Oakdale Neighbors

Living on campus in the dorms provides many opportunities to get involved in the Calvin community as well as the greater Grand Rapids community. In the hopes of connecting Calvin students with meaningful off-campus experiences and enabling students to serve their community, historically each Calvin dorm has been paired with a local organization for students to partner with. Serving one’s community with an attitude of learning and humility is called service-learning.

Senior Accounting major, Collette Brouwer, lived in Noordewier-VanderWerp Hall (NVW) her freshman and sophomore year. NVW’s partner is Oakdale Neighbors, a Christian community development organization. Oakdale Neighbors has many different opportunities to serve in the Oakdale community, two of which Collette participated in during her time in the dorms.

“Service learning changed my views about social justice, in placing the emphasis on humility anytime you’re helping people.”

Collette went to her dorm’s Community Partnerships Coordinator (CPC) to get connected with Oakdale Neighbors. Here Collette was part of an afterschool bike club where kids learned to take care of bikes and be responsible on the road. Collette worked as a camp counselor during the previous summer, so when school started in the fall she missed being around kids. That’s initially what got her interested in her dorm’s Service-Learning opportunity with Oakdale Neighbors. Collette loved being able to be around kids again in a meaningful way while also getting to do something fun like biking, “You never know what impact you’ll have on the kids' lives and I was surprised at the impact they had on my life.” 

As the months got colder, bike club went on pause and transitioned to an afterschool reading/tutoring program at Campus Elementary. Here Collette worked with elementary age kids everyday after school. She got to be with the same kids each day which enabled her to form meaningful relationships. Due to the after school hours, the environment was a relaxed one that allowed for Collette to have fun with the kids while also helping them with their school work.

“Service learning changed my views about social justice, in placing the emphasis on humility anytime you’re helping people.”

Service-learning is a great way to learn about your surroundings and to see your city in a new light. Collette mentioned how Service-Learning helped her understand the social issues affecting Grand Rapids in a way traditional learning wasn’t able to. Part of a liberal arts education is the ability to study all areas of interest. Service-Learning is a great opportunity to do something outside your major and learn in a different format than typical classroom learning. Collette remarked on how her time at Oakdale Neighbors changed how she viewed her major, “I’m an accounting major and I was so surprised how it changed the way I see accounting. Now I would love to be an accountant for a nonprofit one day.” 

College can be busy and overwhelming, but taking time out of each week to be of service to the people around you can be rejuvenating and can help provide a new perspective. Collette ended up filling the CPC role in her dorm the spring of her freshman year where she continued to serve at Oakdale neighbors as well as help connect other students in her dorm to service opportunities.

“I learned a lot about the city of Grand Rapids through Service-Learning, being connected to an organization, leaving campus, and entering the surrounding community. Calvin can be a bubble, college can even be a bubble, so it felt really healthy to leave campus to go hang out at an elementary school in the afternoons.”

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Oakdale Neighbors has faithfully been serving the community since 1996. This organization embodies the same philosophies towards service as Calvin’s Service-Learning Center. Oakdale Neighbors is an asset based community development organization that seeks to empower its residents through “discovering, developing, and connecting neighbors’ skills, and resources.” There are several different programs for local youth to get involved in including:

• Lamp Post Safety & Financial Literacy Program

• Learning Cafe’ (Youth Mentoring & Tutoring Program)

• Boston Square Community Bikes

• Comprenew Connect Computer Training

• Chess Club

• Treasure Hunt

• Robotics

I spoke with Oakdale Neighbor’s youth director, Bruce Bouman, about his experiences here. Bruce has worked at Oakdale Neighbors for the majority of its existence, since 2004. Before that Bruce was a Calvin social work grad who participated in service-learning and lived in the Project Neighborhood Koinonia House. From early on Bruce has seen the value in mentorship and the impact service can have on a community.

Being an asset based community development organization means seeking to build assets in kids. Oakdale Neighbors does this through tutoring, youth mentorship and support, and goal management. The kids at Oakdale Neighbors all have what’s called a “Five Finger Contract”: encouragement, responsibility, respect, commitment, and safety. Oakdale Neighbors aims to cultivate these assets in the youth they mentor, so that they can take these skills with them later in life to things like jobs and relationships. 

Each of the different programs Oakdale Neighbors offers are focused on developing skills that kids can apply to their schoolwork and future jobs. This past summer they held a business camp where 10 kids started their own small businesses. They learned financing, entrepreneurship, and business skills. Similarly, while teaching kids to play chess, they learn skills like strategizing, decision making, and planning. Many of the kids that have participated in Chess Club in the past have said it helped them become interested and succeed in STEM. Oakdale's after school Learning Cafe has a student led Robotics Program that also helps kids build valuable technical skills. 

Oakdale Neighbors aims to keep their group sizes around 50 kids. By keeping the groups smaller they can really invest in the kids and build deep, meaningful relationships. Bruce and his colleagues have noticed how many of the kids they mentor end up doing youth ministry themselves later in life. The impact adult mentors can have on young kids is huge, and at Oakdale Neighbors they take this responsibility seriously and humbly.

When Oakdale Neighbors finds a good volunteer they want to hold on to them. Coming into a community for an hour or two a week to “help” then driving back home to another neighborhood where you live is not the ideal type of service. It’s best when volunteers and staff members really want to invest in the community. This means spending time there, going to church there, living and working there. Oftentimes relocating to a neighborhood makes the biggest impact. This isn’t to discourage outsiders who want to get involved, but to encourage them to push themselves to really get involved. The more time spent in the area and the more parts of your own life become connected to the neighborhood, and the better understanding you have of the space, the better impact you will be able to have.

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Colette is a great example of an involved volunteer and speaks to how participating in local community work can impact not only the community but your own vocation as well. Calvin’s Service-Learning Center aims to make these types of connections easy for Calvin students and faculty, to encourage students to use their gifts outside of campus and to discover how their vocation fits into the larger community. 

https://oakdaleneighbors.org/oakdale-neighbors-documents/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Service-Learning in Budapest, Hungary

Last fall I had the privilege of studying abroad in the beautiful city of Budapest, Hungary. I arrived mid-August with a suitcase bursting at the seams and loads of excitement. I didn’t know what to expect landing in Budapest. I wanted an exciting study abroad experience full of exploring and personal growth, but I also wanted to gain a deep love for a place and a culture that was not my own.

