Reed Foster

"My decision to spend the semester in Buenos Aires was made with a clear goal, to go beyond the casual daily classes and city life of study abroad and expand my knowledge through as much cultural engagement as possible. I wanted an academic experience that would take me to places where I could learn first hand about social issues within the country. My semester abroad allowed me to travel to places that I never could have experienced without the determination of a global citizen to experience and learn from another culture. Through these experiences I gained a more in depth and rewarding semester by leaving my comfort zone to pursue new projects and create a cross-cultural exchange of dialogue.

During my semester abroad in Buenos Aires, I chose to participate in the service-learning program through IES Abroad and was paired with an organization called Pilares. This organization works with impoverished communities within the villas of Buenos Aires by organizing several programs that focus on assistance with the families through education and skill building. I chose to volunteer with the education program as a means of improving my Spanish speaking abilities. The education program involved traveling into the villas to work with other volunteers teaching classes and helping with every day activities. Although my initial motivation was to improve my own language skills and provide a community service, I quickly discovered the kinds of applications the education program provided to improve myself as a global citizen.

I started my volunteering about three weeks into my study abroad program, up until then I had only met other Argentines in my neighborhood. Working at the Pilares center was a completely new and drastically different experience. The kids I worked with were full of energy and had an incredible curiosity about who I was. I spent the first two weeks helping the volunteers serve breakfast and lunch while assisting with classes in between. During this period we also spent a great deal of time feeding the curiosity of the kids by answering questions about the USA and our own lives back home. In doing so we created a cross-cultural dialogue with the kids as well as volunteers who were eager to tell us about their experiences if we would share our own in return.

Another IES Abroad student and myself were soon approached by one of the organizers of Pilares and the education program with the idea of starting an English tutoring program at the center. Both myself and the other IES Abroad student were in charge of creating the curriculum and working with the kids with the intent to increase their interest in and display the benefits of learning a popular language such as English. The organizer explained to us that the kids we worked with were already at a disadvantage due to their circumstances of living in the villas. However, the ability to speak, read, and write in English would greatly increase their opportunities for the future. The organizer asked us to create a program that could be continuously taught by new volunteers after we finished our semesters abroad. We spent the next three months testing different methods of teaching English while working with small groups of kids. By the end of our semester we successfully developed a basic English tutoring program for the organization. Since then we have continued to communicate with organizers at Pilares via email to improve the English program and prepare new volunteers who will be teaching the curriculum in the upcoming semester.

Having such a unique opportunity to work with an organization like Pilares really exemplifies the importance and qualities of being a global citizen. By working with Pilares I was able to enter into a community outside of the normal study abroad experience. I was able to create and maintain a series of cross-cultural dialogue with kids and volunteers of the program to increase my own knowledge of a culture and simultaneously teach about my own culture. To further enhance dialogue between communities I worked with another to student to create social network mapping for Pilares to help connect people from different communities around the world and share the Pilares mission and activities. Ultimately I learned to conduct myself independently to develop and take responsibility for a program that was capable of making an impact on a community. It has motivated me to continue my pursuit of understanding cultures and making global connections through language by applying to other intensive language learning programs as well as volunteering with local community based organizations in Los Angeles.

To further enhance my knowledge as a global citizen I wanted to find more ways to engage with the history and indigenous culture of my host country. Having lived in Buenos Aires all semester, my understanding was that Argentina existed as a harmonious culture with Buenos Aires at the center. Professors at the university and even other Argentines living in Buenos Aires previously explained to me that the Patagonia region was mostly for tourism and historically the rights of indigenous people was rarely compromised. This could not have been farther from the truth. By taking the Making of Patagonia class I was able to widen my circle of research on the history of Argentina and learned about the oppression of indigenous culture. I was motivated by the in class readings and lectures to travel to several locations in the Patagonia region with a few other students to visit museums and explore national parks inhabited by remnants of native communities. This experience forced me to ask more questions about how indigenous communities actually perceive the concept of "Patagonia" and what can be done to preserve their culture.

Part of this course involved a field study to Bariloche, a city in the Rio Negro province of Patagonia. During this excursion we were given the unique opportunity to meet with several members of the Mapuche community, an indigenous group of people living in the area of Bariloche. Our dialogue with the members of the community prompted questions about Patagonia and the survival of Mapuche culture in the midst of the increasing tourism of the city. During our dialogue we arrived at key conclusions that completely contradicted the Buenos Aires perceptions of Patagonia. To the Mapuche, the rise of tourism is seen as the "second conquest of the desert". Increased tourism has split the community, forcing them into impoverished areas and increasing the cost of living tremendously. Even more so, when asked about what Patagonia means to the Mapuche, they explained that 'Patagonia' was named by European explorers and is non-existent in their culture.

Upon returning to Buenos Aires, I was surprised to learn that few people perceived the Patagonia region the same way as the indigenous people. However, I began to understand that this is a differing perception that exists between many communities around the world and is something that needs to be met by global citizens who can understand multiple points of view. Being a global citizen requires reaching out to explore multiple perspectives from different communities. In doing so, cultures and customs can be better preserved by disseminating new knowledge and ideas to your own community. Ultimately, I know now that I can actively engage myself with different points of view to better understand a culture or community and in turn apply myself to make the world a better place for all communities."