Spring Break \’08: Arkansas

The title of my blog is partially in honor of my fellow travel partner and ‘08 Wake Forest graduate Mercy!!!!  I have been so encouraged by my classmates that I would be remiss if I did not mention at least one significant engagement.  On that note shout outs to Michael, Keon, Trayonna, Elizabeth, Benny, Duabhav, and Aaron!  I was and am so inspired by Mercy’s story that I thought I would share some of it before speaking of yesterday’s experiences.  It is what she is doing and plans to do that inspire my admiration.  Mercy is from Malewi, in Southeast Africa, and has come to Wake Forest University to get her degree in Economics and plans to go on to get her PhD.  Afterward she plans to go back to Malewi and provide herself as a resource to her country, where she feels the need is greater in comparison to America.  Yes she could say hey I made it out, and enjoy the amenities of our society and the pleasures/comforts it all offers, but she understands that she is who she is because of where she came from.  So to Mercy and all of those who do not forget where you come from and those who are still there thank you and God bless you, and Lord have ‘mercy’ on those of us who forget! 

The other significant inspiration of this blog are a couple of  experiences that I had while observing a Math class yesterday (note: if you want to read more about this experience read Michael Mahmoud’s blog from yesterday).  One of the students, who was giving the teacher a VERY hard time and making it very difficult for her to facilitate a healthy learning environment, asked the teacher if he could just pay for an “A” instead of having to complete his make up work.  Her response to the student was “no, this is not a store this is a school.”  I thought to myself wow, that statement is true and false all at the same time.  It seems that it’s true for the poor, under funded schools across this country and globe, but false for those that are rich.  Now I make my comments understanding that all-inclusive statements are more often than not falsifiable, however, I truly believe overwhelmingly this is the case.  Rich schools with rich students are able to pay for SAT/ACT prep courses and guides or expensive tutors all to increase their chance into getting into college.  I also listened to the teacher tell me how they could not afford to provide books to a 10 student class although it is a state mandated course.  The entire time all I could think about was how we have a governor who can find thousands of the government’s/taxpayers dollars to pay for prostitutes, but no one can find less than 1,000 dollars to buy books for our nation’s future textbooks for a state required class!  So I say ‘mercy on us’….

 I would like to close on a lighter note.  After visiting the home of the wonderful Linda and Russ (SAU professors who insisted we call them by first name) and riding their horse Tiffany 2 Spot, I along with the rest of the group found ourselves pushing a 15 passenger van out of a muddy trail.  It was so much fun, because after pushing the van out of one spot we pushed it too far back into another and hand to push it out again.  It was definitely a bonding experience…and it’s all thanks to Aaron, just kidding.  Aaron has to be by far the best driver on the trip! 

 Well until next time….

Donte’

 The title of my blog is partially in honor of my fellow travel partner and ‘08 Wake Forest graduate Mercy!!!!  I have been so encouraged by my classmates that I would be remiss if I did not mention at least one significant engagement.  On that note shout outs to Michael, Keon, Trayonna, Elizabeth, Benny, Duabhav, and Aaron!  I was and am so inspired by Mercy’s story that I thought I would share some of it before speaking of yesterday’s experiences.  It is what she is doing and plans to do that inspire my admiration.  Mercy is from Malewi, in Southeast Africa, and has come to Wake Forest University to get her degree in Economics and plans to go on to get her PhD.  Afterward she plans to go back to Malewi and provide herself as a resource to her country, where she feels the need is greater in comparison to America.  Yes she could say hey I made it out, and enjoy the amenities of our society and the pleasures/comforts it all offers, but she understands that she is who she is because of where she came from.  So to Mercy and all of those who do not forget where you come from and those who are still there thank you and God bless you, and Lord have ‘mercy’ on those of us who forget! 

The other significant inspiration of this blog are a couple of  experiences that I had while observing a Math class yesterday (note: if you want to read more about this experience read Michael Mahmoud’s blog from yesterday).  One of the students, who was giving the teacher a VERY hard time and making it very difficult for her to facilitate a healthy learning environment, asked the teacher if he could just pay for an “A” instead of having to complete his make up work.  Her response to the student was “no, this is not a store this is a school.”  I thought to myself wow, that statement is true and false all at the same time.  It seems that it’s true for the poor, under funded schools across this country and globe, but false for those that are rich.  Now I make my comments understanding that all-inclusive statements are more often than not falsifiable, however, I truly believe overwhelmingly this is the case.  Rich schools with rich students are able to pay for SAT/ACT prep courses and guides or expensive tutors all to increase their chance into getting into college.  I also listened to the teacher tell me how they could not afford to provide books to a 10 student class although it is a state mandated course.  The entire time all I could think about was how we have a governor who can find thousands of the government’s/taxpayers dollars to pay for prostitutes, but no one can find less than 1,000 dollars to buy our nation’s future textbooks for a state required class!  So I say ‘mercy on us’….