I lived in a dorm with the 16 other Calvin students, other international students, and Hungarians. I took classes at the local university and with a Calvin professor, Jeff Bouman, who led the Budapest semester that fall. The class I took with Professor Bouman was integral to my experience in Budapest. This class was tailored to Americans studying abroad. We learned about crucial historical events in Hungary and Eastern Europe, but also how we as “long-term tourists” could be part of the local community. It was through this class and the experiences I had in Budapest and traveling that I really started to form my own philosophies and ideas about the world. Studying abroad is such a unique experience because of the emphasis on alternative learning. The city became my classroom and the topics we discussed in class had a big impact on my everyday life.

Studying abroad can be so much more than traveling, eating new foods, and meeting new people. It is a chance to practice “place making” —that is, learning how to be present in the space you are occupying. It is easy to feel like a tourist while studying abroad, you’re in a new space for only a few short months so it is difficult to treat it like home. At the beginning of the semester your mind is back at home with family and friends, thinking about all the things you are missing out on. But, eventually those things start to fade. The world around you feels more relevant than the memories of the people back home. This is when you start feeling like you can really invest in where you are, but may be unsure how to make your surroundings feel like home.

What made Budapest start to feel like home was working in the city with locals. Part of Calvin’s Budapest semester is a Cross-Cultural Engagement (CCE). This is a class credit that you earn through volunteering at a local organization. Some of my classmates tutored English, worked at refugee centers, or served coffee at local cafes. Most of these organizations had a Calvin volunteer every fall when there was a group studying abroad, so many of us were stepping into a long relationship between Calvin and Budapest that we were just a small part of. I ended up at the Ecumenical Office for the Reformed Church of Hungary (RCH). I worked in their newsroom and edited Hungarian articles that had been translated into English. I worked closely with Timi who translated the articles, and Dia who oversaw the office. Spending a good portion of my week working in this office with these two women ended up being the highlight of my semester.

Had it not been for working at the RCH, I think it would have taken me far longer to stop feeling like a tourist and to start feeling at home in Budapest. Being a contributing member of society in the place I was temporarily living was beneficial for my understanding of Budapest as a place. This was a time of the week when I spent a collective two hours taking public transport across the city on my own. Even this simple task was a good way to learn the city and its people. In other words, it helped me to learn my neighborhood structurally and personally. At the office I read articles about social issues affecting the local community. These articles often sparked conversations with my coworkers and gave me helpful insights into life in Hungary. Working with locals made Budapest feel like a place I was engaging rather than just a space I was temporarily filling.

Due to COVID-19 the RCH was going to be left without a Calvin student editor this year. I’ve had the privilege of now continuing this partnership virtually since returning home. It was difficult to leave Budapest after getting to know it so intimately, so I’ve really enjoyed this lasting connection. Reading articles each week about local news and speaking with the staff members back in Budapest has made the transition back home a little easier. Serving at the RCH has provided a lasting connection to a city and people I love, and for that I am very grateful.

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The Service-Learning Center’s very own, Jeff Bouman, is leaving Calvin after 19 years, and moving to Budapest to serve at the RCH. Jeff, and his wife Julie, have felt an increasing calling over the past few years to move to Budapest full time. They have already spent a collective 15 or so months living in Budapest as Jeff leads Calvin’s semester abroad in Hungary every few years. Being split between two places, the Boumans have decided to commit to Budapest as their permanent home.

Jeff is departing from his role as the director of Calvin’s Service-Learning Center to go where he feels he is being called. As Europe, Hungary, and the Church are becoming increasingly xenophobic and waves of refugees continue to spread throughout the world, Jeff is drawn to being a part of whatever it may mean for the church to respond to this massive displacement of people. Working with and learning how to serve folks who are not just homeless, but without country, is not just an important calling for people in the church, but one Jeff feels personally called to, “I want to see it firsthand and serve in whatever way I can”.

Jeff is going through the organization Resonate Global Ministry (the world mission branch of the Christian Reformed Church in North America) and his receiving partner in Hungary is the Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH). Through the RCH Jeff will be working at several different places. The main location being Kalunba, a ministry branch of the RCH. Kalunba is a NGO that works to support refugees in Hungary. Here Jeff will primarily be working to create a staff development and volunteer management program. He hopes to provide a more robust platform for long term volunteers as well as deep and meaningful staff development—both of which Jeff has been doing for years with Calvin students in classrooms, study abroad trips, and service-learning opportunities.

The other part of Jeff’s work will be done through the RCH’s partner Károli Gáspár University (where Calvin students take classes when in Budapest). Jeff has spoken here on several occasions to give lectures on various staff/student development topics. At Károli Jeff will be both teaching courses as well as working in campus ministry. Jeff has previously taught courses on topics such as social justice, Eastern European history, diversity, and plans to teach similar topics at Károli.

Through Resonate Global Jeff will also be developing a cohort program in Europe—getting younger adults experience in mission and cultural crossing in Europe. This type of program is already operating in the Middle East and Latin America, hopefully Europe will be added to that list within the next few years. This program would pair foreign young adults with a local Hungarian with the intent to explore what it means to do the work of ministry around the world. Calvin alumni are a great source for potential volunteers in the future.

Jeff and Julie had initially planned on being in Budapest early January, but with the high COVID infection rates happening around the world, their plans have been pushed back a few weeks to mid February. They have over 90% of their overall fundraising goal thus far and hope to reach 100% by the time they leave. There is still a lot of ambiguity around the move so far as housing and timing, but Jeff and Julie are holding plans loosely and eagerly looking forward to returning to their home away from home.

