  • As mentioned above, the Class of 2016 will lead the way this Winter Term in piloting COR 445 “Global Partnerships Through Service.” This course was approved by the University Curriculum Committee last year and marks an important step in further deepening the academic component of our program. This 4 semester hour class is designed so that Pericleans can take the course either on campus or in their country of focus.
  • Mat Gendle, ’19, and Professor April Post, ’16 have done important work toward standardizing our syllabi. They have taken care to leave significant room for each Class to create their own pathways while at the same time structuring in consistent academic benchmarks.
  • The Mentors agreed in meetings before the semester started that each Periclean year would have an overarching theme, with Sophomore year dedicated to writing letters related to their country of focus to political, social, and organizational leaders, Junior year is focused on grant writing, and Senior year on research and professional presentation. All Classes, of course, can do any of these themes, but there will be an effort to task each Class with emphasizing their year’s theme.
  • In light of the above note on theme years I am thrilled to announce that we have partnered yet again with the Redwoods Group Foundation (RGF) and have two members of the Class of 2017 doing a paid internship with RGF vetting proposals. The plan is to have 1-2 members of the Junior Class take advantage of these internships every year.

CHS_Diagram_small

  • This year we have begun to weave the internationally recognized Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) into Periclean syllabi, and the Steering Committee and Mentors are working to revisit our Periclean Pledge and add significant depth to our Pledge items in a way that mimics the CHS.
  • This fall our program will initiate an Periclean Scholars Advisory Board. Associate director Dr.  Mat Gendle has outlined the structure and function of the body and a more formal announcement will be made later this fall.  One main function of this body will be to review proposals from current Classes requesting access to pan-Periclean funds.
  • Perhaps the most important update is that the Mentors and I are making plans to present to the University Curriculum Committee a proposal to make Periclean Scholars into a minor. The name of the minor is yet to be decided but it likely will be something along the lines of “Global development and partnerships.”  18 credit hours would come from Periclean Scholars classes and there will be a menu of related courses from which to choose (e.g., SOC 370 ”Being and Becoming a Global Citizen”) to bring the minor up to from 22-24 hours.  Details are being discussed currently.

As you can see from the above, our program continues to evolve and deepen, and this is due to the efforts of a hard working Steering Committee, great work-study students, and Mentors who show an extraordinarily high level of dedication.

I have more updates and thoughts to add but I’ll close for now.  Look for additional news items on our blog, in shorter emails, or in the next newsletter.

All the best for a great Thanksgiving Break!

busPS

 

 

 

 

Lebanon, Burma, Paris and beyond.

Note:  This was sent to all current Pericleans and Mentors the Sunday after the Paris attacks.

Pericleans,

Again the media presents us with an array of profoundly disturbing images, this time from Paris.

How should a Periclean Scholar respond to this?  That there is just one “right” way to react, feel or act is most certainly not the case, but are their wrong ways to respond?

In a word, yes.

Your experience as an Elon student and more particularly as a Periclean Scholar positions you to recognize ‘thin’, glib, hateful, ethnocentric, Islamaphobic and otherwise unproductive responses.  As you communicate f2f, email, Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, and blog your feelings and hear/read those of your friends, acquaintances (etc.) I know that you will all use these tragic recent events as an opportunity to educate, as best you can, those who seek pathways of understanding and/or express any iteration of the “wrong” ways to respond.  We must grow as a human family, and this will best be accomplished with compassion, patience, humility, and, yes, love.

I urge all three Classes to spend some time in class this week talking about Lebanon, Burma, Paris and beyond.

I posted this on our Periclean Scholars at Elon University Facebook page:

Regarding the recent events in Paris…

Most of us generally have little self awareness about our limited range of knowledge about the world and routinely -albeit unconsciously- subscribe to media spun narratives. That it is hard to keep up with world affairs in a way that transcends lazy myopia is increasingly true. But, to quote Edward R. Murrow, “Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.”

On a related note Murrow also pointed out that, “No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all accomplices.” 

In what ways might this be true?

