Newswise — While many students relaxed on the beach during spring break, a group of Spelman students took a life-changing trip to the Republic of Senegal to help build a school library in support of the 10,000 Girls organization. Black Entertainment Television chronicled the nine-day humanitarian mission for "Spring Break Diaries," a half-hour special premiering on Sunday, April 13, 2008, at 11 a.m. EST on BET.
Seventeen Spelman students and two Morehouse students traveled to the West African country in March, as part of the Student Affairs Global Experience Humanitarian Trip which supports 10,000 Girls, an initiative that provides educational and employment opportunities to young girls in rural Senegal.
"The trip provided a rich opportunity for building relationships with women and girls in other parts of the world," said Sherry Turner, Ph.D., vice president for student affairs at Spelman. "Our goal was to create a cultural immersion experience in an environment that is quite different from that which we are accustomed to in the United States. Visiting Senegal, a developing country in West Africa, provided that experience."
Despite extreme heat, lack of in-door plumbing and other comforts, students successfully navigated around cultural differences and language barriers to support the building of a library. While there, the students lived with local families and tutored children in the rural Ndoffane Village. "Spring Break Diaries" gives first-hand account of the students efforts to positively impact the lives of the Senegalese people.
Another group of Spelmanites spent their spring break in the Dominican Republic, working with Orphanage Outreach, a project that provides opportunities and resources to orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children. Sponsored by the Bonner Office of Community Service and Student Development, the 11 undergraduates designed curriculum and taught English to more than 80 kindergarten through fourth-grade students.
"Having the opportunity to experience the [Dominican] culture gave me a greater appreciation for the things I have," said Acasia Barrett, C'2008, an English major. "I gained a better understanding of how to use the education and experience I've been blessed with to help others. I was really impressed with the fact that the people of the area always had a smile despite their lack."
Six students from the Spelman Independent Scholars program also traveled to Jamaica, in support of the World Health Organization University of West Indies on Aging. The trip was designed to expand their oral history research of the Caribbean.
"The center directed us to the mountains of Jamaica where elders live," said Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles, Ph.D., founding director of the SIS Oral History Project at Spelman. "Students had a unique learning experience because they were able to interview women and men who ranged in age from 93 to 104. Elders cooked original Jamaican dishes for students, sang songs from their childhood and even danced for the students."
For the past few years, Spelman College students have passed on traditional spring break activities, opting for more service-oriented trips. This year, more than 40 students, faculty and staff answered the call to serve, traveling more than 13,000 miles combined to make a difference in the lives of people around the world.
About Spelman CollegeFounded in 1881, Spelman College is a prestigious, highly selective, liberal arts college that prepares women to change the world. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this historically black college boasts a 79 percent graduation rate, and outstanding alumnae such as Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; former U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis, authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage; and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees, and the average faculty to student ratio is 11:1. More than 2,100 students attend Spelman. For more information, visit http://www.spelman.edu.
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