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Budapest has been and will continue to be a place that has close ties with Calvin. Though it’s across the globe, has another language and a different culture, there are still so many powerful connectors between these two places. It’s beautiful to see the connection Calvin has with Budapest through the students studying abroad there, alumni who have moved there, and those who have decided to work there full-time. Here at the Service-Learning Center we are sad to see Jeff leave but happy to see him continuing to further these relationships in Budapest.


Sziasztok!

Avery Gill

Community Partner Interview Series Introduction

 My name is Avery Gill. I’m a senior studying psychology and writing. This year I was hired to work at the Service-Learning Center (S-LC) as the communications coordinator. I was first introduced to the idea and practice of “service-learning” last fall while studying abroad in Budapest, Hungary. My semester director was Jeff Bouman, the former Director of the Service-Learning Center. In Budapest Jeff led our group through, what was for most, a very meaningful and impactful semester.

I’ll speak more about this experience in the next article, but I thought it was important to give some context before introducing this project. As the S-LC’s communications coordinator, my job this year is to tell the stories of local organizations in Grand Rapids that partner with our office. For many decades, the S-LC has been sending Calvin students out into the community to do some remarkable work. Many students have been touched by these experiences and many organizations have as well. For the next few months, I will be highlighting these stories through a series of blog posts. So, check in every now and again to hear some inspiring stories and to learn more about your community!

The “Reciprocal Nature of Service” is Tricky Business

In the article “A Faithful Presence in the Community”, Phil de Haan gives a nice description of the underlying philosophy and history of Calvin’s Service-Learning Center. As someone who is quite comfortable in the office now, it was interesting to get a more rounded understanding of the office’s history and humble beginnings. 

One topic de Haan touched on in his article was the tricky “reciprocal nature of service.” Sometimes when organizations are centered around public service, the heart of the mission can get muddled. It is all too easy for service organizations to become a “service savior” of sorts, where the focus is helping others in order to get something, rather than to simply be of service. When sending volunteers out into the community, it is important to be conscious of why that person is there and what needs they are fulfilling. 

Are they truly serving the community by being there, or are they simply doing this to feel good and look good? 

This is something that the S-LC needs to constantly be aware of and re-evaluating. Serving others generally makes the majority of us feel good inside. I believe we were built to help one another, thus it is natural to feel some form of gratification after providing service to someone in need. But when we blow these individual feelings of gratification up to an organizational level, it can be tricky keeping the heart of the mission at the forefront. 

This has become all too apparent in the current pandemic where sending Calvin students out into the community to serve is no longer the safest or best way to be loving our neighbors. Typically sending students into places of need in the community is a straightforward task, but now in attempts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, site visits carry a new weight. The S-LC is trying to figure out how to work with our community partners in a way that is still useful while keeping everyone as safe as possible. It may feel odd not being in person, but this is the best way to serve our community right now. 

Link to article: https://calvin.edu/publication/spark/2013/12/01/a-faithful-presence-in-the-community

Coloring in the STEM Lines

STEM. Science. Technology. Engineering. Mathematics. These four areas have held my interest since I was a little girl. Science, more than anything else. I decided I wanted to become a doctor when I was eight, and I haven’t strayed from the medical path since. At the time, I didn’t realize or understand how my race would come to affect how hard or how easy that path would be for me. I assumed it would be the same for me as it would be for anyone else raised in an upper-middle-class neighborhood; not easy but attainable. I wasn’t prepared for the reality that I would be hit with.

I moved to Ghana when I was eleven and spent most of my pre-teen and teenage years. Therefore, most of my high school years were spent back in Ghana, where the education system is brutal compared to the education system in the states. I excelled in anything science-related, and my professors encouraged me to continue, as did my peers. I felt ready to go back to the States for my senior year and blow everyone’s expectations out of the water.

I didn’t know I would be the one blown away.

One of the first things I noticed coming back was the expectation of where I was academically. My advisor helped place me in all AP classes, and the extra challenge reminded me of the school system in Ghana. I felt at ease in these classes, but my peers may not have felt the same. Whenever I was put in group projects, my ideas were either gently put down or given little consideration. I didn’t realize that at the time, I was just the ‘girl from Ghana’ to them. Statements such as “ You speak English so well,” or “Biochemistry is so hard. Are you interested in anything else?” were common from both my classmates and my professors. It was one of the first times I had felt consciously aware of how people would view my race and my education. But why did that matter?

In today’s society, STEM employment has rapidly grown since the late 90s from 9.7 million people to 17.3 million people and computer jobs have seen a 338% increase over the same period. With this increase, there has also been an increase in minorities represented in the workplace. Interestingly, black and Hispanic workers are still underrepresented in STEM workers. Black people makeup of 11% of the STEM workforce but only 5% in Engineering specifically. This may be because more Black people just don’t want to be in the Engineering field, but there is generally less access to STEM resources in majority Black neighborhoods.

Not only are resources lacking, but surveys done to understand diversity trends in STEM jobs found that there were widely different results when different races were asked about the lack of diversity. 73% of black people were found to agree that lacking resources for STEM early on in life was a significant cause, while 50% of white people agreed. While 72% of black people thought discrimination in recruitment and hiring could be a factor, only 27% of white people found they thought the statement held true. 62% of black people, 42 % of Hispanic people, and 44% of Asian people said they faced discrimination in their workplace, compared to 13% of white people.

The majority of black people who said they were discriminated against found that the primary cause for discrimination was being treated as less competent. And I would sympathize and agree with them. I came to Calvin to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry on the Pre-med track. I was going to become a pediatrician...even if it killed me. I had hoped Calvin would be different. Sadly, even here at Calvin, I have had instances where I found myself being treated as if my intelligence wasn’t on the same level as that of my peers. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I can try to break out of the box I’m in, it will always find a way to follow me.

Although this has happened, this isn’t always the case either. I have had amazing professors since I got to Calvin, professors that have encouraged me and challenged me while recognizing my background. I have friends who empathize with my struggle when I view statistics for medical school and become discouraged. And I am sure that there are other students have had better experiences and haven’t really experienced the subconscious burden. But we as a society have to realize that there is a deficit in STEM, one that, while decreasing, still has a significant gap. We cannot claim that institutionalized racism is behind us while we have deficits across demographic lines (race, gender, and socioeconomic status) that prevent the opportunity for equal access. Being able to recognize and understand is the first step to moving forward and coloring in the STEM lines.  

