AYLP/ABYLEP Bangladesh 2012-2013

Image courtesy of phlanlopp88/FreeDigitalPhotos.net  

Our k2A’s goal was to teach future generations how to reuse things they already own by making them into art pieces and accessories. Materials for the art and the Woodside Queens library made it possible for us to have our workshop. If it wasn’t for Woodside Queens library we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do the workshop. We would specially like to thank the librarian Mrs.Hallen for making it possible for us to borrow the library’s room, for promoting our flyer for the workshop, and getting more kids to come. We would also like to thank the donors of Materials for the Arts, and Materials for the Arts for letting us get the materials. If it wasn’t for them, we would have been short on the materials and we wouldn’t have been able to make many types of arts and crafts. Finally we would like to thank world savvy leader Daniel Carlton for taking time out of his busy day to take us shopping to Materials for the Art. We would also like to thank our friend, Sharif Arshad, for helping us carry our heavy bags, recording us, and helping us out on the day of our hectic workshop.  Without Sharif, Maria and I would have been stressed out. In conclusion if it wasn’t for these people and places our K2A workshop wouldn’t have been this amazing. Our workshop went beyond well. Our audience enjoyed it and learned to reuse things.

The kids that attended the workshop were ages 8-12. They made many things out of all the materials we took to the library. Some of these included journals, bags, jewelry, and instruments. We were glad that the kids enjoyed making things. In the beginning we were scared people wouldn’t show up because the workshop was right after school and it was on a weekday, but more people than expected showed up. We now plan on doing a workshop at the library every year.  The library staff in the library enjoyed it so much that they would love us to do many more workshops related to other things!

Image courtesy of scottchan /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For my knowledge to action project, I introduced my local community Stillwater to a global movement called Transition. Transition is a global movement where communities from all over the world take action to become more environmentally sustainable and resilient. An initial challenge I faced was getting the word out to students and community members who would be interested in the movement. This problem became less of an issue after I started making connections by giving presentations to high school classrooms and contacting community members of all ages that could be interested in taking part in the movement.

There were around 40 community members from a diverse age range at the first Transition Stillwater meeting. The meeting proved to be very beneficial, because it included participants with a wide variety of experience with environmental issues and perspectives in discussions. Another challenge I dealt with was to keeping the momentum of the movement going. After the first community meeting, everyone was excited to see what our first project or environmental initiative would be. It is difficult to keep on working behind the scenes to make the necessary connections. I have learned that distributing jobs is a very important part of the process. Community members have had a wonderful response to the movement so far. They offer ideas of ways to better Stillwater. At the first Transition Stillwater meeting, I noticed that when people broke off into groups for discussions, many of the community members were very eager to connect and find ways to help each other. They were also eager to share ideas and/or to find ways for local environmental projects and organizations to benefit each other.

Working on this movement has made me realize that young people really do have a voice. Taking initiative on environmental actions in Stillwater will impact other towns by setting a positive example, and inspiring community members, adults, and students to be a part of a global movement. After returning from Bangladesh, I knew that I needed to take action to make a visible change in my community. I will continue to work on Transition Stillwater until I graduate from high school. My experience with this K2A has taught me that making change at a local scale is the first step in addressing a global issue like climate change.

My Knowledge to Action plan was focused on creating a workshop for students at Brooklyn Technical High School. My school does not have many workshops about climate change, and not all students are offered environmental science or climate change studies classes. I decided to work with a classmate of mine who was a student participant for the American Youth Leadership in Cambodia and an educator of mine who also participated in the AYLP Cambodia program. We planned a workshop that would be for student participants, and was led by other students. Our main goal was to make sure that students understood how small changes in our lives could benefit the environment in many ways. We all made a poster detailing one small change we would each make in our lives that would help the climate. Some of these changes included: buying reusable water bottles, cutting down on buying water bottles, and conserving electricity in one’s home.

I recently sent out surveys for students to complete where I asked about the progress of their changes (whether or not they implemented them, how likely they are to pursue these changes, and how long-term they will be). I will definitely continue my work with the promotion of climate change and environmental studies. In college, I will make sure to investigate how green my school is, and I will definitely promote knowledge of the environment. I will hopefully have more climate change workshops to educate more students. I learned that when students are led the workshop, more students were engaged. I feel that student leadership in workshops creates a calm environment, where students are very willing to participate. I feel that this workshop was very successful, and I was very happy to show and tell people about my experiences in Bangladesh. 

