- Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three
sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
For my STEP Signature Project I went to Ghana through Buck-I-Serv and served at the Akumanyi Foundation’s Hope for Children Home, which is an orphanage and school for local children. I stayed for about two weeks living in a volunteer house beside the orphanage with a group of 14 other students and two trip advisors, and our activities that filled our time included taking part in daily chores around the orphanage, helping the children in school, playing with children, and more. I learned so much about different ways of life, cultures, religions, beliefs, and even more about kindness, hard work, generosity, and hospitality from all of the amazing people I met during this experience.
- What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the
world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or
two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
My understanding of myself, my assumptions, as well as my view of the world were changed while completing my STEP Signature Project. Going into this project, I imagined I would be teaching the children I would be meeting at the Hope for Children Home in Ghana, that I would be able to help them learn in school, help them with their chores, that I could demonstrate various virtues and be a good role model for them during my time with them. My understanding of myself was that I was more knowledgeable in those areas than the children I would be meeting during this experience, but quite the opposite was true. Rather than being able to make a huge impact on these children and teach them immense amounts, I learned more than I ever could have imagined from them. These children changed my understanding of myself vastly by demonstrating true kindness, selflessness, generosity, hard work, perseverance, optimism, determination. I quickly realized that the experience would result from me learning from the children, children’s home staff, and other people I met in Ghana rather than the other way around. This realization and what I learned changed my understanding of myself and my assumptions of myself in that it made me realize what I thought I knew about myself in terms of how I encompass these various characteristics and values was not completely accurate, and I actually have a lot of room to grow and learn in these areas that I saw in the people I met during my project.
My understanding of my assumptions and view of the world were also changed while completing my STEP project. I had certain assumptions about traveling to Ghana before I arrived, mainly related to it not being as wealthy or developed as the US. This was in part true, Ghana as a country is less developed than the US in terms of technology, access to clean and safe drinking water, access to education, and more. It is also not as wealthy as the US. But I think the country is so much more than those statements, and I realized the harm and negative effects of having that initial mindset or perspective when traveling to new countries. Being in Ghana made me appreciate the wonderful culture, the amazing people and how they live their lives, and it made me realize that the way things are done in the US are not “right” or “better” than Ghana, just different, as a result of several factors mentioned. This transformation of my assumptions made my view of the world change as well, because I now have a better understanding and mindset when it comes to learning about new cultures, ways of life, traditions, and so on. I am now more open minded and receptive to different lifestyles, and I am able to understand that just because something is different from how I know it, doesn’t mean it is wrong or incorrect. I now appreciate differences in culture and lifestyle more and am able to better see how beautiful and wonderful the differences among groups of people in various countries are, which I will apply to future traveling and in general when I am exposed to other cultures.
- What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature
Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those
affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences
completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
The transformation of my understanding of myself resulted mainly from the relationships I developed and formed during my STEP Signature Project. I met a group of truly amazing people at the Hope for Children Home when I traveled to Ghana. Our Buck-I-Serv group was truly blessed with amazing leaders and guides who helped us get from the airport to the orphanage and guided us every step of the way, teaching us the culture, history, and various lifestyles of Ghana. Their kindness and patience were admirable and I realized how I could improve my own kindness and patience from meeting them and spending time with them over the two week long trip, changing my understanding of myself.
The most impactful relationships I developed that transformed my understanding of myself were those I formed with the children who lived and/or went to school at the children’s home. As I previously mentioned, I imagined that I would be able to offer guidance and teaching for these children after spending time with them, but in actuality I was on the receiving end of the guidance and teaching. The children I met brushed dirt off of my clothes when I got dirty, they fixed every hair that was out of place on my head as soon as they saw me, they showed me how to complete chores correctly, such as sweeping or doing laundry, or cooking. They laughed with me and played with me for hours and hours, teaching me games they play. They taught me words in their language and practiced their English with me. I truly loved spending time with these children, and what they taught me and how that led to a transformation of my understanding of myself is something I am so grateful for and thank them endlessly for.
The transformation of my assumptions and views of the world mainly resulted from seeing the country of Ghana myself with my own eyes, as well as learning about ways of life and cultures through various activities and events that I took part in during my project. Being in Ghana, I was able to see towns, cities, and people that did reflect the fact that the country is poorer and underdeveloped compared to a first world country like the US. For instance, the lack of access to clean water was evident, I saw younger people working rather than going to school, infrastructure was very underdeveloped from what I saw. But, despite all of these things, the people I met in Ghana were all very hard working, they did not complain, they were generally very happy people who were kind to me and showed me how they went about their days despite their lack of resources (such as cooking, for example). This changed my assumptions and view of the world because I was able to see how people adapt and live their lives in certain circumstances, and that they are not always suffering or struggling or upset about their situation, like I had expected.
I realized that just because certain things, like cleaning or cooking for instance, are done in a different way than what I am familiar with, doesn’t mean it needs to change or be better. Activities during my project that I took part in that helped me realize this include helping do chores around the orphanage. For instance, I helped cook meals for the children, and at the orphanage the staff had a big pot on the ground on top of a fire, and they would cook meals like rice and beans in this big pot on the ground, outside. This is something I had never seen before and had never experienced living in the US. But this was normal for the people I met at the orphanage, and they were not inconvenienced at all by this and did not complain about wanting a different kitchen for example, because that was all they knew. Because of the lack of resources that the orphanage had, that was how they had to cook food for the children, so my assumptions in relation to this situation among others during my trip to Ghana were correct in that I had assumed people in Ghana were less wealthy and that their lifestyle would reflect that. But my assumptions were transformed because I didn’t realize that these people were content with this lifestyle and were able to update efficiently to their circumstances. Just because they were cooking in a way that not many people in the US or other parts of the world would do does not mean that they were doing it wrong or that they needed to change, or that they wanted to do it a different way. This impacted my view of the world in that it made me appreciate the beauty of differences in culture and lifestyles more.
- Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or
two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your
academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.
The changes and transformations that occurred as a result of my STEP project are very significant and valuable to my life. My understanding of myself changed in that I began my trip thinking I would be teaching and guiding the children I met at the orphanage, but in actuality I learned much more from them than they learned from me. As mentioned, I learned kindness, determination, perseverance, hard work, generosity, and more from the relationships I formed with the people I met in Ghana, and this along with me realizing that I had a lot to learn in those areas is very significant to my life, because these are important qualities to me. I was able to improve these qualities in myself through learning from the people I met during my project, and now I can apply them to my life after coming back from Ghana. Academically, I can apply the hard work and determination that I learned about when it comes to succeeding in my courses and getting my degree. Personally, I will apply the kindness and generosity I learned to my relationships and how I treat other people. Professionally, I will apply the perseverance I learned to achieving my goals and future plans of becoming a successful nurse.
The transformation of my assumptions and view of the world, which went from thinking Ghana would be more poor and underdeveloped, to understanding that although this is true, people are still happy and content with their ways of life often times and don’t feel the need to change, is very important and valuable to me as well. This change relates to my academic and professional goals and future plans as a nurse because I will encounter people from all different backgrounds and cultures, and I feel that from my project I now have a better understanding and appreciation of differences among people, and an ability to be nonjudgmental and accepting of those differences, which I think will make me a better nurse. Personally, I am always striving to be more accepting and open minded to others who have different backgrounds and cultures than me, so my transformation relates to me personally in this way as well.