-Stellamarie Pobi, ABSL Natural Sciences and Mathematics Coordinator

Seek Justice // Listen, Learn, Love

StreetFest 2018 designed by Shannon Mack

When I created this theme for StreetFest this past June, I had no idea the impact it would have on my life. In fact, the process of making it was crazy, and this option wasn’t even on the table until two hours before I made the decision to use it. And yet, this theme has followed me throughout my senior year here at Calvin.

After being approached to write a blog post, I had some trouble coming up with what to talk about. Writing a piece on the theme was an idea given to me by multiple people in the office. One day, I jokingly said “why don’t we just post the print version of my speech? It has all my thoughts on the theme in it, and it can be posted tomorrow!” But after saying this, I realized that this just wasn’t true. My thoughts on the development of this theme are laid out in that speech, but this theme has continued to grow, and its point has changed for me as time has passed.

At the beginning, this theme was something of a hope for me; it laid out my dream for the day. This was something that would remind new students to think differently about words like justice and give them a new perspective on volunteering. All my thoughts about the impact of this theme were directed towards other people. But I think this has affected myself more than I ever expected it to affect others.

As a social worker, justice is a word I interact with a lot. In all my classes, we talk about what justice looks like, what it means to different people, and how to live in a just way. It wasn’t until after this theme was created that I realized just how central those three verbs are to justice. Obviously I thought they were important, but I have found myself thinking about listening, learning, and loving as important next steps when thinking about justice on all levels. I always thought about the importance of these verbs simply on a personal level, I did not even think about their place in combating structural, policy level injustice. Throughout this year however, I have come to realize that in order to achieve justice on all levels, listening to others, learning from them, and extending love to all groups are affected.

This theme has followed me not only in my course work, but in my continued work in the SLC. Each year the student staff of the SLC are tasked with writing a covenant for ourselves. This year’s covenant is titled “Listen, Learn, Love”, and it is a charge to ourselves to live out these verbs and a cry for forgiveness when we fail (which is often). It was never in my mind that these verbs would become such an integral part of the life of the office this year. But, because it is so involved in our office, I have been able to continue thinking about the impact this theme has on my life. If it wasn’t for reading that covenant each week, I don’t believe this theme would have such an impact on my thinking.

Because of the words “Seek Justice // Listen, Learn, Love” I think about those around me differently, I see injustice in a new light, listening is now a very active action, learning about others through their stories is something I am more passionate about, and extending love to those around me is a privilege. I recognize that there is no way true justice will reign while I am still here on this earth, but this is the beauty I have found in this theme in the last 6 months: we are not called to bring true justice, and God knows we cannot live out true justice, but we can do our best to seek justice while we are here. This is what I constantly remind myself of. Although I will never see what true justice looks like, I am called to do what I can to live out true justice in an effort to help bring it about.

Reading our covenant, talking about justice in my social work classes, and working in the community through my internship and service-learning all remind me daily that our world is broken, that I am broken, but that there is hope. I am so thankful that God placed these words on my heart, and that He continues to prove to me the importance of the verbs listen, learn, and love. I cannot wait to see where this theme follows me throughout my life, because it has already impacted me so much. My hope is that it will never leave me, and that I will continue to live out the call I gave to those new students back in August.

-Bri Rutgers, StreetFest Coordinator 2018, Transportation Coordinator

On Being "too American"

“They’re very American.” Recently someone used this phrase to describe me as a warning to an African student I had gone on a few dates with. It was a way to distinguish why the relationship would not work out, because I am American and they are not. Upon hearing this I was upset. Now I am wondering what is so hurtful about being called American. Why is this the phrase that was chosen to differentiate me from a non-American? Is it meant to insult me and all Americans? It brings to the forefront the stereotype of loud, ignorant, self-centered, entitled, and overall obnoxious American.

First, why is this a phrase to differentiate an American from a non-American? Are differences in Americans and non-Americans so great that they cannot find common ground? This discounts the possibility that both parties can listen and learn from the other. My American nationality does not erase my ability to understand another’s perspective but it does complicate it. I must consciously and constantly unlearn the falsehood that America is greater, that my job is to bring freedom to others, that the American dream is the only valid dream.

I believe a key to overriding one’s national lens, specifically the American lens, is to travel and to read books. Observing how people live in other countries allows one to see the way other societies function. It gives one the ability to view the weaknesses but more importantly the strengths. When returning from a trip, the lens I have in my country is then altered. The lens remains American but with a tinge of the knowledge of something else. When I studied in Honduras, we took the public bus 3 days per week. There were 20 Americans and some 40 Hondurans. The bus left at 8am so we were typically quiet but, frequently we were loud, speaking in heavily accented Michigan English. At first this didn’t strike me as particularly out of place, we were simply the only ones talking. After a few bus rides however, I noticed no other passengers talked quite as loud nor quite as often. The other passengers quietly awaited their stop and occasionally chatted softly with the person next to them. When I began to listen and not simply talk to my American friends, I noticed when elderly women would get on the bus and I was quicker to give up my seat. When I decreased my American volume, I felt ashamed that I did not notice it before. However, loud behavior is not exclusively American. When my host family would gather, they were quite loud. The difference was an awareness of when to be loud something I am still unlearning.