FINAL REFLECTIVE BLOG

Cole N., Blake School

Thanks to World Savvy and the State Department, I had the opportunity to travel to Bangladesh and learn about the culture and climate challenges that characterize that region of Asia.

On the surface, that sentence may sum up the basics of my interaction with the AYLP program. But in reality, the experience I have had is so much more multi-dimensional and far-reaching than those thirty words would ever make it seem. It began far before I got on any plane, even prior to the moment I decided to apply for this exchange at all. The first thing that AYLP gave me was a friend in Leah Norman, a participant whose Knowledge to Action project involved a presentation to my youth environmental group. Without this program, specifically the K2A aspect, we would have never met—and I would have never tasted buttery parata, scaled holy Hindu mountains, looked into the eyes of a wild boar, learned to dance the Wobble, spent hours comparing American and Bangladeshi politics, or listened to the sound of the azan echo through early morning darkness on the banks of the Rupsha River. Not only these things, but I would have never explored a new part of my own city, discovered my favorite book, or found many of the musical artists that now populate my iPod; I would have never boarded a bus headed for an unprecedented protest in Washington DC, I would have never dared to make an attempt at documentary filmmaking, and most importantly, I would have never met the people I now consider to be my best friends, both across town and across the Pacific. The people who inspire me, motivate me, make me come alive. I honestly could not imagine my life without AYLP, and for that I am boundlessly grateful.

The fact that Leah’s K2A was the thing that opened up this entire world to me speaks to its import as a vital part of the AYLP experience. With this in mind, I’ve grown to look at this third and final step in the process as a major opportunity to educate, connect, and put into motion all that I’ve learned in the past 9 months with the goal of doing some small amount of good for the world. At first, I was thinking small—I would help people in my community find greener cleaning alternatives for their homes. This was something that had been done before and did not capture my imagination in the least. I thought only of practicality and ease of implementation when brainstorming on my way back from Bangladesh. But something changed when Sofia Logan, Sam Schirvar and I joined the 50,000 other citizens who congregated around the White House to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline on President’s Day last February. If there were this many people out there who cared enough about the climate to put their lives on hold and take to the streets, then there was really no limit to what I could try and accomplish with my K2A. I shifted gears and consolidated my plans with the open-ended Senior Program project my school assigns to its seniors for the three weeks leading up to graduation. And suddenly, I found myself making a documentary.

I am definitely not a professional filmmaker. But looking back on my experiences with film, documentaries have always managed to have a significant impact on me. So what better way to maximize the impact of my K2A than make a documentary of my own, focusing on a rapidly emerging environmental issue that faces my community? I wanted to make sure whatever I made was easily accessible and relatable to multiple audiences, so I chose to focus on sand mining—which, despite your political persuasion, is a contentious subject in Minnesota and our neighbors to the south and west. Sand mining is only our piece of the puzzle that is American domestic energy policy, a landscape that is quite literally being changed by the proliferation of hydraulic fracturing operations drilling for oil and natural gas. As of right now, I’m in the thick of this project, having just completed the bulk of my filming and now beginning to engage in the video editing and publicity process that will lead up to the screening event I am hosting on Thursday May 30^th. I’ve travelled through western Wisconsin interviewing families about their views on the sand mining happening in their backyards; learned about the geological background of this issue from a representative of the Minnesota DNR who specializes in sand and aggregate mine management; attended a tense press conference summing up the economic impact of sand mining on rural communities in Auburn, Wisconsin; and have conducted two out of five student interviews that will add a distinctly youth-oriented perspective to the whole project. The interest and enthusiasm I have received in response has been greatly encouraging, making me confident that this will be worth it if I work hard over the next two weeks.

Many people have asked what this has to do with Bangladesh. I agree that the connection may not be obvious, but it is definitely substantial. Sand mining, besides its initial environmental impact, enables the domestic oil and natural gas industry to continue growing, which in turn supplies us with more and more readily available fossil fuels to burn at our convenience. As long as this supply avoids disruption, a swelling global population will find new ways to use it, and the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will only accumulate further. This of course is the primary driving force behind violent climate change that disproportionately affects geographically vulnerable nations like Bangladesh, which often lack the resources needed for protection. By finding my own frontline, I am standing in solidarity with Bangladesh, and everyone else around the world who is working tirelessly to bring about the change we need. We all have a frontline, and while some may not be as sexy as others, we must commit ourselves to them in order to be as effective as an individual can be. I might not be able to do much in terms of alleviating poverty in Rayer Bazar, but I can do lot when it comes to educating fellow students about sand mining. There’s actually a chance that this documentary could play a role in shaping the conversation happening around sand mining in Minnesota.

