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Last semester, Barbara Piperata was a guest speaker at a community International Affairs Scholars meeting and talked about there research work concerning the link between food insecurity and mental health, especially the mental health of women in Latin America. The talk interested me a lot, as I have never deeply thought about how food insecurity could affect mental health, and decided to attend one of her talks again for a Science Sunday hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences. Although her presentation included much of the same information she presented to the Scholars group, I was reminded how important this topic is, and learned a little more based off of the questions others asked her.

Piperata started off by defining food security, which “exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. Food insecurity when this statement is not the case, and there is currently a rise in food insecurity with 26% of the world population in this position, which equates to about 2 billion people. 98% of these people live in LMIC (Lower-Middle Income Countries), and women and children are most at risk. When food needs are not met, there are multiple impacts, such as increased risk for chronic diseases, increased risk for negative pregnancy outcomes, and increased healthcare costs. The main impact that Piperata focused on was increased negative health impacts, and this is important to her because “people who are not mentally healthy cannot contribute to society productively.”

She conducted research on this topic in Leon, Nicaragua, the second largest city and home of the largest university of the country. She explored these questions:

• Is food insecurity associated with poor mental health among Nicaraguan mothers? Does social support influence this relationship?
• How does food insecurity undermine maternal mental health?

Piperata focused on 434 households, and gave each one two questionnaires on food accessibility and mental health. From these questionnaires, she found that 25% were food secure, 50% were low insecure, and 25% were high insecure. She also observed participants and held six focus groups, each of 45 women. From all of this data, she found that women in mildly insecure households have a 43% higher rate of mental distress, and women in moderately/severe insecure households are 2x as likely to have anxiety and/or depression. She also found that having a social network was associated with reduced mental illness, but did not act as a buffer to food insecurity. The spouse was of no help, as the husband is often out working and does not see the kind of distress food insecurity causes in women. The only factor that proved to have a large and significant effect on reducing mental illness in women was having parental help. This help also served as a buffer, as parents feel more responsible to help their children in times of trouble.

From the focus groups, she found three main themes as well. The first was “La lucha,” or “the struggle,” as food insecurity is a chronic threat that never seems to stop and constantly gnaws at the women. This gnawing can have sever effects over time. The second theme was that there is a stigma attached to not being able to provide for their families. Because of this stigma, women socially isolate themselves and feel like they cannot share their struggles because they may be made fun for it. Tapping into their social networks undermines their mental wellbeing in the long term, as they feel like a failure for not being able to provide themselves. The third theme was that women have a role identity and consistently feel like they are unable to fill it when they cannot provide. Their highest priority is being a mother, and they often blame themselves for not fulfilling this role, even though there are many other factors that limit their ability to fulfill this role such as not being paid enough.

I think that all of the information at Piperata brought up is important, even though the women she focused on in her research live in a different part of the world. There are 40 million people in the U.S. who are food insecure, and 16.5% oof people in Franklin County don’t know where their next meal will come from or do not have the ability to get food. There are people all around the world and in our own region struggling with these issues, and ultimately suffering far more than physical pain and distress. Food is a basic necessity, and there should be ways for everyone around the world to have access to it, as in the U.S. alone a high percentage of food goes unused anyway. Someone asked Piperata how to more effectively alleviate food insecurity, and she posed the answer that we simply pay people what they deserve.

I think that this answer shows that solving the issue of food insecurity goes beyond simply making sure there are markets or grocery stores at which to buy food; the solution will come from systematic change in wages and opportunity. It will take advocacy from everyone, not just those who themselves are food insecure, to start to solve this problem. It may take many steps to achieve a world where no one goes hungry and no one worries about where they will get food, but I believe there are small goals to accomplish to be on our way.