But travel is not possible for everyone so that leaves books. I have found that reading books written by non-white and/or non-American authors has also changed the lens I have. After listening to a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I felt challenged to read not only books that I enjoyed because they were relatable but to include books written by authors who were not white Americans. Books provide a way to peek into another viewpoint or culture. Through careful observation and reflection one can identify why the parts of books that feel unknown or uncomfortable feel that way. Often these books can unveil hidden prejudices to one’s own expectations for behavior, lifestyle, and approach to relationships. Recently I read Pride by Ibi Zoboi. The retelling of Pride and Prejudice is set in Brooklyn and centers around a young afro-latina who is struggling with the encroaching gentrification in her neighborhood. The protagonist, Zuri, is American but we do not share many experiences. While my high school experience was in a private school in the white suburbs of Chicago, Zuri attended a public school in her neighborhood. But even if we had grown up in the same neighborhood, we would have had starkly different experiences. While I cannot know her reality, by reading about her life I can see the beauty in her close-knit family and pride in her neighborhood. I can view from the opposite perspective how new “hip” restaurants in Eastown that I frequent and enjoy have chipped away at the essence of someone else’s home. I need to keep unlearning how something that is enjoyable for me can also be harmful.

Second, how is being too American an insult? My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were all raised in the US. All my siblings are married to Americans. I am American because what else could I be? But I must constantly strive to unlearn the aspects I hate about being American such as an extreme egocentrism or having to look at a map when someone mentions a country in Asia or Africa or not being aware of politics in other countries. But then I begin to internally defend my character against the negative American stereotypes. I am not overly nationalistic or hateful of immigrants. Nor do I only eat fast food or love guns. But then I thought, how many Americans fall into all these categories? Could I lump all Americans into these groups? Of course not. Just like in no country are the stereotypes true of all people in that country. While they might hold truth, they do not define every individual in the country. But too often Americans do fall into the stereotypes assigned to them. America is not greater than everyone else. We do not have politics figured out. Our system of government is not without fault nor is it void of abuse and neglect. Our society is broken. The ideologies that are typical of Americans are the ones that all Americans must consistently unlearn.

Loud, ignorant, self-centered, entitled, and overall obnoxious. Are these words that describe me? Honestly, they do. I am often loud, I find myself thinking ignorant things, I think about myself and my needs more than others, and I too often forget that I don’t deserve 99% of what I have. These traps of American Exceptionalism often catch up to me.

Am I too American? Am I too American to date an African? Does my lack of geographical expertise make a relationship impossible? Will my global political ignorance be an impossible barrier? I don’t know.

I am very American. I am confident in who I am. I have a strong sense of self. These three statements are not inherently evil. But they can be when I allow my nationality to create a sense of superiority, my confidence to manifest as self-righteousness, and my sense of self as alienation of the other.

The Service-Learning Center’s covenant this year includes these three lines of repentance, “Forgive us when we listen to respond, rather than listen to understand…Forgive us when we choose comfort and ignorance over openness and growth…Forgive us when we fail to love, to fulfill our calling, when we exclude, when we forget.” As I continually fight to listen, learn, and love better, I ask for forgiveness when I fail. I ask for forgiveness when I live into the negative stereotypes of my nationality and I will continually seek to unlearn them.

-Juliana Stremler, Residence Hall Community Partnerships Coordinator

Re-Introduction

S-LC Spring 2018 Retreat

Just over two years later, the Service-Learning Center's blog has resurrected. The decision to bring back the S-LC blog was one that took some convincing on my part. As the Communications Coordinator, I handle all forms of communication for the S-LC including the weekly emails, social media, newsletters, and, now, the blog. It was born in 2008 and took a rest in 2016. I will admit, it was I who "laid it to rest" in the fall of 2017. But here we are! Back again! If I'm being candid, to me blogs were becoming a thing of the past. However, after much discussion last year with the staff about the voice of the Service-Learning Center and my own personal journey with my voice, we have decided to bring it back.

The blog was always a place for our student staff members to share their thoughts on current news, perspectives on tough experiences, reflecting on service-learning involvement, poetry, and anything else that best helps them express how they're feeling in relation to the work we are doing.

So, welcome. Welcome to our space of reflection. Welcome to our place for individual voices of the Service-Learning Center staff to be heard. Welcome to a dedicated spot for various thoughts and opinions. Welcome back.

-Emma Chung, Communications Coordinator

[the difference between we like to hear, and what we need to hear]

            In the most recent Presidential debate, viewers across the nation listened to insults and divisive rhetoric disguised as policy, not on the whole, but for the most part. What struck me as particularly interesting and I believe points to the phenomenon of this election cycle was a back and forth exchange between the candidates near the end of the debate. The question came from newly-minted internet sensation Ken Bone about energy policy and more specifically, how an energy policy in line with agreements such as the Paris Agreement won’t inadvertently leave behind employees in the fossil fuel industry.

            This question gets at the heart, at least it seems, of what much of the historically conservative demographic is addressing in this election and that is that they feel as though they are being left behind. Globalization, the booming tech industry, and a seemingly more-liberal nation is not only a threat to jobs and religion but a threat to a way of life.

            In March at a Town Hall in Columbus, Ohio, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said that, “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” Though she went on to say that the work needs to be done to help blue-collar workers adjust to the shift in the economy and that we must not leave these people behind, an age of soundbites and media sensationalism alters population perception of this quote. This choice of words was not only less than ideal, but it becomes way in which a portion of our population is ostracized and labeled outdated. These words, they remove people, people revered 50 years ago for their work as the backbone of America, from the future of this country. This is to say that when a man like Donald Trump comes along and promises them that not only will he return jobs but promise to re-create an America that they once knew it makes sense why one might support him.

            All this to say, we need to be clear about a few things. First, that America that Trump harks back to is an America that existed to serve a certain person and to seek to return to that is to run the risk of higher degrees of misogyny, racism, and law and order, all of which will create a country that serves a certain kind of person. Secondly, we must say out of love that the jobs in coal industries and in textile factories are not only not coming back but they are not the future. This is different from saying that ‘coal workers’ are not the future and drastically different from saying that a certain way of life is not the future, though this latter tidbit is more complicated for obvious reasons. Renewable energy that is in line with Obama’s energy policies and the Paris Agreement is ultimately the future of our energy industry. Young people in countries across the globe appear to be saying with a near unanimous voice that seeking to undo past wrongs and moving forward to limit environmental destruction is of critical importance – to invest heavily in non-renewable is not a step moving into the 21^st century.