Our task, then, must be to ceaselessly work to know both ourselves and our global brothers and sisters better and then to partner, with the goal of banding together in efforts to eliminate injustices which drive weak and delusioned people to desperate, tragic and inhumane actions.

My best to all of you as you enter this week.

-PLP

The world needs globally minded, civically engaged and socially responsible citizens. The world need YOU!

Take a look around this ‘ball of confusion‘ and what do you see?

  • In Yemen right now over 80% of the total population is in need of humanitarian assistance, most severely food insecure.  The impact, as usual, is most dramatic on the very young and very old.
  • Since 2011-back when you were in high school?- the crisis in Syria began and is now “the biggest humanitarian crisis of our generation” with 10 million displaced, neighboring countries overburdened by the long-term influx of refugees, and no end in sight for those suffering every day.
  • The refugee and IDP camps near Dadaab, Kenya currently hold 350,000 people.  These camps, established indaaaab the early 1990’s, in some cases are the only home some of the residents have ever known.
  • Global climate change is real and accelerating.  The impact of unusually severe weather patterns all over the planet continue to be a central cause of food insecurity as crops fail due to droughts.
  • Here on campus and all around the United States blacks and African-Americans seek racial justice.  Our social and political climate can be polarizing.
  • In each of your countries of focus there are many organizations and individuals that are working overtime on addressing various human needs, not the least of which is, simply, to live a life of dignity.

So, what should be your reaction to this (very incomplete) list of our global community’s ills?

First, don’t be overwhelmed.  The human spirt is strong and when a Periclean Class finds ways to maximize the human potential in each of its members amazing things can get accomplished.  And that should be your renewed goal for this semester:  learn about each of your Classmates and make it your goal to help provide the ferment that will bring out their best.  Indeed (to paraphrase an inspirational athlete, Steve Prefontaine), we have the gifts of each other, this program and all of the resources of Elon University, and to give anything less than our best is to sacrifice those gifts.

Dr. Lambert has said in many different venues that the world needs Elon graduates.  As Pericleans, your explicit goal is to be exemplars of the ‘global citizens’ mentioned in our University mission statement.  To wit,

We integrate learning across the disciplines and put knowledge
into practice, thus preparing students to be global citizens and
informed leaders motivated by concern for the common good.

Your Mentors -Steve Braye, Carol Smith and April Post- are amazing, talented and deeply passionate professors who have chosen to devote this portion of their professional lives to you and your Class.  Join them and your Classmates in their efforts to make this a sensational year as we all contribute to the ‘common good.’

Peace, love and Periclean!

Tom Arcaro, Director


Welcome back to Periclean!

A note from the director

All Pericleans,

Welcome back to the new school year!

I hope that you all had a good change of pace in the last couple months and that you are now ready to re-engagepericlean logo with your Class with a renewed sense of purpose, a sharp focus and an ever deepening level of devotion to the mission of your Class and to our Periclean ideals.

Please take the time to read through the following numbered points and mark your daily planner accordingly.