A couple weeks ago, I attended a TEDxOSU Salon called “What on Earth?”, an intimate TED talk about our relationship with nature, as well as the lessons we can learn from it. There were two student speakers, each with different insights on life based off of lessons they learned in nature. There were two speakers, and the first one recounted her trip on the Appalachian Trail one summer, and how it is okay to embrace the parts of an experience that do not go as planned, or are not enjoyable at all.

The second speaker intrigued me the most; she talked about how our environments shape who we are, and contribute to the chemical makeup of our bodies. She lead us through a breathing exercise to better understand the biological processes our bodies go through to take in air and to integrate the elements within the air into our system. She told us that every few years, our bodies have a completely different physical makeup than it did the years before because of the air we breathe and environments in which we live.

Although I took anatomy and know how the lungs work, I was struck by this new perspective of breathing, and how much it affects ourselves has human beings. After this exercise, she told us a bit about the makeup of her own body, saying that she was made up of the mountain air in Utah where she grew up, as well as polluted air that became stuck in the valley in her hometown. During and after her talk, I thought more deeply about the environments I have occupied and in which I have lived. I come from Cincinnati, from the Queen City on the Ohio River, city of the Seven Hills amongst city and neighborhood life. With the stories and memories that accompany these spaces of which I am so fond, I also thought about the environmental issues we have today that affect people like the speaker, as she lived in an environment that was polluted for some time.

In the past few years, I have thought a lot about our environmental issues that the world faces. It is not simply a singular country’s problem; it is a problem all of us must work on to solve together, and I think that is where International Affairs comes in. Policies regarding environmental protections are instrumental in keeping our earth clean and sustainable for generations to come. These policies have to do with big companies and manufacturing, a large cause of pollution, and could greatly impact the wellbeing of our earth for the better. Another thing we as individuals can do is to analyze our own habits regarding consumption, travel, and diet. We can focus on how much plastic we are using, what we are eating, how we travel, and how to implement changes in our own lives. Even if these changes may seem insignificant or small, they contribute to a larger cause of keeping the earth healthy and beautiful for years to come.

To get back into the IA movie showings, I attended the screening of “American Factory,” a documentary that tells the story of a GM plant that was turned into a Chinese manufacturing company. The building itself is located in Dayton, Ohio, a city very close to my own, Cincinnati.

In 2008, GM closed the doors on this plant due to the recession that affected many American families and left 2,000 families without jobs in Dayton. A Chinese company named Fuyao took the building space over with a goal to prosper in the United States.  This company manufactures glass for automobiles. The company hired about 1,000 Americans when it first opened its doors on U.S. ground, and also brought over a number of Chinese workers to be managers and teach new employees how to work machinery. The rest of the documentary set out to recount the events that followed this merge of the U.S. and China in one single company, Fuyao Glass America.

The issues that arose throughout the movie most often had to do with cultural differences. Near the beginning, the chairman and founder of Fuyao flew to America to see the building and complained that some things were not correct or how he wanted them to be. For instance, he wanted the fire alarm to be moved in order to put artwork on the walls of one of the lobby areas. He did not seem to understand that it was by regulation and law that the alarm was placed on the wall how it was, and this was a common theme later as well. The Chinese did not seem to understand the concern for safety that the Americans in the company had. Manufacturing glass requires employees to be near very hot furnaces near 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is dangerous for humans after prolonged exposure. American workers continuously felt as though the Chinese were pushing them too hard and only telling them what to do without actually telling them why.

In another part of the documentary, Fuyao sent some of the American workers to China to see a Chinese Fuyao building. The cultural differences were very obvious during this visit; the Chinese workers worked much faster than the ones in America, they were under much more pressure, and were only able to see their families every so often. One Chinese supervisor explained that they only get 1-2 days off of work a month and work 12 hour shifts, while Americans get weekends (about 8 days a month) and only have to work about 8 hours.