 I would like to close on a lighter note.  After visiting the home of the wonderful Linda and Russ (SAU professors who insisted we call them by first name) and riding their horse Tiffany 2 Spot, I along with the rest of the group found ourselves pushing a 15 passenger van out of a muddy trail.  It was so much fun, because after pushing the van out of one spot we pushed it too far back into another and hand to push it out again.  It was definitely a bonding experience…and it’s all thanks to Aaron, just kidding.  Aaron has to be by far the best driver on the trip! 

 Well until next time….

Donte’

p.s. I promise my next blog will be more upbeat :)…

First of all I must say that sitting here 7pm (Arkansas time) trying to recount yesterday’s experiences isn’t the easiest thing to do, but a couple of experiences stuck out to me and those are the ones that I’d like to share.

The first of those experiences was a conversation I had with my father as my brother and I were preparing to leave our room to head to Stephens High School. Passing the phone between one another we were letting him know what all we were going to be doing for the day and the needs we were going to be meeting. I remember his response, he said that “what yall are doing is really important because they need that… you can keep them off these streets.” Now to the average person it may not seem like much, and it shouldn’t, but to me it was so great to hear the voice of my father saying that who I was, where I was, what I was doing was important and needed… I walked out of the dorm and onto the van with an “S” on my chest! Placing this into the context of our service trip, I ask myself how many of the young men I’m engaging have male figures in their life that affirm and confirm who they are?

Secondly, we took a full tour of the school with Principal Cowins. Even though I knew before hand that the high school was grossly underfunded, I was in no way prepared for what I saw. A school that so resembled a church that I thought to myself why are we stopping here until I was informed this was to be our destination. The most telling part of the school’s dilemma (and this is an understatement) was the school library that was literally the same size if not smaller than my elementary school library and we had half of their 400 student population. How in the world are these students being prepared, educationally, to cope with our ever increasing global society without resources as simple as books? I noticed as Principal Cowins was telling us about his struggles of in a sense being a one man administration team, having 64 students leave in the past quarter because their parents can’t find jobs, and having to “let go” some of his teachers he kept a smile on his face. It was not a smile of pleasure. Neither was it the jovial smile that graced the face of our chief of staff as he tapped danced on the White house porch, although his no child left behind act has left behind too many students, as the money they needed went to supporting an unjust war. But it was a smile of hope, that he believes his presence will one day make a difference in the state of Stephens High School. Dear God, help this man be strong!

Finally, we concluded our day with a AWESOME lecture by Dr. Smith that was about the over-representation of African American males in the Division 1A of football and basketball. The take home message was one I’ve been hearing from my parents and many other respected elders for a long time now, but seems to just be making its way to academia: “everybody can’t go to the NBA/NFL so you better pay attention in class.” It’s funny how our country’s brightest are just acknowledging something that grandma knew and she never went to college. So in closing I have some advice, as I pull from my racial and ethnic roots, for whoever our next President is to be: All governmental officials including the President must be continually advised by a group with a minimum of 5 “Big Mama’s!”

Dear God, strengthen our hands to work, our hearts to love, and our spirits to know you -Amen

…never did I think I’d be making that statement from Arkansas and here I am at the wonderful Southern Arkansas University preparing to begin our first ‘full’ day of the service aspect of our Wake Alternative Spring Break.  So far I have had some of the greatest conversations of my life with my classmates as we traveled from North Carolina to Mississippi to Arkansas.  I have been challenged, enlightened and encouraged in just a couple of days and look forward to what this week has to hold.

One note about the schools that we noticed right away was the difference in the entire driving situation.  For one the cars are campus aren’t all Mercedes, BMW’s, Jaguars, etc.  Secondly they only have to pay $20 for a parking permit (no they don’t look anything like ours, so I can’t bring any back friends lol).

Oh yea and on a separate note they have their own dairy farm with livestock on the campus and their own rodeo team!  I’m impressed!!! The students here have been VERY welcoming, I honestly feel right at home here.  Thanks to Kyle, Corey, Bradley, Drs. Tucker, Mary, Manuela!!!!

Until next time,

Donte’