AYLP gave me the courage to do this. AYLP gave me the relationships necessary to make it happen. And AYLP will continue to inform and motivate my action as I go forward. THANK YOU AYLP

There was a point after I got back from Bangladesh when I got tired of responding to, “so how was your trip?” No one really cared, they were just being polite. At first this didn’t faze me – I flooded everyone who asked with my thirty seconds on everything I did and why it was important. Eventually it dimmed down to, “oh, it was really eye opening.” The thrill of being gone had passed, and no one seemed interested. In a way, I felt like I had no power to do anything with what I learned, and I began slipping into old habits because everything seemed unchanged. It wasn’t until I was looking back at photographs that I remembered everything I had felt.

For my photography class I had to submit photos I had taken in Bangladesh as part of an assignment, and combing through the 5,000 pictures I took while in Bangladesh was emotionally exhausting. Seeing them again made me remember why I was excited to come back home, why the experience I had was valuable; the people and things I saw were real, not just a recount of events I had rehearsed or vague memories of something passed. Unfortunately, just like the way people can distance themselves from stories, it’s easy to become detached from images. The people and places in my pictures are real though, and it’s my responsibility to share the things I’ve experienced as both an artist and a contributing human being.

We are taught our actions impact others, but we hardly ever think about people we cannot immediately relate to, and we tend to make a “special” category in the back of our minds for people we just pity. During my experience in Bangladesh, I learned that our actions impact more people than we can imagine, and that pity is not an effective way of helping people. It’s not enough to just “feel bad.” Meeting people affected by climate change and participating in the workshops provided made me realize I have the ability to change things around me, and I have the responsibility to speak out on things that affect me. ABYLP taught me no one is powerless, but we all need support. Throwing money at a problem, or ignoring it, are not options that “solve” a problem, but working with disadvantaged people to create a sustainable plan is a solution.

This is a global world; we impact people we’ll never know, and vise versa. The issues that affect us may be the same issues other people are fighting against, and as technology continues to improve our role as a global citizen becomes more important. We can no longer turn a blind eye to other people’s struggles because the information is posted everywhere around us. This also makes it possible to reach outside of our comfort zone to make connections and find inspiration. Before traveling to Bangladesh with AYLP I was positive I wanted to go to college for just pre-med, but now I’m more interested being an econ major with a global health focus. I’m still interested in some sort of a career in health, but I’m more passionate about how the world connects and what I can do to be a part of that. The images I took in Bangladesh and the experiences I connect with them are eye opening. They are proof that the experiences I had and the people I met were real, and that what I experienced is not lost or insignificant. I have the tools and the ability to impact people, and I want to make a difference for the better. 

My trip to Bangladesh has changed me a lot. I now realize there are so many things in my life that I took for granted before I left. Also, the concept of volunteering has changed for me completely. The word now means making a difference instead of doing something for college or to get school service hours. I think the whole trip was an adventure and challenge for me, especially going to a third-world country for a month without family and living a completely different lifestyle. What I discovered, though, is that my host family had a pretty similar life to mine. We spent a lot of time together, and when I left I felt as if they were really my second family. Even though the environment where my family lived was very different from the environment where I live, inside the house it was as if we were living in the same country (not counting the food and the occasional Bangla conversations).

I have to say, one of the first things I noticed when I got back to the U.S. was the silence. I walked into my bathroom at about midnight (I didn’t sleep at all for the first two days), and I literally heard the silence. The whole trip was a little out of my comfort zone: from the Bangla food to the hectic streets of Bangladesh. By the time I left though, I was familiar with the way of life around the country, and I’m glad that I went somewhere so new because I know that I’ve changed as a person since then. My problems back here suddenly become minor when I compare them to things I experienced over in Bangladesh. Also, my showers have been a lot shorter as my perspective of water has changed after realizing how precious it is.

