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A lesson in perspective

A “preschool” class in Los Galpones.

“A global citizen is someone who is aware of and understands the wider world – and their place in it. They take an active role in their community, and work with others to make our planet more equal, fair and sustainable” (OXFAM).

I grew up in a college town – Athens, Ohio – and I thought, for much of my growing up, that my circumstances were just about the same as everyone else. I would’ve told you I knew what diversity was because I had peers who were from other countries, children of visiting professors here for a year while their parents taught at Ohio University. I would’ve told you I knew what privilege was and that, although I was privileged to have been born into the family I was a part of, that I wasn’t that much better off than anyone else – after all, I did have to pay for my own gas for the car I got when I turned 16.

Perspective is an elusive trait – you don’t know you’re lacking perspective until you’ve gained some.

My junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to travel to Honduras and volunteer at an orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS – they either had the disease themselves, or lost their parents to it, and often, both. My passion for the Spanish language and my desire to pursue a career in healthcare spurred my interest in the trip and I still sponsor a child at the orphanage. The piece of perspective I gained on this trip is that happiness is independent of circumstance; that there is no external factor that is responsible for my outlook, mood, and overall well-being – that I alone choose my joy. Never before had I seen such pure love, happiness, and positivity than watching the children at Montaña de Luz play a game of fútbol, blissfully unperturbed by their lot in life.

Following my senior year of high school, I took my desire to work in a Spanish speaking population one step further, and spent five weeks living with a host family in Argentina. We worked in Los Galpones, which translates to “the sheds” and is a homeless community built in the town dump. We spent our days bringing lunches and clean water and teaching reading, writing, and math classes to the children who lived there. Again, I saw joy in what was, to me, an unexpected place. I also saw, despite the general positive outlook, a great need for basic necessities – clean water, sturdy shoes, education, and healthcare. I recall feeling struck by an overwhelming sense of guilt while reading with one of the girls living there. She was twelve years old and I, an eighteen-year-old girl from Ohio, could read Spanish better than she could not because I was somehow better or smarter than she was, but because I had opportunity handed to me on a silver platter to not only read books in my own native tongue, but to learn to read and write and speak in a second language. I gave her the book and she told me it was the first she had ever owned. My lesson in perspective came with a heaping side of humility.

I chose to embark on this journey to Norway because I have learned a simple truth – I will never be done learning. I am seeking an opportunity to continue my education, both in and out of the classroom, as I slowly, painfully, become a global citizen. I desire to play a role in creating a more equitable, fair, and sustainable world and to do so, I need to humbly admit that I know very little, but I am always willing and ready to learn.

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/who-we-are/what-is-global-citizenship