UCM Celebrates 10 Years of Global Vision Trips

FEATURE

Global Vision Endowment Celebrates a Decade of Life-Changing Trips

By Ellen Blaize, '11, '13

Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous member of our alumni family, the UCM Alumni Foundation created a summer outreach program, the Global Vision Endowment, in 2008. Through this scholarship, more than 80 individuals over the past 10 years have been given a unique learning opportunity to spend two weeks abroad, partnering with Global Volunteers.

This past summer, 10 UCM students traveled to Iringa District, Tanzania, and worked alongside a Global Volunteer host to learn a local village’s needs. They focused on three main areas: English camp, home visits and a labor team.

Katie Kim, a UCM international studies major, said she applied for the scholarship because of something she learned in a class at UCM called Oil, Water and Food Insecurity regarding stunted growth due to malnutrition or a lack of appropriate nutrition. “I wanted to take what I had learned, just a little bit from that class, and see if it would be at all helpful in a totally different environment,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about Tanzania before. I thought it would be super cool to see hands-on what Global Volunteers is doing.”

At the English camp, volunteers taught young children the alphabet, shapes and numbers, and instructed older children in vocabulary and how to have conversations in English. Mikayla Cowan, a social work major, said the children were eager to learn because their opportunities grow infinitely once they know English. “We would teach the kids, and then we would have playtime,” she said. “We’d go in the fields, but often they would take the books that we used to teach them, and they would sit down in the grass and read the books to us, read with us or look at the pictures, play with your hair or just hold your hand. They wanted to be with you, and they wanted to be near you, and they wanted to learn and interact, and that was really cool.”

On home visits, students were paired with a caregiver and went to four to six houses per day. They educated mothers about hygiene, boiling water, nutrition and family planning, while making sure their babies were growing properly. “If they had any questions or concerns, we would talk to them about it,” Cowan said. “They were so welcoming and inviting, and so polite.”

The labor team worked alongside the men of the village, men from surrounding villages, and some women as well. “They would be carrying a bucket of bricks on their heads downhill, while I was barely carrying a bucket of water trying not to spill it,” Cowan recalled. “We had to make concrete ourselves, so we got the sand and water and mixed them up. They just used everything they had, and they were so resourceful; it was amazing.” The team helped create an emergency vehicle parking lot and a new generator pad for the village.

Annie Bock, a Middle School Education major, said she applied for the scholarship because of her interest in teaching internationally. “My whole future has been changed by this trip,” she said. “I always wanted to teach abroad, teach internationally, and teach English, but I never had an opportunity to actually do it. There’s a difference between wanting to do something and knowing that you can.” Bock said the trip helped her build confidence, a structure for her future, and connections she’ll have for life. “I’m so grateful for this opportunity because I wouldn’t have gotten to know any of that if I didn’t go on this trip,” she said.

Kim said the trip has influenced her to focus her career on teaching English to non-English speakers — her breakthrough moment. She has decided to pursue a graduate degree in linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language. A career path wasn’t the only thing she discovered, however. “I learned a lot about generosity and kindness, because everyone in Tanzania just shared so much with me, and they were so welcoming,” Kim said. “They had no reason to welcome a foreigner into their house who doesn’t know anything about their language or culture, but they did.”

Cowan agreed the trip was a life-changing experience. “Even through the language barrier, even through the age gaps, even through the completely different cultural lifestyles, I learned that I can connect with a human all the way across the world,” she said. “It opens your eyes to other people, and it was a very important change of perspective. The world is so big, and we’re so small, but we can also make such a big impact.”

The Global Vision Endowment aims to encourage a culture of service and volunteerism. Over the past decade this funding also has taken students to China, India, Peru, Costa Rica, St. Lucia and Cuba.

10 Vol. 18, No. 2 | ucmfoundation.org/magazine