Six million people live in the slums of Rayer Bazar, of which hundreds or thousands share two squat toilets. Their dwellings stand 15 by 15 feet with corrugated tin sheets for walls and roof, and beds are raised due to yearly knee-high flooding. Many of them are forced to the slums as climate refugees, as floods ravaged their homes in their coastal villages. After sleeping on the floor of the Jaago school for 4 nights, I come back to my lower middle class home in Santa Clara, California and lay down on my soft, warm bed and wonder why I can live in this luxury, while the world struggles to live on a few dollars a day. I somehow thought that I appreciated my life before Bangladesh, but my appreciation has become all the more sincere. I find that, where I live, poverty is so shrouded and veiled from our daily lives that we don’t fully understand the human experience. Looking out from the rooftop of my home in Bangladesh, poverty is so open and visible, with the same tin houses I found in Rayer Bazar occupying a plot of land across the dirt road. Going forward, this experience of poverty first hand has really inspired me to apply myself in areas of human struggle and poverty in the United States, which exists behind dark curtains.

However, we also need to delve into the root causes of poverty among the people of Rayer Bazar. Although flooding is a common event in the coast, the floods have intensified with sea level rise while other climate factors leave the people more vulnerable. I ask myself constantly, why are the people of third world countries suffering from our own decisions? I drive my car to school every day, there are lights turned on in rooms in my house that no one occupies, we crank up our heater in weather we could very well bear. If I epitomize a regular student at my school, multiply my carbon footprint by 2,000 then realize how one person as a collective body contribute to disasters on a worldly scale. I don’t want to sit around anymore, I’m committed to take action so that not another person is forced to live in Rayer Bazar. 

 Bangladesh was the most unique and special experience I could have ever asked for. Not only did I explore an amazing culture but I also came back to America as a whole different person. This trip has changed my point of view and I am now ready to make some changes based on what I learned in Bangladesh. I became familiar with the word solidarity, which I learned about on my service project (the chars).

This trip has also changed the way I think. For example, while developing relationships and asking questions to the people who suffer from floods (which cause difficulties when planting crops) made me think of how difficult it must be to live there. These people are suffering because of climate change. I witnessed it in the chars and saw that these people are really affected. As I traveled there and experienced a little bit of their lives I realized that it is time for me to take action here in America.

         While I was in the chars I also learned that these people appreciate what they have and are happy with their lives. I realized that food and shelter were very important for them, which made me realize that I have to appreciate some things that I didn’t appreciate before. But this experience of actually seeing it with my own eyes made me become a better person. I believe that as a part of this program I learned to face the reality. People on this earth are suffering from climate change and I feel now after this trip that it is apart of my responsibility to take some action and try to change the way people think here in America.

This exchange changed my world. It was an experience I will always remember, and one that I will be able to draw from and connect to my life back home. It has been an amazing opportunity to explore another culture I may never have explored otherwise, and it has allowed me to meet new people from different cities, backgrounds and cultures I would have never met otherwise. And best of all, it has officially given me the travel bug. I had an amazing time in Bangladesh, and I expanded my horizons so much. Being in a foreign country is sometimes hard, because you are displaced from everything you know and are familiar with. But it was great to be able to get away from my culture and learn about another one. I was able to experience and enjoy the differences, such as traffic and food, while finding a new appreciation for things I missed from home. I have learned a lot about climate change, how our cultures shape us, and even a little bit of Bengali. I have also learned what it means to help people, and how much of an impact a small group of people can make. Being able to learn about and meet people such as Korvi Rakshand of Jaago, and Mohammed Yunus of Grameen was so inspiring, because they believed in the young people: our future generation. They believed that we could change the world, and after this trip, I am going to have to agree with them.  I have learned to look at problems from many different points of view, and I will continue to keep these lessons in mind moving forward. I will continue to travel and learn, and I will continue to bring all that I learned back home. 

I’ve traveled elsewhere but my trips lacked the opportunity to interact with the people of a culture. I looked out the window in Argentina or in Poland and took it in like one would hastily read through an eighteenth century poem. I was thrilled by its solely enigmatic unfamiliarity; this trip taught me to observe, to interpret, and to discuss what I saw out the window.

Going into this exchange, I thought my primary challenge would be maintaining graciousness and a sunny disposition and no doubt there were moments where that I struggled, but I felt the most struggle internally. During those multiple hour traffic jams home, the race against the imminent hartal, or those mornings where I would arrive to a workshop thirty minutes late, I experienced a new personal challenge: the act of letting go in moments that are beyond my control.