I think that this fact really emphasizes the cultural difference between Americans and the Chinese in regards to how we view our work lives. The Chinese see the point to living as work, while Americans view life as more than work; there is something more to living. I do not think that the employees properly understood this difference, and it caused many problems within the company as seen in the movie, such as when a certain number of American workers wanted to form a union. The Chinese did not want this to happen, as they saw unions as a danger to the wellbeing of their company. If their employees created a union, there would be a chance that they could use the power of numbers to rise up against the people in charge of a company. Instead, they emphasize that each employee has a voice, and that they value the direct connection between the employer and the employee.

For example, the Chinese put on a New Years party for the company as a whole in China in which to participate together to celebrate. This can be seen as a way to show that everyone is equal and valued, for they are invited to partake in the celebrations. The party included food, dance performances, songs (some of which praised the glory of Fuyao as a company), and what even appeared to be a group wedding between multiple couples. However, this can also relate to the point that work and life are one in the Chinese culture, as the company is celebrating a national holiday together as a “family.”

Throughout this movie and analyzing the cultural differences that became clear in the documentary, I kept thinking about how useful a cultural fluency training would have been for both the American and Chinese employees. I went through this fluency training last year, and it was very helpful to learn about how other cultures view parts of life such as work, leisure time, and respecting elders. I wonder how many issues could have been resolved, or even nonexistent, if only the company pursued to do a formal and rigorous cultural training at the beginning of the merge. I think that this idea could be extended to other companies with employees from different countries and cultures. Why not invest in the well-being of your company by having people go through training in order to understand how to work together?

Although there were many issues covered in this film, one man found friends within the Chinese community at the company. Rob, an American employee, connected with the Chinese man who was teaching him how to use some of the machinery named Wong. Rob continuously expressed his gratitude for all of the things Wong taught him, and referred to the Chinese he worked with as his brothers because he would do anything for them. He even invited 13 Chinese employees, including Wong, over to his house for Thanksgiving. His experience was hopeful, for there is always the chance to work with others and get to know them; it just takes mutual understanding and an openness to talk about each other’s cultural differences.

As per the tradition I started for myself last year, I participated in Community Commitment Day the first full weekend of the autumn semester here at Ohio State. My friends and I woke up early that Saturday morning to get to the Union with our fellow IA members, and we were assigned to the Clintonville Community Resource Center.

We were greeted by a man who volunteered at the center named Guy. He explained to us that there are “Villages” all over the country that are formed by elderly people and supporting communities. These senior citizens who form the Villages do not want to go into retirement homes or nursing centers, but need extra support to stay in their own homes. Guy himself leads tai chi classes for members of the Village linked to the Resource Center. I loved the idea of a Village; my grandpa himself was not inclined to move out of his home even though he was 96 years old, and had enough support to live by himself. A Village is the perfect balance for individual autonomy and support from a special community, and it was very cool to be a part of that support.

We were split up into groups and sent to different houses of members of the Village to perform yard work. I was part of a group with a few other friends that went to a house not far from the center. The home is owned by a very elderly couple, and the backyard was covered in weeds; I could not imagine the last time anyone had done yard work at this house, it must have been decades. We each picked a tool to start pulling weeds and went to work.

We ended up working for at least two hours at this house, and I am very proud of the work we accomplished in that little time. The work was very physical, but satisfying to complete; we cleared at least two thirds of the back yard. It was a very good teamwork activity for the group, as most of us did not already know each other. We talked and got to know each other a bit while we pulled weeds, and communication was key when it came to executing the task.

I liked this activity because of the community that we were able to help. As college students, we are constantly surrounded by people our own age, aside from our professors. The elderly community is not very present in our everyday lives at OSU, even though I love to work with that community, and it was refreshing to do something different for Community Commitment Day. Although we did not get to speak with the members of the Village themselves very much, it was rewarding to do much needed work for them and give them support.

I think that the idea of a Village can extend to other communities of which we are a part. As members of smaller communities, whether they be on campus or at home, or of the larger global community, we each have a responsibility to support one another in big and small ways. I think that this day was a great example of helping our neighbors, and reminded me to keep looking for ways I can do that in my daily life, as well as encourage others to do so as well.