            This brings us back to the workers in both coal and textile factories whom we associate with an America we’d rather forget and move forward via a clean break. Our future is their future and vice versa. What this means practically, I am unsure. I do know that it may in fact help us to begin to listen to each other and hear our neighbor’s burden. The truth is that many of our blue-collar workers have absolutely been left behind in an economy that has closed up shop and shifted jobs overseas. That is real, let us not downplay that reality. At the same time, we do not move forward by seeking a time warp to take us back to 1955. Those days are done. I have few solidified answers, but what I do know is that both our economy and country are changing and that a concrete plan for our workers in the Rust Belt and Appalachia to gain access to the renewable energy industry through education and job training is necessary. And perhaps even more necessary, they must know that they are not being left behind. They need to know that they have worth and that the labor of their hands makes them vital to future of our nation.

[untitled]

I would like it if you would walk with me for these for moments of your time that I have, and allow me to say something that I have yet to say in fullness of that which it deserves to be said. I have spent a lot of time in these past four months in tears and brokenness, trying to pick up the pieces from decisions I have made. Grappling with my utter inability to provide for myself in any meaningful psychological and spiritual way has been incredibly humbled. What I mean is that the answers that I have been seeking, those to fill the empty spaces, have been outside of myself and my attempts at insular self-realization to bring enlightenment in my life and overcome this angst and frustration has only amplified those feelings. I think it may be that insularity reinforces, or at very least maintains, the pain we feel because there is something very real about allowing your burdens to be carried by others.

            So it this, that I care to write: Thank you. To those over the past months have been, at the right time and moment, listened and pestered me when I refused, I am so grateful. My gratefulness extends as far as the support I have received; at no moment has anyone had to bear the burden of my mess, but friends and mentors have at their moment provided what was needed. To the mentor who reminded me that I wasn’t a failure, your words have not left me. To the friend who pestered me with piercing questions and unwavering conviction, you have loved me when I’ve been unable to reciprocate that outpouring of grace.

            I do not wish to downplay the difficulties that this time of transition has brought in my life, but let it be known that my life is not altogether challenging. I get to show up to two wonderful jobs in which we seek to live out the biblical mandate for justice, and during the evening, my life transitions to full-time student and I have the opportunity to learn at a place that Calvin where curiosity is encouraged. It is in these places that I have not only hung on this semester, but I think that I have truly been able to thrive.

            This has been a trying time in my life and have often felt lost. In being lost, I have experienced frightening vulnerability that has provided for me space to feel more alive than ever before. It has been a year of incredible moments of exhilaration and raucous laughter intertwined with thorns that cut deep and cause bleeding. Living faithfully in between the mess of exile and the jubilee of the restored city requires of me to avoid the optimism of human progress and the pessimism of human limitations, but rather work and wait in the dichotomy of hope and reality; a hope that doesn’t ignore the filth and a reality that will not remain in brokenness.

Love and Transition

The change from life in utero to life outside the womb is a time of one of the greatest, most complex physiological changes in the life of a human being. The first 6 hours after birth are when the newborn’s respiratory and circulatory systems, her most important systems, become stable. This period is called transition. 

But transitions don’t cease as life goes on. I’ve discovered that relationships, their forming and ending, provide endless opportunity for change. This time, the effect is not physiological; it is deeply psychological, emotional, and spiritual. 

Each of my now three years at Calvin I’ve been deeply shaped by the people I’ve lived and shared life with. Living in Harambee this year has been no exception. Amidst many, many things, I’ve learned a little bit about the kind of love that doesn’t distinguish between family and friends and neighbors and strangers. 

In his book appropriately entitled The Four Loves, there is a passage where C.S Lewis captures the formation of that love. He sets up the passage with an example. He explains how the mark of truly having a wide taste in books is not being able to read and appreciate any book from your own personal collection. The true mark is being able to read and appreciate a book off the cart of a bookstore’s reduced-price sidewalk sale. He goes on to write:

“The truly wide taste in humanity will similarly find something to appreciate in the cross-section of humanity whom one has to meet every day. In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who ‘happen to be there.’ Made for us? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed.” 

And worth far more than we guessed.

[Kind of a side note—he follows up that paragraph with this:

“If we dwelled exclusively on these resemblances we might be led on to believe that this Affection is not simply one of the natural loves but is Love Himself working in our human hearts and fulfilling the law. Were the Victorian novelists right after all? is love (of this sort) really enough? Are the ‘domestic affections,’ when in their best and fullest development, the same thing as the Christian life? The answer to all these questions, I submit, is certainly No.” 

I agree. Affection is not enough (having affection for my neighbor or having affection for my enemy doesn’t really fly), but it is a prerequisite, a sort of training wheel that teaches us how to love well.]

Soon, our house will transition to life apart. It’s a weird transition. These 8 people who have played a distinct role in the rhythm of my daily life will soon play a not as distinct role. Any type of ending that I try to envision to make the transition seem natural and smooth still feels abrupt and inadequate, uncomfortable and painful. 

With love and heartache, I’ll end with as painless a goodbye as I know:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

--Mariana Pèrez

What Does Martin Luther King Jr. Have To Do With Charles Darwin?

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it leans towards justice.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

               

Through my scientific course material, I have reached the conclusion that the Natural World, or all living and non-living things besides humankind, are essentially morally-neutral. The phenomena of homeostasis within an organism, self-sustaining ecosystems complete with decomposition and fertilization, and natural selection are all evidence that the Natural World maintains itself in true-neutral fashion. There is no partiality, nor is there evidence for consciousness rivaling humankind (there is more and more evidence that consciousness is a spectrum that reaches far down into the animal kingdom, but this is beside my point).

Humans, however, are most certainly conscious, and to varying degrees, maintain first-person perspectives. This allows us limited agency (I prefer this term over free will). There is potential for destruction (namely negative interference with the Natural World) and potential for construction (like repairing the negative interferences of the past). Additionally, a Biblical worldview suggests that we are to be stewards of the earth and of all living things, and Christians must decide what that entails. There are disagreements, such as whether burning fossil fuels is included in our call to stewardship. Given all of this, human activity is a wild card.