As an avid marching band participant, I knew that a group can create a cohesiveness that is fascinating even beautiful to an audience. I’ve been lectured about the immense power of the collective, but this was the first time I could stand back and watch. I could observe the reflective and articulate minds of my fellow cohorts and marvel at the brilliance created when their minds were culminated. I felt the sheer power of the group and the potency it possessed in combating the issues of climate change and beyond.

This exchange illuminated the whole of my imprint, positive and negative, on my immediate and broad environment. I’m much more cognizant of my impact, and that has definitely bitten me in this month of being home, but I’m determined to make use of this jolt of awareness. I learned that my Achilles’ heel in solving a problem is producing the initial idea. My mind seizes the chance to weigh the pros and cons and the logistics of a solution; it struggles to be the visionary. Once I get that thread of an idea however, I make it happen. Discerning this exchange’s impact on me is still a work-in-progress, but this elongated digestion of what I’ve experienced is definitely an indication to me that Bangladesh, the nation irrefutably dear to me, altered my course forward.

This educational adventure has meant a lot to me. This adventure made me aware of the issues going on not only in our neighborhood, but also on the other side of the world. Going on this journey, I was able to learn a few lessons. One of the lessons that I learned was that I don’t have to do something big in order to make a change. Even the smallest changes that you make have a huge impact. Another lesson that I learned was that when traveling, it’s a good idea to have an open mind. Things will be different in another country, and you have to be cautious to make sure what you’re saying isn’t hurting anyone. You also have to remember that things you do might be things that others consider strange.

I think that I have grown a lot because of this trip. I have become a lot more environmentally cautious with things going on that I wouldn’t really notice before. In the beginning of the trip, I did have to challenge myself to be social. I didn’t know anyone that was going on this trip, being that I was the only one from my school chosen. I did have to make myself be more social and open to new people. I feel like my behavior will change quite a bit moving forward. Like I said before, I have become a lot more environmentally cautious, so this will make me a lot more environmentally friendly. Becoming more environmentally friendly will make me want to make others environmentally friendly also. I have also changed because I feel like I’m able to step up a lot more than I did before, because of the opportunities that I decided to step up in during my journey.

When listing the things that this trip meant to me I went down and started listing all the things that I thought were meaningful: the trip itself, studying climate change, etc. There is a much deeper meaning that this trip has had on my life, and at this point in time, a month has passed since I have come to appreciate the trip as a whole so much more rather than when it finished. The time since the trip has been long enough to let me take a step back and become both introspective and retrospective to dig deep into myself and truly understand what this all really means.

Coming onto this trip, I was prepared to be involved in large group activities and have a very interpersonal aura. More opportunities to have one-on-one conversations with people arose that made my trip worthwhile. This ranged from the US and Bangladeshi participants on the trip to the people whom I interviewed in the slums to the security guard I met on the last day. Everyone has a story, and it is these stories that create the world. By engaging with people on a one-on-one basis it has allowed me to see an even larger sliver of the created world around us all. The best way I learned to get to know someone is by listening to their story; you get to know a thing or two.

Being in Bangladesh, I saw a very different environment/culture/aura than the US’s, which alone was a challenge. The change of everything was a complete 180 that pushed me to become more adaptable to situations. It is a life skill in which I am always willing to keep building.

Overall, there is much learned from the trip that has already affected thus far. There has been a lot of patience that built up from those two hour long horn-honking-filled traffic car rides that has taught me great patience in such chaotic-like situations. I came back home with even a bigger drive and passion to put in more effort into hearing people’s story and to have a better sense of solidarity and understanding amongst all. 

An inspiring lesson that I took from the ABYLEP trip is that I have allies in Bangladesh who are passionate about improving the world, just like I am. Climate change feels heavy and impossibly immense to try to reduce its impacts. My new relationship with Bangladeshi allies brings to life the quote, “Many hands make light work.” Influencing policy makers, improving efficiency in our lives and communities, rethinking how we do things are dense tasks, but together we can tackle the challenges of climate change from many angles. Some of us will educate; some will influence; some will invent; some will collaborate with new communities; some will get elected and make change. We will make progress one step at a time together. Our potential collective action and accomplishments inspire me to work hard and think creatively.