My week started out with going to the movie night for IA on Monday night. We watched Period. End of Sentence., an Oscar winning half hour documentary. The film highlighted the efforts to destigmatize menstruation in India. The documentary also told the story of individuals creating their own system to create high quality pads and sell them to women who need them.

I found this movie interesting because of the tenacity and perseverance of the people involved in the small pad company. I loved hearing their personal stories, especially the dreams of the woman who wanted to be a police officer after she moved on from making pads. I was humbled by this documentary because I live in a country where talking about menstruation is more accepted; most of the men who were interviewed in the movie did not even know what a period was. It takes a lot of courage for these women (and men!) to start creating change right where they live, and I think this is a great example of starting small to create a large impact. Perhaps in a few years we will see an even greater change in the destigmatization of periods and menstruation in India and other countries.

The topic of the documentary was not foreign to me; I learned about this stigma of periods and menstruation when I was a member of a Girl Up group in junior high. As I have mentioned in a previous post regarding the movie I Am Not a Witch, Girl Up is a UN sanctioned organization for building solidarity between girls and to promote women’s education, especially in third world countries. I could not stop thinking about this group during this movie because it was the first place I learned that girls miss and drop out of school due to periods, something they cannot control.

This idea stuck with me closely as a seventh and eighth grader for I had never even considered a period causing me to drop out of school entirely, and I still think about it when I encounter a documentary such as Period. End of Sentence. I have always felt connected to this cause since I knew it existed; I have always been one to love school and to learn and I could not imagine having something so uncontrollable as a period hold me back from getting an education. My Girl Up group ultimately created hand-crafted goods, such as ornaments and glass jewelry, and sold them to raise money for a girls’ school in Tanzania. My art teacher, who was also our group leader, travelled to Tanzania herself to see the school and meet the girls we were helping. Although we did this project a few years ago, I think I am still discovering what I can do with my skills and knowledge to further improve this situation for which I have a passion as a college student and young adult. I know that there are just opportunities waiting for me here at OSU to put these skills to work!

I watched this video when I was still in Girl Up about what it is like for a young girl to be living in poverty without an education and how the solution could be fixed. The solution presented is not easy; it would require a lot of radical changes including cultural feelings about women’s abilities and how to enroll many more girls into school. However, I found this video empowering and hopeful (I have shared it with so many other people in my life), and we always have room to learn and improve our situation right now. I think my generation has a lot of power to make a large difference in this world in our lifetimes, and this could be one of them.

 

This past Wednesday, I participated in a Global Fluency Training hosted by Brad Gosche of the Columbus Council of World Affairs. I did not know quite to expect at the beginning, but I decided to sign up because I believe that I can take any of my experiences apply them to whatever I do to make the world a better place or gain more understanding. The training was two hours, and it was definitely worth it to go.

We started the time with talking about what global fluency and culture are really about so we would have a basis to build on for the rest of the evening. We also talked about the differences between stereotypes and generalizations. These are two things I always seemed to understand, but this was the first time I really defined both of them and looked at them together to see how they are different. It was interesting to dive deeper into concepts and terms with which I have grown to understand.

Brad then instructed us to listen to an audio of a story and attempt to answer questions on a paper to which he provided us. We listened to the entirety of the audio and there was not one person in the room who could answer any of the questions we had been given because none of us understood the story at all. It was an anxiety producing experience to listen to a recording where I could understand a word here or there, such as “drought” or “and,” yet not understand what the passage was about in its entirety. Brad told us that we had listened to the opening section of the Caterbury Tales, and that everything we had heard was in fact Old English.

The exercise was meant to help us better understand how ESL students experienced school every single day when English was not their first language. This exercise has stuck with me, even days after the training, because I cannot imagine going through school daily like that and gain any knowledge or understanding from lessons. Even if one could get any information, it is an anxious and frustrating position in which to be. I thought of my mentee, who is an ESL student, and felt as though I could finally understand a little bit what she and other students like her experience at school.