  1. Information As was announced last spring, Dr. Mat Gendle is now the Associate Director of Project Pericles at Elon and also the Mentor for the incoming Class of 2019 with a focus on Sri Lanka (also the country of focus from the Class of 2011). Mat already has begun making a very positive contribution to the program and I know you will all welcome him aboard and help him spread the word about Sri Lanka and his Class of 2019. As Mat begins his duties I want to take moment to thank Prof April Post, Class of 2016 Mentor, for her service as the previous Associate Director. April is an exemplary Mentor and was an equally effective and helpful Associate Director.
  1. Action Hosted by Dawson Nicholson and the 2016’s there will be a Pan-Periclean mixer in the Periclean room (202 Global Commons) Wednesday, August 26th from 4:00-5:30. Come and reconnect with members of your Class, Mentors and the Directors.
  1. Action We will begin our bi-monthly Steering Committee meetings on the first week of classes from 4:00-5:30 on Thursday, August 27th. We will meet in GC 202, the Periclean room. One task for your first Class meeting will be to elect/select Class representatives for SC. The Mentors are meeting on alternate weeks.
  1. Update/Action I am inviting all Pericleans to celebrate Mexican Independence Day 2015 -Wednesday, September 16- by helping organize a campus screening of the new teaching video entitled “Galeano Vive! Painting a Zapatista Teacher.” The Class of 2008 partnered with Schools for Chiapas and the EZLN and through the Periclean Foundation continue their support. More details to come, but save that evening.
  1. Information I want to come to a meeting of your Class as early in the semester as possible. Please work with your Mentor to determine a date soon.
  1. Information/Action Though each Class is still responsible for making their own syllabi, it has been agreed that there will be some common elements in all Periclean courses. As part of this initiative and to insure that our program functions according to the highest international humanitarian standards we will begin using theCHS_Diagram_small Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability. Read here for more. Your Mentor will have more about your syllabus for this semester on the first day of class next week. Please send a final copy of your syllabus to me, Associate Director Mat Gendle and to Program Assistant Catherine Parsons by Friday, September 11th.
  1. Action Continuing a tradition started by the Class of 2011, I am again asking that each Class produce a video ‘elevator speech’ that describes their Class mission. These videos will be screened as part of the Celebrating Periclean Scholars event to be held in October (date, time and venue TBA). If your Class needs any technical assistant, please let me know.
  1. Action All Pericleans are invited to the Community Connections event on September 1st. This year Community Connections will focus on the issue of improving race relations, a topic relevant on campus, certainly, but as well in your countries of focus.
  2. Information  A Periclean Scholars Summer Summit was held this past July. Here (Periclean Summer Summit) are the notes (taken by Kelsey Lane, ’17 –Thank you!)
  3. Action/Information  The social media committees will be asking you to begin/continue supporting our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.  Updates coming soon.

Please know that my door (GC 210) is always open to any Periclean. I look forward to meeting everyone in the newest Class of 2018 and reconnecting with all of the ‘17’s and ‘16’s as well.

Yours in service,

Tom Arcaro
Director

Regarding Nepal and Balitmore

A Note from the Director:

First, Nepal.

In response to the humanitarian crisis in Nepal, *yes* we should all care and *yes* we should all act in a mindful and compassionate manner in reaction to this crisis.

If you have the impulse to donate money please do so only after you are certain that the organization to which you divert your funds is ready to receive and make effective use of these funds. My personal ‘go-to’ is MSF -Doctors Without Borders- but there are other very effective organizations.

Just as we all need to practice caveat emptor (buyer beware) we need to be equally vigilant in practicing caveat donator (giver beware).

That said, I am reminded of how Paul Farmer described the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as “acute on chronic.” Kathmandu is not Port-au-Prince, but there are many parallels. I argue that as Pericleans, chronic poverty and marginalization of the poor should be our constant, baseline focus. Our giving -best done in the context of partnerships- should be thoughtful, intelligent, well researched and proactive rather than emotional, media driven and reactive.


 

Just this (so far) about Baltimore

“Until the lion learns to speak tales of hunting will always favor the hunter.” (Ewe-mina/African proverb).  

My reaction to the recent events in Baltimore is much the same as with Ferguson and Staten Island.  I am saddened that the gap between what is and what ought to be regarding race relations in the United States is so wide and appears not to be narrowing.  As a sociologist I have a sense of the myriad underlying complexities, and I know that the media can do no justice to these, offering only one dimensional views that tend to reinforce rather than tear down stereotypes.  

As Pericleans we have a responsibility to lead informed discussions and help raise the level of discourse in our classes and indeed al over campus and beyond.  

 

 

 

Periclean Scholars induct Class of 2018

Periclean Scholars induct Class of 2018

With a focus on Zambia, 32 freshmen will spend the next three years taking classes that culminate in a project of social change as part of a program aimed at developing in students a deep sense of global citizenship.

Professor Tom Arcaro addresses the Periclean Scholars Class of 2018 at an induction ceremony on April 16, 2015.

