Reflection Assignment #2

While listening to Dr. Megha Budrah in class, an Indian, talk about her life, I had my “Ah-Ha” moment. She was talking about growing up and how she was always different from those around her. From when she was a child living in Africa and all the African children would surround their Volkswagen, when her mother left them in the car to go into the market. She and her brother would just sit there and pretend they were doing something else while the other kids would try to touch their hair and skin and just stare at them because she and her brother looked so different from the rest of them. I found it interesting how Dr. Budrah reacted to that. She was not upset, scared, nor did she take offence from their actions; she just knew they were curious. When she went to school in the United States everyone around her would look at her but not talk to her because they did not know how to address her. From both of these situations people in her shoes could react in many different ways. They could get angry because people were treating them different, or they could do what she did. She knew she was different from the rest of them and she gave them opportunities to learn about her. She opened up to them, which made it easier for them to open up to her so that they could see past the differences. It made it very educational.

When we see someone that looks or seems different, we freeze up because we don’t know what to do, or how to approach them. We would like to do/say something, but we ask ourselves “what if I offend them?” We need to open ourselves up and allow people to see who we are and let people know of our incompetence so that we can learn from others without offending them
A good example of an action that was taken to develop a more inclusive community was what Dr. Paul Eppinger did with the different types of religions here in Phoenix. Religion is a good way to learn about who people are. Just like the activity that we did in class “the journey to cultural competence”, the one with the Ice berg. Though we look different or talk different if we sit down with one another we could find things that we have similarities with and we can also learn more in depth about each other and what we believe while we do it.
A way that recreation, nonprofit and/or tourism related organizations are responsive to developing a more inclusive community is not to assume anything. In class it said that we can’t assume anything, that it’s better to ask than to guess. When Archimedes Aquino came and talked to our class he told us to be respectfully open about our incompetence to others’ culture so that we will offend as few as possible. By asking, we will know what a person prefers or does not prefer, so we will better be able to serve them in the way that they need.
Following are some great examples of the things that are being done to help the community learn and achieve more of an inclusive community. Dr. Eppinger holds a monthly meeting of religious leaders, where they talk about and plan educational events. Archimedes Aquino gives training in Cultural competency to the workers at the Gila River Behavioral Health Services. On the ASU Tempe campus, the LGBTQ SafeZONE is a place that helps people feel safe and accepted and to promote awareness in the community.

Self Assessment #1

When trying to look deep down inside of me to find out what makes me tick, or what makes me the way I am its always hard to really pin point it. Its not one specific event that happened in my life but a bunch of little ones that made me the way I am. I grew up in a ghetto neighborhood where I wasn’t poor but not rich. We had the things that we needed and nothing more and we were happy. I grew up in a LDS household, my family is all LDS, my cousins and their families. Everyone. Who I am today has come from my beliefs and how I was brought up by my parents. I wanted to share how serving a mission for my church did not only strengthen my testimony in what I believe but it also gave me an opportunity to share that with other but it helped me to help others in more ways then just religious..
Because of my mission I was able to experience how difficult it is when my first language is different then that of everyone around me. I’ve grown up where my first language was what everyone else was speaking and those that could not speak it were considered different, not in a bad way but just different and hard to understand. I had served a year and a half mission for my church in the Chile, Osorno mission. The Mission was the southern part of Chile that went from a tiny town called Los Lagos (just under the city Concepcion) all the way down to the very end of Chile called Provenir (Tierra del Fuego) but I call it the end of the world. Being there I finely understood what it was like being on the other side of the language barrier, I was the different one. This time it was me trying to communicate and they were the ones looking at me wondering and trying to figure out what I had just said. It was really hard, Spanish did not come easy to me. At the beginning I felt more like I was playing a game of charades then trying to speak to them. Although I was frustrated the Chileans were so kind and friendly, they would try to help me out with words that were hard for me to pronounce or that I didn’t understand. When I started understanding more and was able to communicate with them not only was I able to share the gospel with them, but they were able to share their culture with me. The more I learned the more I fell in love with them and their culture. I learned about their history, their nations dance called the Cuaca, I’d become accustom to the kissing of the cheeks to say hello or goodbye, I had opened myself up to learning.
My mission had changed me and made me a better person. When my time was up I was so sad to be leaving such a beautiful place filled with wonderful people, I loved them and their culture so much and I was going to miss it. When returning home I was in culture shock, which does seem weird since I was born and raised in the USA. But when I would go and greet someone I would lean in to kiss their cheeks and they would step back from me as if I was some loony and I think it throw them off because I was white and only Latin’s did that here. It was hard for me, I loved the Chilean culture and I did not want to give it up. So although I had to stop with the kissing of the cheek I still wanted to keep my Spanish and to help those that were here (in mesa) learn English just like the Chileans helped me learn Spanish. I started teaching English classes for whoever wanted to learn; I attended and helped out with the Spanish branch that was in my church. Now I am a secretary for Mesa Public Schools Adult Education where I am able to speak Spanish to those who want English Classes and get them signed up.
Although it has been 3 years now since I was in Chile I still consider it home away from home. Now when people see someone that might be different, I see an opportunity to learn and to help someone feel welcomed and comfortable.