Despite this ambiguity, Dr. King asserts that what emerges out of human activity is a “moral arc”, and that arc has a predisposition for justice. And given what we know about human agency, this would appear, if nothing more, entirely possible. True, it is an introspective and extrapolative claim, but so is any claim about human nature. Dr. King focuses on a feeling inside himself which informs his place in the moral universe, and he also utilizes his first-person perspective to amalgamate his experiences with others, generating a “moral arc” from his perspective. Of course, I’m doubtful that Dr. King or anyone else consciously performs these introspections or consciously assembles “moral arcs”. On the contrary, I think humans can’t help doing it. It is part of our nature. Perhaps it falls outside our limited agency. Yet the fact remains that humans have moral agency, and thus contribute to a moral arc, one which Dr. King suggests has a curve.

As for the veracity of Dr. King’s statement, I know it is held in high regard by many in this office, the Service-Learning Center. What is my opinion? I would take Dr. King’s words a step further. I believe that every day has a moral arc. From the first break of dawn to the last light turned out, humans are going about their everyday business, exerting control over what they can in their limited agency, and pressing up against the barrier beyond which humans have no control. It is a humbling experience, being a human, and more importantly, each day is strangely new. This flies in the face of the cliché that each day is a blank canvas. On the contrary, we wake up each day to a world that’s a mess. We create this mess each morning as we walk out the door. Each day starts with an infinite number of goals and possibilities, and at the end of the day we have accomplished a finite number of them, usually a poor reflection of our original intent. And yet I, and perhaps others, feel like the world leaned ever so slightly towards a conclusion – towards a whisper of a resolution, a revolution. Perhaps Charles Darwin could get on board:

“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death . . . the production of the higher animals directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

― Charles Darwin

-Johnson Cochran

What's the Point?

I cannot help you fully comprehend what is on my mind because I’m not the best at articulating my thoughts, but I’ll try.

     As much as I loved the idea of volunteering and service-learning, I was also just as skeptical of the whole concept. Why did people even participate in service-learning? I mean, what percent of the world’s individuals actually sets aside their time to truly volunteer out of the purity of their hearts? Through the service-learning center, numerous students put in their hours because it is required for their class, whether it is for social work, Spanish, education, or nursing. Some students participate in service-learning for volunteer hours on their transcript, some for their résumé. Some individuals do it for the praise, or to feel better about themselves for their “good deeds.”

     There is nothing wrong with the list I gave above; in fact, what the service-learning center and other individuals are doing is marvelous! But I cannot deny the cynical side of me that wished that I could look into the hearts of other individuals and call out their hypocrisy. As for myself, I was no different from the way I imagined the rest of humanity to be. I struggled with the question of my own agenda behind serving (and of course, learning).

     But now I know that’s not the point. The point is how an individual develops through the process of engaging in service-learning.  It’s that point of transformation we go through where we are no longer spending two hours to go help the poor and marginalized, but are going to visit a friend. I think everyone is capable of experiencing a turning point in their service-learning, where they find their hearts in the right place—without a selfish agenda. Or somewhere along that continuum. For me, it was through meeting a particular refugee family.

     I’ll be honest. In the beginning, I wanted to visit the family in order to have a sense of responsibility of making this world a better place. I was satisfying the parts of my heart where I felt helpless and disconnected to the rest of the world.

     But it was something about that raw human to human interaction. Cooking with them, eating with them, playing card games with them, reading to them, and sharing stories with them… It was no longer me versus them. This is going be suuuuper cheesy, but “WE” built this deep bond that I cannot quite explain. It’s the feeling of wanting only the best for them. It’s also the feeling of wanting to show them around Grand Rapids. It’s the feeling of joy when you notice their immense progress in English skills. It’s the feeling of wanting to mourn with them, as well as rejoice with them. It’s also the feeling of wanting to fight injustice in this world for them. I know that I have experienced the true reciprocity of the meaning of service-learning by befriending this family.

     I am not saying that my actions are purely pure from the purest of my pure heart. I’m a sinner, too. But I feel like I can now say that I am slowly walking closer to the way I want things to be.

-Sarah Lee

Ver Beek J Series

January at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan is blustery, grey, and more often than not, freezing. However, the weather does not deter the large crowds that gather for the January Series, Calvin’s annual conference of speakers who share their knowledge of and research on a wide variety of topics, including race, justice, autism, creativity, journalism, technological security, poverty, and God’s call for privileged people.

On January 22^nd, Kurt Ver Beek, a Calvin alumni who has spent over twenty five years living in Honduras with his wife, Jo Ann, spoke about the justice work in which they have invested. With a Ph.D. in development sociology, Kurt has always been determined to better the lives of the poor. However, when he and Jo Ann attempted to enrich their communities through development, they were confronted with the vicious violence that tore families apart and the pervasive corruption that threatened the wellbeing of their neighborhood. Kurt and Jo Ann became convinced that Honduras’ systems had to be altered for its citizens to live safe lives.

            Comprehending the difference between charity, development, and justice is central to Kurt’s thesis about the importance of security. Charity is the short-term alleviation of hunger or cold, and is necessary for immediate aid after disaster has struck. Development, however, entails long-term betterment and investment in a system. Many development organizations provide education, skills, and business loans for those in poverty. Kurt and Jo Ann were aware of the benefits of development over charity, but as they watched hopelessly as friends were gunned down by drug lords and corrupt policemen, they realized that beyond development, justice must be secured for Hondurans. Justice is the ultimate righting of systems. It is the all-encompassing healing of wrongs, and overcomes the fear brought about by violence.

            Kurt and Jo Ann began to enact justice by pursuing security and founding the Association for a More Just Society (AJS) in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. AJS hired Honduran investigators who took on the dangerous task of looking into homicides and uncovering the antics of corrupt policemen. Slowly, homicide rates dropped as Kurt and Jo Ann’s neighbors began putting their trust in AJS and testifying as witnesses in court. Despite the risk to their own lives and a few tragic causalities to Hondurans within AJS, sections of Tegucigalpa became safer. One of these sections includes Nueva Suyapa, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa and Kurt and Jo Ann’s home.