Elon University’s Periclean Scholars celebrated their newest members on April 16 when faculty leaders inducted students from the Class of 2018 into the program’s ranks.

Thirty-two freshmen representing a variety of majors were welcomed by Professor Steve Braye, a faculty member in the Department of English who will mentor the cohort as they focus their studies on the African nation of Zambia.

The Periclean Scholars program at Elon University is committed to raising the level of civic engagement and social responsibility of the entire university community and to developing students with a deep sense of global citizenship and commitment to the common good. Students who become part of the Periclean Scholars program take a series of courses culminating in a class project of global social change.

The ceremony included charges from representatives of each of the three standing classes of Periclean Scholars, comments

Dan Baum, executive director of the Redwoods Group Foundation addresses the Class of 2018
Dan Baum, executive director of the Redwoods Group Foundation addresses the Class of 2018

from founding director Professor Tom Arcaro, and inspiring words from special guest speaker Dan Baum, executive director of the Redwoods Group Foundation.

At the ceremony, Elon junior Morgan Abate from the Class of 2016 was announced as the Periclean of the Year. Abate, currently on a semester abroad in Ecuador, Skyped into the proceedings.

Among the members of the Class of 2018 is Chace Blackburn, sister to Taylor Blackburn, a member of the Periclean Scholars Class of 2011.

“In my memory this is the first time we have had a legacy inducted into the program,” Arcaro said.

Among the majors represented in the new cohort are biology, cinema and television arts, public health, business, strategic communications, human service studies, international studies, finance, exercise science, marketing, environmental studies, psychology and policy studies.

Inductees included the following students:

  • Andrew Adair
  • Mary Alice Allnutt
  • Matthew Balzano
  • Chace Blackburn
  • Lindsey Clemmer
  • Elizabeth Conley
  • Elliot Eisen
  • Sydney Epstein

    Flags  Zambia
    The flag of Zambia
  • Jamie Fleishman
  • Daniela Hernandez
  • Margaret “Meg” Hinote
  • Jordan Hunter
  • Mercedes Kent
  • Bethany Lake
  • Hanna Macaulay
  • Courtney McKelvey
  • Jenna Merchant
  • Katherine Milbradt
  • Sandra “Kate” Pearce
  • Samantha Perry
  • Kayla Pieri
  • Adrian “Ian” Pomeroy
  • Elizabeth Reeve
  • Tate Replogle
  • Madison Sirabella
  • Micaela Soucy
  • Sydney Spaulding
  • Rebecca Suprenant
  • Isabella “Max” Warburg
  • William Wetter
  • Abigail Williams
  • Madeline Yih

“Don’t raise money for the future – do something for the now”

“Don’t raise money for the future – do something for the now”

[Note:  This post is part of an ongoing discussion about what it means to be a humanitarian activist.  See here for another post by Morgan and here, here and here for posts by the director of the Periclean Scholars, Tom Arcaro.]

By Morgan Abate, ’16 (from Ecuador)

How do you feel, Elon? You’re posting photos of ElonTHON, of you standing and dancing for hours for those who cannot – namely those who are being treated at Duke University Children’s Hospital. I commend the organization for raising more than $180,000 – which translates to about $160 fundraised per dancer.

In my three years at Elon, I have never participated in ElonTHON. When I heard about it in the fall of 2012, I told myself I couldn’t do it because it was nothing like the real THON with which I grew up. Where I grew up, outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State University’s THON was part of the culture of the entire state.

When it came to choosing a college senior year of high school, you thought about attending Penn State mostly for THON. Students spend a whole year fundraising. They spend 46 hours on their feet. The money they raise goes to the families of the Four Diamonds Fund who cannot afford their children’s medical care.

Several weeks before Penn State’s THON, on Feb 2, 2013 at around 9 am, I got a call from my dad. In the two minute conversation we had, my life changed. My brother had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia the day before, and had been admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that morning.

Social media blew up. Everyone in my area knows my family (with four kids at different schools with different friends, everyone knew or had heard of my family), and the hashtag #prayersforMason was trending for a day in Philly. Next thing I knew, I had friends at Penn State texting me during THON, telling me they were dancing for my brother, dressed in orange.