One of the most interesting parts to me during this training was when Brad introduced the Hofstede model for comparing cultures. It was the first time I had seen and worked with this model, and we started with learning about the six dimensions: power distance; individualism vs. collectivism; masculinity vs. femininity; uncertainty avoidance; long vs. short term orientation; and indulgence vs. restraint. The descriptions of these categories included some traits that I already somewhat understood, such as power distance (the amount of respect given to one who is higher up in status than you), especially when it came to Asian countries because of my exchange trip to China five years ago. However, there were some aspects that I never thought of as a category that could be measured and compared with other countries, such as long and short term orientation. As we talked about the dimensions, it was interesting to me that there we six aspects to each culture or country that was shared with every other culture worldwide. Are there other categories we could add?

We then took our knowledge of the dimensions and of our own country and attempted to measure the United States on this model. I had never really thought about the culture of the United States in the depth that was required for this activity, and my partner and I ended up being right on a few of the categories, including power distance and individuality. After looking at the United States on this model, we compared it to the model of another country. It was interesting and eye-opening  to analyze where the small and large differences were between the countries.

By the end of the training, we had explored a few different activities to take with us to better understand how to interact with others from other countries and cultures. I took a lot away from this event, and am incredibly glad I attended. Interacting with people who are different than us takes some work and research, it requires some give and take. I feel more ready to go out into the world and apply what I have learned at the training, and have discovered I am more interested in continuing to learn about and practice these methods of better interacting with those who are from a different culture than myself.

While many students were excited for the three day weekend  because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I didn’t give myself a day off. I was not working solely on schoolwork, but decided to spend my time serving others Friday-Monday almost nonstop.

My biggest project for the weekend was to help complete a three wall mural in four days at Columbus Global Academy, a two-year school for refugee and immigrant children of many ages to become accustomed to American and school life. I had worked at this school before on another mural through CRIS, Community Refugee and Immigration Services, in December. The mural last semester was no where near the size of the mural I helped to complete last weekend, and it was a very daunting and intimidating yet exciting task to tackle. The walls are located in a small gym behind the larger gym that is home to the basketball court. This smaller gym will serve to be a space where students will be able to go when they would like to take a break or let off some steam, especially those with PTSD. It will serve to be a space for meditation and rest, as well as a space for games and congregation with friends.

The idea behind our design was focused on calming colors and imaginative images, along with incorporating the concept of a “Global Gym,” the name of the space itself. One of the smaller walls includes the image of a map on a scroll, each of the islands including landmarks from many different parts of the world. This idea was backed by the fact that the school is very diverse in cultures and backgrounds, and that should be reflected in the artwork; I loved thinking that students might be able to find something from their home country on this wall.

The largest middle wall includes the image of an octopus and a ship voyaging across the sea in the daytime. This is where the fantastical aspect of the mural starts to come through. I love the metaphor of voyaging across the sea, and the idea that we are all on a journey but we can be on that journey together. I think that is a very strong idea in the purpose of the gym because it is supposed to be a safe space for students to go and get what they need during their own personal journey of dealing with struggles as well as starting anew in the U.S.

The corner between the second and third walls includes a detailed castle, the pinnacle of the fantastical theme of the mural. Perhaps it can serve to spur the imaginations of students who walk into this space and to get their minds off some of the struggles they may be facing in the outside world. The last wall is a night scene of a village near the castle. There are mountains continuing to the right, and the fireworks above the village provide a sense of celebration and color.

This was one of the most demanding projects I have ever done in four days, but somehow we completed it and I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment sitting there looking at it in my paint covered clothes. I couldn’t help thinking about how this mural would be seen by many, many students, now and in the future, as they work through their own journeys and problems.