            Along with seven other Calvin students, I studied in Honduras from January to May 2015. Our host families lived in a beautiful mountain town called Santa Lucia that overlooked Tegucigalpa, which sprawled below. Perched in our lofty mountain home, we would venture into Tegus for school, after a forty-five minute ride on an old, rusty school bus that chugged its way up and down the steep slopes. During some of these visits, we would attend a class taught by Kurt and Jo Ann, entitled “Poverty and Development (or more accurately, Justice).” Kurt and Jo Ann used their extensive knowledge of Honduras and its people to describe the economic and political state of the country. We learned about the messy stuff, the hidden stuff, the mundane, and the dirty. We studied food distribution, immigration, the impact of policy, orphanages, maquilas (loosely translated as “sweatshops”), waste management (sewage, basically), and the influence the States wields in Honduras.

            Kurt and Jo Ann’s class was one of the highlights of the semester not only because of the content, but mostly due to the sense of justice that roused our spirits every time we had class.  Kurt and Jo Ann’s lectures exuded genuine compassion for their fellow Hondurans. Not only did we learn about the many obstacles Honduras faces; we were also set afire with passion for justice work in the United States. We focused on the inequitable American education system that supports some in success while allowing other students to drop through the cracks. One of the classes permanently etched in my mind was when we wrote down all of the social issues we cared about, and formulated steps to address them. As I fervently wrote mine down, I realized the scope of my social concern was too broad, and that I’d have to simplify so that I didn’t get overwhelmed and lose all hope. The classes inspired and united us as young students, still inexperienced but nonetheless determined join the pursuit of justice.  

            My seven Calvin peers and I were drawn together over discussions about social justice. We shared our individual passions, delighted when they coincided and willing to learn from each other when they didn’t. Of course, simply discussing issues was not always enough; once, when we were in Nicaragua, I broke down and bawled, in front of several perplexed onlookers, over the weight of injustice and my inability to solve it. My Calvin friends were gracious, comforting me and listening to my weepy ranting. Justice isn’t always about doing; it often involves dwelling in pain over the situation, and oftentimes, only the support of your friends allows you to grasp at hope.

            Over a year has passed since my group and I arrived in Honduras. When we heard that Kurt was coming to Grand Rapids, we made plans to attend his talk together. We joined a mass of Kurt and Jo Ann’s students, who wore AJS tee-shirts and cheered loudly when he walked on stage, one of my friends waving a gigantic Honduran flag. The small, fiery community of Calvin students who had spent time with Kurt and Jo Ann in Honduras represents the young people who have been set aflame with passion for justice. We are united by a force that encompasses the pain, hope, indignation, guilt, joy, weariness, and communal spirit of justice work. Although we cannot save the world, we have been seized by a thirst for justice, like Kurt and Jo Ann, and the hope that we can start to make a dent in the wrongs that plague our societies. 

-Anna Lindner

On Flint and Terror

                It was already a week and a half ago that the first group of Calvin students loaded up trucks with water and headed to Flint. While time has passed, the problems that the citizens of Flint face because of their lead-leeched water, of course, have not. 

                As I continue to reflect on my brief time in Flint, one sentence by someone we met comes to mind.

My group was sent to a large warehouse in Flint that was the hub for receiving and distributing shipments of water. Upon arriving, we met Sergeant Keschtner, “Sergeant K,” who broke us into groups and instructed us through unloading water, filters, and test kits, counting the supplies, putting them in respective places in the warehouse, and then loading up the trucks with a certain combination of supplies from the stocks in the warehouse. At a low point in the work, Sergeant K explained her role in the National Guard. Reminding me of a superhero, by day she works at Planet Fitness selling memberships, but she is also a part of the Michigan Chapter of the National Guard, called on at any time to “respond to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, counterdrug efforts, reconstruction missions and more.[i] ” Each state’s National Guard is mostly called on by their governor, although on rare occasions, during a national crisis the President can send out a call. In fact, to illustrate the severity of the situation in Flint, Sergeant K talked about this: “Guys, the last time the National Guard was called on by the President was 9/11. Flint is the second time since you were in preschool.”

My mind couldn’t let this sentence go, and I thought: “The last time was a terrorist attack… wow.”

At first glance, these crises seem different—9/11 was a relatively isolated act by non-American religious extremists. The Flint water crisis is the tipping point of a crisis that has been going on for over a year. It’s a home-grown problem born of governmental neglect; the media-captured result of systemic injustices over time.

While different, terror is at the heart of both of these national emergencies. This past summer, after the attack of Emmanuel AME in South Carolina, the New York Times ran an important article with new research findings: since 9/11, almost twice as many terrorist attacks have been due to white supremacists and other American extremists than outside terrorists[ii]. The attack on Emanuel AME was an act of white terrorism.

While not fully white terrorism, the privilege and power of white supremacy has its fingerprints all over the Flint water crisis. America is a state built off of the enslavement of a people… and after slavery was abolished, racist economic and social systems developed under white leadership that contributed to the concentrated poverty and violence that Flint knows all too well.

~

I’ll stop here, because I know the context but not the details of what I’m talking about… After a long day loading water, the work of service might have been done (for that day), but the work of service-learning was not. Service-learning gives us a context and launching point for asking questions. As this reflection points out—I want to pay attention to the racialized nature of the current problems of Flint—from governmental neglect to the distribution of demographics in the city. It’s my (our) job now to fill in the details.

The Latin root of the word terror is terrorem, meaning, “fear, dread, the cause of alarm or terrible news[iii].” Maybe the goal of all of this—everything from bringing water to asking questions that begin to uncover the roots of the issue—is to stand with Flint and say: we don’t want terrorem anymore.

---

[i] "Legacy | National Guard." Legacy | National Guard. United States Army National Guard, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

[ii] Shane, Scott. "Homegrown Extremists Tied to Deadlier Toll Than Jihadists in U.S. Since 9/11." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 June 2015. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

[iii] "Terror (n.)." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 206.