I didn’t go to Bangladesh thinking that I knew all the solutions. I went to learn, to make friends, and to figure out new ways to connect. The framework of global competency helped me consider how we can work in solidarity with one another. Solidarity influences how I interact with my family, my job as a teacher and my life as an activist. This trip has fostered new energy for my efforts to reduce the creation of pollution in my neighborhood. Also, tomorrow I begin to teach a 20^th century history unit on South Asia. I am thrilled to be beginning the unit with videos from my new Bangladeshi friends speaking about the challenges facing Bangladesh and the solutions that give them hope. My students will catch a glimpse of the sense of solidarity I feel with these new friends in Bangladesh, which will inspire our investigation of the history and modern challenges of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Also, I will present about lessons learned in Bangladesh to the Minnesota Association of IB Schools, my school’s faculty, and community groups. Thank you Bangladesh, World Savvy and the State Department!

As of right now, I think this experience has taught me more than even I can fully realize. When you return from a trip like this one, the expectation is that you have learned a lot and grown and changed as a person. I believe that some of this does happen right away, but a lot of the learning from this experience will also come in the time following our return, as we apply what we have learned into our daily lives. The lessons I have learned have been valuable and I could not have learned them in any other way. Some things have to be learned by first-hand experience, and this trip provided the perfect opportunity for that learning and growth.

This trip taught me to let go of expectations and be more open to taking things as they come instead of starting something with a preconceived idea of what it will be like. I have always been a person who likes to know what is going on, and what is coming next. On this trip, that wasn’t always possible, so I gradually learned to ‘go with the flow’ and accept that you can’t always plan everything. I have definitely brought that skill back with me, and I think it will help me as I go through my life.  During the trip, it would have been easy to rush through each activity just to get it done, but I felt it was really important to actually think about what we were doing, and why we were doing it. Our group reflections helped make this possible, and I also challenged myself to keep the lessons we learned in mind so I could continue to process the meanings of them. Now that we have completed all of those exercises, games, discussions, and activities, I can continue to keep them in mind to be more aware and thoughtful.

The main lessons that resonated with me were the ones we learned on our service projects on our universes of obligation, the effects of short-term service trips, and how we approach poverty. These lessons were really meaningful because we were able to apply them right away while on our service learning projects, and also because we can use what we learned in service we do in the future. Before, I had never really thought about how short-term service projects can be both good and bad, and it made me consider how I can do something that is more helpful to people. Above all, going on this trip gave me a new experience that I will never forget. The things I saw, the lessons I learned, the people I met, and the memories I made will remain with me for the rest of my life as I continue to grow and change as a person, and as a global citizen. 

This educational adventure has meant a great deal to me. It allowed me to get out and see more of the world, not just as a tourist, but in a way where I could experience a culture I’ve never even dreamt of being apart of. I saw the impact that my lifestyle has on the environment and I was extremely affected on a personal level by this experience. Some of the lessons I learned from the trip were that even though we may live on the other side of the world I still have many similarities with the Bangladeshi people. I also learned that you should always try your best to get along with people you have disagreements with. I noticed on the trip that I had several similarities and differences with both American and Bangladeshi students. The similarities were a little surprising since we came from all the way across the world. The differences were something I had to put aside for the sake of working together with everyone. I learned that you have to move past them to move forward.

I also challenged myself by trying new foods. I don’t try many new foods and this trip gave me a chance to step out of my comfort zone in that way. I think my behavior moving forward will change in several ways. I now know more about how my actions affect the world, and this will change my ways. I will work harder to help protect the environment, even if it means changing my lifestyle. In the past I’ve recycled and done things in my personal life to help the environment and now this inspires me to go out and do more for my community as a whole. I will try and go and do the extra mile for my community and the environment.

I must admit that the aspect of the AYLP in Bangladesh that originally piqued my interest was the lens of climate change that it employed.  Being an environmental science teacher, I am very interested in climate change and enthusiastic about teaching others how to explore this topic in greater depth and connect it to their own lives.  I was prepared to bring my own knowledge about the environment to share with participants and to learn from the case studies of climate changes in Bangladesh.  However, I hadn’t realized how much I would take away about how to infuse global cultural competency into my curriculum. Using the exploration of culture to form questions about what influence people’s environmental values and decisions has implications that touch many corners of my high school AP Environmental Science course.  I have already asked my students to examine our own “universe of obligation”, which shapes who we decide to support (monetarily, temporally, morally, etc.), and I have plans to incorporate more cultural examinations into our units on population growth and climate change in the future.

