On Wednesday, October 24, I attended the Global Engagement International Film Night at the Gateway Film Center where I saw a showing of the movie “I Am Not A Witch”. This Academic event was very interesting to me. The movie told the story of a young girl in Zambia. For reasons unknown, one day she shows up in a village and quickly thereafter is sent to a witch camp. She sends only a short time at the camp before the owner of the camp begins to exploit her young “witch” abilities for his own personal profit. He parades her around everywhere from makeshift court rooms to daytime television programs. The movie contained very little dialogue compared to most movies. To me it almost had a similar construction to a documentary in the way it was filmed and edited. Many of the messages were communicated through character’s reactions to events or their lack of reaction. Instead of going in depth into the characters and their lives, the movie focused more heavily on the story over all and the main young girl. Because of this, the ending of the movie caused some disagreements between myself and others with whom I watched the movie. At the end of the movie, the main character, the young girl, dies. Due to the production of the film, it is not explicitly shown how she dies. Some thought she died of dehydration, some thought she tried to run away but was caught and killed, some thought she ended her own life. While the cause of her death is unclear, the impact of her death on the audience is very clear.

This movie changed my perspective by widening my view of the world. It is crazy to think that things like this still happen in the world. I remember learning about the Salem witch trials in class and wondering how any reasonable person could get so caught up in everything that they would kill a random innocent person with absolutely no proof. Throughout the movie I couldn’t help but compare it to the events that happened in Salem and throughout America. It is sort of hard to believe that over three-hundred years later, very similar events still happen in our world. These women, the “witches”, are forced into essentially slavery on little to no basis. They make their owners money by working on farms and also by acting as zoo animals where tourists pay to come see them. I found it really disturbing to see how others perceived these witches and the lack of humanity and compassion. The character that really makes me uncomfortable is the owner of the witch farm. I dislike him so much because he is so likable. He is so friendly and seems funny. Since he is so trustworthy, it makes it seem like what he is doing really isn’t that bad. That is where the danger comes in. The fact that he is able to convince us that his atrocious acts are not bad is truly something that has stuck with me from this movie.

On August 25, I attend Pay It Forward’s Annual Community Commitment. The day started in the morning at the Ohio Union and lasted a couple of hours. A group of IA scholars all went together which made it much more fun. We got divided into our groups and then loaded the buses. We were told we were going to a cat sanctuary for our destination and at first I was not very excited, considering I am allergic to cats. It ended up not being to bad though, allergy wise. Once we arrived at the Cat Welfare Association, the director gave us a quick tour and then divided us up and gave us jobs. Some people trimmed bushes outside that were covering their sign, some people folded or organized towels and news papers and another girl and I moved and organized cans of wet cat food. Once we were finished doing that, we were able to play with the cats and keep them company. There was one room called the shy cat room. In this room we attempted to familiarize these cats with people and to do this we either could simply talk to each other in that room or sometimes we would read books to the cats. We were able to play with all the cats in all the rooms, including the kittens!
Throughout this day, I experienced things I had never experienced before. Being allergic to cats, I rarely interact with them. I have two dogs and have always been a dog person. I never thought of cats to be very affectionate or loving. Despite this, spending most of the day with cats ended up being really fun. I know it seems like a stretch, but this experience truly showed me that stereotypes are not always completely accurate. Cats a typically associated with being cold and unfriendly, but while at the Cat Welfare Association, I met many cats who were super friendly and affectionate. There was one cat who was kept in a room separate from all the other cats because he didn’t get along with other cats very well. Despite this, he was very friendly with people and loved to cuddle with and be pet by them. Towards the end of our time at the Cat Welfare Association, we were given time to simply play with and pet any of the cats or kittens we wanted to. I got the play with the cat who was in his own room and he was so sweet and loving it was kind of hard to leave. Due to this experience, not only do I have a new found appreciation for cats and a better understanding of not judging stereotypes, but I also have made new friends. Since our group consisted of all International Affairs scholars, I was able to meet other students who were in the same group as me. With this event taking place one week into college, we all were a little nervous and unsure, considering we didn’t really know each other. Surprisingly enough, hanging out with cats with someone bonds you with them pretty quickly.