That spring semester was the ultimate challenge for me. I couldn’t go home. My family’s life revolved around a hospital. My sister spent so many school nights at CHOP that she’d fall asleep in class. My brother was confined to a bed, Skyping into class and dealing with chemotherapy.

Now, part of the money that ElonTHON – any Dance Marathon for that matter – raises goes to research. Supposedly that research is looking for a cure to cancer or to at least improve treatments. Well, my mother is a pharmacist. Back in the early 1980s, she had an internship mixing chemo drugs. When my mom looked at the components of my brother’s chemo, she just laughed. The chemotherapy he was getting through an IV contained the same drugs that my mom had mixed three decades ago.

So that money goes to research, right? Meanwhile, Duke University researchers, who write grants to get money for their research, recently announced a potential breakthrough in the treatment of brain cancer.

It may sound harsh, but I’m not sure I agree with the idea that dancing and fundraising money will eventually lead to a cure. Scientists in labs and hospitals around the world receiving aid from governments will lead to the cure.

When the money goes to families who need to pay their bills, though, that’s a different story. It’s part of why I support Penn State’s THON so much. Their money goes to the here and now. On top of that, I know what it is to receive a little extra money when life is chaotic. All of the driving from Philly and back adds up in gas money. And to Johns Hopkins and back. Even the hotel we’d stay in Baltimore at had rates for Hopkins families. That makes a difference. Then there’s all of the food my brother and sister had to buy because my mom and other brother were at the hospital and my dad was out of town.

But there’s something better than fundraising and donating money.

Donate time. Donate blood. Donate bone marrow.

I saved my brother’s life because I sucked up my fear of needles. At the same time, there was no way I wouldn’t have done it. All the money in the world wouldn’t have helped him at the exact moment he needed it. But my bone marrow did. And he’s been in remission for almost two years now.

People need solutions now. Yes, the money might go to helping the masses in the future, but what about those now? Would you donate money if you heard a loved one was dying? Or would you take every test possible to see if you could donate something of yourself?

My sister has pushed past donating money, past this “slacktivism” if you want my view of it. Instead, she donates blood once a month and platelets every two weeks. She switched her career path from veterinary medicine to nursing. She volunteers at Children’s Hospital in Philly as a Bedside Buddy, a role in which she plays with and distracts kids to give the parents a much-deserved break. I remember music therapists coming to my brother’s room and me begging him to do it. Things like that are what make a difference in the now.

So go sign up for the blood drive at Elon. Volunteer at Duke Hospital. Write cards to the kids. Arrange a “Be the Match” event and register yourself. See if your dog can be a therapy dog. If you’ve done these things – great! But don’t just dance and raise money. There are kids suffering now who need a miracle, and you can give it to them.

In the aftermath: Experiencing the effects of short-term international service trips

In the aftermath: Experiencing the effects of short-term international service trips  

by Morgan Abate, ’16

As a Periclean Scholar abroad in South America, I felt I had a duty to contribute something to my class and the program as a whole. It’s always difficult to contribute to the program from so far, but I was committed.

IMG_3888I decided that I would work with a poor community within my city, Cuenca, Ecuador. My program introduced me to an after-school nonprofit called Fundacion El Arenal that works with kids whose parents work in the local market. Without the Fundacion, these kids would most likely be working from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., taking a five hour break for school and not doing homework. If they don’t do homework, they fail, and are stuck in the same cycle of poverty.

As of this posting, I have been abroad for two and a half months, working in the Fundacion every day except Fridays. I help the kids with their homework from 2:30 to 4, then make sure that they eat the snack they’re given. At around 4:45 Monday through Wednesday, they start workshops in communications, math and art. I work in the art room with another German volunteer and one teacher. Every week, the ages of the students we work with changes. Sometimes the students are 6 and 7. Other weeks, they are 13 and 14.

