The pre-departure class
has been very educational, I have learned a lot of facts about the history of
South Africa and the US. I have learned a lot about the present political
climates in both these countries and how their histories have led to the
present. I have also learned about my fellow co-educators as well as my
professor. But I think the most important lesson I have been exposed to is learning
how to process these stories and evaluate the information we have been given.
We have read, listened
to, watched and even engaged in story exchanges with people from various
different backgrounds, both digitally and in-person. Through these exchanges I
have become aware that I have been narrowly evaluating through a few singular
lenses of my own experiences, confining my view of people who are different
than me. In the pre-departure course, I have been able to gather multiple
different lenses from the varied backgrounds of my peers and the publications encountered
in class. With these new lenses, I can already see that I have an increased awareness
of my surroundings and actions.
I think that this is
incredibly useful and important because, like one of my fellow co-educators
said in class, the most harmful train of thought is the one in which we do not
recognize our own ignorance. While it is impossible to completely eradicate
ignorance, recognition of this gap in knowledge and the want to fill-in that
gap with more information and wisdom is what allows for ignorance to be
diminished.
I look forward to our
upcoming journey to further fill in that gap and learn more about my
co-educators, my new surroundings and further develop my own awareness of the
world.
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