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December 2005
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CAMPUS NEWS |
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Passport? Check. International calling card? Check. English translation dictionary? Check. Sounds like the start of a normal packing list, right? It is if you happen to be one of the 30 AU students traveling to China or the Thailand-Burma border during winter break. When finals ended on Dec. 21, most students were on their way home to celebrate the holiday season and new year with their hometown friends and family, but a handful will pass up a couple weeks of comfort for an opportunity to explore a different culture and learn about social injustices in Asia. Students traveling to China will visit museums, historical sites, environmental NGOs, local small businesses, the State Environment Protection Agency, and participate in World Bank and IFC environmental projects during their two-week visit. They will also participate in volunteer opportunities designed by AU’s Community Service Center. A few popular destinations they’ll visit include Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu. “With the support of the Community [Service] Center, I set up a variety of orientation activities for the group, ranging from guest speaker sessions, local volunteer activities, fund-raising, language learning, a travel information session, book reports, research projects, case studies, and so on,” says Hong Cai, a first year Kogod MBA student and trip leader for China. A flyer advertising the Thailand-Burma border trip touts a quote by Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: “Please use your liberty to promote ours.” Students going on the trip may use this quote for inspiration as they learn about the Burmese Democracy Movement and meet with sex workers, refugee children, diplomats and ambassadors, leaders of underground resistance groups, and members of the outlawed National League for Democracy, among others. The trip is sponsored by the Alternative Break Club and AU’s Student Campaign for Burma. “Alternative breaks encourage participants to examine their own privilege while also recognizing their own personal role in the larger issues at hand,” according to AU’s Community Service Center. “The goal of alternative breaks is not to be paternalistic, nor to impose personal views or perceptions, but rather to engage in open dialogue and for participants to learn through listening and observing by living within the local communities.” Joe Eldridge, AU’s long-time chaplain, led the first alternative break trip with AU grad students to Honduras in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch swept through the area. “On this particular trip I felt most fulfilled as a chaplain,” Eldridge says. “It was a time of coming together, an encounter with the humble of the earth. It was a tonic for my soul and you want to replicate that experience.” He continually planned spring trips until AU formed the Alternative Break Club because he felt that “these short-term immersions [could] be transforming” by altering participants’ view of the world and touching people “at the deeper levels of their soul,” he says. Alternative
spring breaks for 2006 and the topics for study on each
trip include: |
Students
Opt for Alternative Winter Break Experiences