Voluntourism within the Fundacion

Several weeks ago, the Fundacion had 20 volunteers. Seven of us are there on a regular basis. The other thirteen came from UNC Charlotte, and were spending their spring break exploring Cuenca and implementing a project in the Fundacion.

During that group’s tenure here, I wrote a blog about voluntourism because, through my Periclean eyes, that’s what I saw. I saw eager college kids who barely knew Spanish trying to help kids with their homework and taking photos. They would pick them up, put them on their shoulders, play with them and forget their homework – because they could not help them.

In said blog post, I said that I did not want someone to tell me “Well, they’re only here for a week.”

Well guess what? I have now started to see the after effects of that week.

Some might argue that helping cannot hurt. We enter impoverished areas in the United States or in other countries around the world with the greatest of intentions – I don’t deny that. We want to help. We want to understand the people we’re helping and make a difference in their lives. How could we possibly make their lives worse when they live in poverty?

I’ll tell you how.

On Thursday, one of the directors of the Fundacion explained to the children that the volunteers are not allowed to pick them up anymore. This policy had been in place for about a week, and unfortunately, because of a change in my schedule at the university, from 12-17 March, I could not be in the Fundacion and thus did not know about this change. The director, though, had only told the volunteers about this change. The kids still clamored to be picked up and we had to tell them no. Finally, the director had to directly tell the kids.

According to her, their parents were not happy with the volunteers picking their kids up, spinning them, putting them on their shoulders and letting them do flips by holding the volunteers’ hands. The parents claimed that it made their kids ill-behaved at home.

The week that this large group was in Ecuador, the parents had their first workshop for cooking healthy meals – and nutrition in general. That means that all of the kids’ parents witnessed these Western volunteers picking up their children. My guess is that once they saw it, it made them uncomfortable, and they did not like it. Culturally it might not have been acceptable, either, especially since these children come from rough and more-often-than-not abusive homes.

Now, I don’t know if the kids truly were misbehaved more because they were spoiled at the Fundacion, nor is it my position to argue why they were or not. The point is that it upset the parents. It made them wary of volunteers.

If you ask me, that’s causing some harm.

Next were the actual workshops the group helped with. Instead of helping with last year’s project – English – they started a hygiene workshop. Hygiene is necessary to learn and to teach, yes, and I’ll admit that I don’t know what these classes consisted of entirely. But the teachers had already instilled the need to wash hands with these kids. There were the kids who listen and always wash their hands before meals anyway – and those who never listen. You won’t be able to change their minds in a week.

And of course, the remnants of those workshops aren’t visible. Kids still don’t wash their hands – and I doubt they brush their teeth every day. They’re still misbehaved and still try to delay their homework.

All that remains from that week are freshly painted walls with minions from Despicable Me – the only real choiceIMG_3890 the kids had that week.

The debate over voluntourism

Dr. Arcaro posted about voluntourism around the same time that I was witnessing volunteer traveling in my own neighborhood. It angered me. I have tried so hard not to be a voluntourist.

But even as I go through my own experience abroad, I am realizing that not everything I’m doing is good. I leave in two months and then what? These kids are used to people coming and going – and never returning. Thankfully, my primary purpose for being here is studying; I chose to donate my time to this Fundacion. Thankfully, I can speak Spanish and can help them with their homework. Sometimes, though, we can’t understand each other.

What’s more is I’ve started thinking more about Periclean and its role within international aid. If you ask me, after the experience I’ve had with the UNC Charlotte group and my own, I’d advise that Pericleans stop going to their country of focus to implement projects. Maybe having a few go down to visit partners is a good idea, but sending the whole class for two, three weeks? I see an extension of what happened here happening there. The work is better left to those on the ground.

Video featuring the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), partner of the Class of 2012

Video featuring the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), partner of the Class of 2012

Take a look at this video and learn about how sustainable and culturally sensitive change can happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX4p-7p765Y&sns=em

The seed for the Periclean Scholars program was planted in 1990 when I first met Raj and Mabelle Arole, founders of CRHP in Jamkhed and saw first hand the products of their vision.