Over the four days I was at the school working, I witnessed cooperation between many people to complete this massive task of painting 855 square feet of the walls. There were many rotations of groups ready to help us, and the abilities to listen to and trust each other were crucial in this project. I think these abilities and skills would make the world a better place if it were applied to any activity that requires different groups of people to work together, especially on the international level. In the end, we are focused on helping other people and looking out for them, as we were interested in helping the refugee and immigrant students in this project, but this idea can be taken even farther to better relations with other people, especially those who are different than us.

I am honored that I could be a part of this mural, seeing it from start to finish, and I am hopeful about the future of my involvement in the Columbus community, especially through CRIS. Below are pictures from the process and finished product of the mural.

 

Continuing in my love for movies, this month I watched the documentary “Human Flow” directed by artist Ai Weiwei. The premise of the movie was an overview about human migrations in multiple parts of the world. As I have never had the experience of being an immigrant or migrant, I knew that this would be an interesting and educational film to watch.

The movie was very artistic in execution, which makes sense because Ai Weiwei is a contemporary artist. The film was long and drawn out, and was often comprised of only visuals with silence or background music. The scenes where people were interviewed were kept short and were sandwiched between long periods of silence and slow visuals; I think that Weiwei chose to do this so that we, the viewers, would focus on the people and landscapes that were depicted. The technique allowed us to take in the situations, and to form a deeper connection with the scenes at which we were looking. It was very different from a typical Hollywood blockbuster action movie, where it is hard to see the details of the shots because they are moving so fast. The slowness of the scenes provided an opportunity for me to focus on all of the details of the shots, and I think it allowed me to reflect more deeply what migrants, immigrants, and refugees go through.

One of the images that has stayed with me since watching the film is the scene where African refugees are traveling by boat to reach the coast of Greece. I could not even comprehend the very dangerous journey they had to make to get to Europe; there were hundreds of people on this boat, and they were so close together. I cannot imagine the relief they must have felt when they walked on dry land after the voyage. It was powerful when they started singing their praise after reaching Greece; despite their struggles, they still made an effort to celebrate their accomplishment. This part got me thinking more philosophically about what it means to be human and to struggle and to triumph. These are things I do not usually contemplate, and it was interesting to have some self-reflection while watching the movie.

Although they were generally brief, I also enjoyed the firsthand interviews of people who actually lived in and worked with communities of immigrants and refugees during their journeys. I was especially shocked during the interviews during the scenes of the refugee camp near the border of one of the European countries. The interviewees talked of sicknesses and hardships that come with living in a camp. Some of these included having no bathrooms (which causes diseases), weather such as rain, and walking long distances to acquire water. I think that the visuals were paired very well with the information from the interviews, and the images have stayed with me even for weeks.

I am reminded when looking at the news today that the scenes I witnessed in the movie are not just in the past or a one-time instance; they are happening all the time, and depict the reality for many immigrants, refugees, and migrants. For example, I saw images from the U.S.-Mexico border where the “caravan” (as quoted by President Trump) reached the barrier around the time I watched this movie. Those immigrants are living similar situations as other immigrants in different parts of the world. They also have to deal with the fact that the borders will be closed to immigrants sometimes, and that it is difficult to make that journey. I realized what a privilege I have living in a house with a family and access to clean water and a bathroom, and that people like those who were in the film should not have to be living the way they do. I think that it is our job as human beings to help one another, and I can only hope to continue to educate myself and others about this international and timely issue.

Since taking a film class my senior year of high school, I have been very interested in film and the different ways in which it can tell a story or cause people to think a little bit more upon a certain subject. On October 24, I went to the Gateway Film Center to watch a screening of a new movie called “I Am Not A Witch” and I have not been able to stop thinking about it this past week. The film is about a young girl in a Zambian village who is accused of being a witch, and is therefore sent to a witch camp where is attached to a white ribbon to keep her from flying away. She is given a choice: remain a witch tethered to her ribbon spool, or cut the ribbon and become a goat at risk for being slaughtered and eaten.