I’ve also come away with more personal learnings about how to become a more authentic traveler who embraces another culture more completely, what it means to move towards solidarity when engaging in service projects, and what aspects of US culture I am proud of and want to embrace and share.  None of these learnings happen passively, and instead involve conscious decisions and efforts to step outside of one’s comfort zone.  Moving forward, I also hope to bring these new learnings to the Global Service Learning programs at Kent Place School, and help our scholar leaders uncover more about culture, service, and the environment as they travel, learn, and interact with people from different backgrounds.   The relevance of these understandings is universal, so I hope to carry them with me for the rest of my life, sharing them with others all along the way.

What does this educational experience mean to me? Where do I even begin? As cheesey as it sounds, this experience changed my life. Before Bangladesh I didn’t pay much attention to what was happening around me or even how wastefull I was being. Now all I think about is the world and how my next move will impact it. I’ve always been a little shy and going on this trip with complete strangers pushed me to speak up and communicate when it wasn’t always the easiest. This whole experience means so much to me. Its even opened my mind to a new career interest. While in Bangladesh I learned that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and if you do you will be very embarrassed when you’re wrong. I learned that it’s okay to feel unsure and nervous, but you have to have the confidence and faith to take chances. I’ve never challenged myself as much as I did during those 3 1/2 weeks. 5 months ago, if someone asked me if I wanted to live on a boat for 5 days with no hot water, I would have said HECK NO! But I did it in Bangladesh. Being away from my family and friends was my biggest challenge. Having to rely on complete strangers and learning how to not only believe in them but to believe in myself is a big accomplishment for me. Overall, the whole trip was a challenge- and I did it! And I would do it again in a heart beat. Moving foward I plan on surrounding myself with different people more often. I already started this but I’m also trying to get my family to go ‘full time green’. For example, instead of driving everywhere, I want us to walk more in the summer. Also to recycle more and to quit being so wasteful. I feel like a new person. I value new things, I feel different towards the world and I feel more fortunate. I want to thank World Savvy for giving me the opportunity of a life time, I’m forever grateful!

The AYLP Bangladesh experience was more than just an educational one; it allowed me to branch out from some of my norms and experience something that I had never encountered before. Not only did Bangladesh impact my academics, it gave me a fresher outlook on life. Being thousands of miles away from home with people who we had known for hours was a little hard, a little emotional, and socially challenging. Yet, it was paired with so many new and amazing opportunities to view the world in a different way. Bangladesh means so much to me and holds such a unique place in my heart. 

I have learned so much from the trip to Bangladesh. My increase in knowledge was not just based upon climate change, it was centered upon a culture. I learned so much about the language that over three hundred million people speak. I learned about different clothing items (some of which I probably would have never known about). I learned about the kindness that came from people who live in such a small country by the Indian Ocean. I also learned about how to effectively sustain energy and promote effective use of our climate and ecological systems. 

It is always hard for an individual to step into someone’s home who they have only met by email and sleep in their home without knowledge of what is happening around them. Yet, my host family was such an amazing one. They made me feel so welcome. It was definitely a challenge for me to leave my family in NY, especially during such a time in the year. It was challenging to leave my school for a month and miss several weeks of classes. It was also very hard not knowing what to expect regarding college applications and wifi Internet access in Bangladesh. It was definitely a little stressful to go and have so much going on back at home, but I would not have given up this experience for anything. No matter how many times I look back at it, I would never have opted to change my decision. 

All my actions have already changed in the weeks that I have been home. I keep talking about my experiences in Bangladesh, especially with my Bangladeshi friends. I always practice my Bangla. I always think about the ecological consequences of my actions. I also think about the people of Bangladesh. With every action that I take, I think about the people of the chars and those living in Dhaka and in the Sundurbans. I think how my actions will affect those people. I also think about the opportunities that those people have and how I can branch out in order to give those people the opportunities that they deserve. My experience was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I wouldn’t give it up for anything! 

Best, 

Daniel

 

Navigating Our Way Through the Traffic of Life: A Closing Ceremony Speech by Jacob Shawback

Good evening, my name is Jacob Shawback and I am a twelfth grade student from the state of Minnesota. Before I begin I would just like to give a few thanks. First and foremost I would like to thank the entire team at World Savvy, especially Laura and Daniel, for organizing such an amazing and life changing trip. I will truly cherish this experience for the rest of my life. I would also like to thank the educators James, Jay, Kate, Melanie, and Rose, for creating truly amazing learning adventures. Your support has helped make this opportunity truly amazing.  Also I would like to thank the staff at SPEED, Justin, Samia, and Mehruba, for playing an instrumental role in organizing 60 students. I am sure that wasn’t stress free. Of course I would like to thank the Staff at Scholastic for opening up their facilities to us and making us feel welcome. Last but certainly not least I would like to thank Fahmeed Kahn Sheehan and his entire family for opening up your home and your hearts. Your generosity and kindness has truly made this experience one of the best of my life, and I am happy to call you family.  

It is crazy to think that the exchange part of the program is coming to a close. In just three and a half I have seen and done things I will never forget. All the while with some pretty cool and amazing young leaders. Much of what I have learned here in Bangladesh I could have never learned in a classroom, or through the pages of a book. This is because much of the things I have learned are intangible, and could only be learned through experience. I have broadened my understanding of culture, grown as a leader, and possibly most profoundly I have witnessed and learned new perspectives on issues that we all share. Sometimes these new perspectives were eye-opening, sometimes they were challenging, and sometimes they were just humorous. For instance, the Bangladeshi perception of cold is very different that of a hearty Minnesotan such as myself. In fact I am pretty sure my host family thinks I am insane when I go out in a t-shirt, instead of bundling up in a jacket. Also I can remember many meals watching the U.S. students on my left practically melting, while the Bangladeshi’s on my right struggled to taste their food. One thing that definitely blew my mind however, was traffic in Dhaka.

Traffic in Bangladesh, although chaotic and intimidating, is a lot like life. The people battling the traffic daily here are going to the same destinations we go to in the United States: work, school, and home. Although the ways we get to our destinations and the obstacles we face along the way may be different. In the end we are all going to the same places. And sometimes taking a different road- or flying halfway across the world and then taking different roads as we did- can be an eye opening and enlightening experience.

Surprisingly, some of the most valuable lessons I have learned while on this trip have been while traveling through traffic. When I first arrived in Dhaka I was at a loss for words when it came to the traffic. The combination of driving on the left, constant merging, no pedestrian right of way, and the language barrier, resulted in a very eventful first car ride. In fact for the first few days I would just put my head into my bag and pray that we get to our destination safely. After a while however I forced my self to keep calm, by putting faith in the driver and believing that we would get to our destination safely.  By forcing myself to keep calm I was able to see what was going on around me; I was able to look out the window and see sights I will never forget. Keeping calm was the first lesson I learned in traffic.

The second lesson I learned I traffic was patience, which is always a good skill to have and was definitely tested in two-hour long traffic jams. During traffic jams I knew I couldn’t do anything about the situation, so I had to come up with a way to pass the time and make it passed the obstacle. I used the traffic jams as a time to step back and reflect. I not only reflected upon what I had done, but I was I was going to do, and what I wanted to do. This reflection time not only passed the time quickly, but it allowed me to clear my head and focus my thoughts. Patience was the second lesson I learned in traffic.

The final major lesson I learned in traffic, and possibly the most important lesson, was understanding. For the first few days I was amazed at how traffic just seemed to work out, and how we were able to make it to our destinations. I was stunned at how rickshaws, CNGs, cars, and buses weaved through traffic in an effort to reach their destinations. I later learned in Bangladesh drivers of all sorts of vehicles understand that in order for themselves to go anywhere, they have to make sure others can move too. In fact it is this general understanding that allows all sorts of people who are going in different directions the ability to reach their destinations.

All of these skills and maybe even mindsets are hard to develop. But once you have them, your eyes are more open to the things going on around you, and the destinations are easier to get to. As youth leaders we are all navigating through the traffic of life, trying to reach our various interesting and amazing destinations. Even though transit may be difficult at times if we use the skills learned in traffic, the destinations may be easier to get to. First, keeping calm will help us along our paths. At first we are going to see and face a lot of challenges along our journeys, but by keeping calm we can better explore the world around us. Second, patience will ease the struggles we face along the way. The fact is making change is hard, but by being patient we can reflect upon how far we’ve come and how far we can go. Finally, understanding will bring us, and our fellow citizens, to our destinations. As youth leaders we have seen that people from all walks of life share the same essential problems, and through understanding and even solidarity we can all make it to our destination.  

Although the roads we travel and the obstacles we have on these roads may be different, in the end we are all going to the same places. Sometimes taking different roads or exploring new perspectives can not only guide along on our journey, but also teach us a thing or two about ourselves.

Thank You