The premise off the movie itself is unlike anything I have ever experienced or watched before, and I was very curious what kind of messages this film would have. One of the first things that struck me about this movie is the cinematography. There are many strong artistic choices to leave the characters silent in some scenes and for viewers to think upon what is happening to them. This is especially true when the women are sitting quietly at the witch camp while tourists walk by and take pictures of them. I was also struck by the amount of women actresses present in the story. I think that this was an interesting and strong idea by the director in order to emphasize the injustices and struggles women face everyday.

One of the main motifs of the movie is the image of white ribbons, the mechanism to hold the witches down from flying away and killing people. It was beautiful, powerful, yet sad theme throughout the story. The idea of a ribbon holding a woman down was a strong choice to visually depict struggles that modern day women endure every day. The visuals reminded me of the themes of human trafficking and women’s oppression, two poignant issues in our world today. The ribbons both restrict the women from having too much freedom, as well as hold them captive. These themes were especially strong in my mind (and still are) because the main character, Shula, was played by a young girl. The story was more emotional and heartbreaking knowing that this child was enduring scorn and oppression throughout.

This film reminded me of the outside world and problems others are facing; it is easy for us college students to become so consumed by our own studies and problems that we forget there are others out in the world facing different kind of issues. I used to be in a Girl Up group, one of many groups part of an organization sanctioned by the UN for the strengthening of solidarity between women and to promote women’s education, especially in third world countries. It is of my all-time favorite organizations I have ever been a part of, and I learned so much about the impact education for women can have. This movie, although the motifs and characters did not directly confront these ideas, reminded me how important the subjects of girls’ education and even human trafficking are to me, and I cannot wait to find ways to continue to fight related injustices here at Ohio State.

During my first weekend of college, I attended Community Commitment Day. I heard about it through the International Affairs weekly email and was compelled to go because the church in which I grew up has a very similar annual event. My church hosts “Mission: Possible!”, an event where small groups are sent out into the community to different organizations and locations to do service activities and projects. Through Mission: Possible!, I have been able to help organizations such as Childhood Food Solutions, a non-profit that works to provide food to children in impoverished zip codes in Cincinnati.

For Community Commitment Day, I was placed in a small group that went to Good Will in Hilliard, about twenty minutes away from campus. When we arrived, we were given the task of going through the clothes in the store and taking out garments with certain tag colors. Afterwards, we sorted through donated books and placed them on the shelves to which they belonged. It was somewhat tiring work, and somewhat repetitive, but it was great to be able to work alongside other people and get to know them as the time progressed. It felt good to know a few more names since I was struggling with my transition to college. I didn’t think I would have too much trouble making friends and being social, I thought that the college experience would come easily to me because I had been anticipating the change for so long, but the transition was more difficult than I could imagine.

After finishing our tasks at Goodwill, we answered some questions together as a group. We all expressed that it was not the most fun volunteer activity we have ever done, but felt that we did make a difference, even just for a day. Our work made it possible for the employees of that Goodwill to save time because they did not have to sort the clothes. Instead, they could start other tasks for the day or better attend to the customers at that location.

This event reminded me how much service and volunteer events are a part of my life. In high school, I did volunteer work weekly. For example, I would go to Third Presbyterian Church on the west side of Cincinnati to tutor students in elementary school. It was a regular event I enjoyed, and I loved getting to know the kids I worked with. Events like that allowed me to make connections with new people different from myself, and to offer my gifts to the community. Community Commitment Day was a one-time event for the year, but I longed for something more regular and consistent.

Following this event, I pushed myself to further look for opportunities to participate in service or volunteer work. I signed up to be a mentor through Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), and I should soon be assigned to a refugee student mentee. I am very excited for the opportunity to meet them, and I cannot wait to continue volunteering at Ohio State.