 PCC English/Humanities instructor Marguerite Parker, right, poses with a jewelry vendor on the beach of Toubab Dialaw, a rustic resort frequented by American and European travelers. |
WINTERVILLE�Pitt Community College instructor Marguerite Parker returned from Senegal recently after she and 34 other Tar Heel educators spent two weeks gaining a better understanding of the country�s educational system and culture. Parker�s journey to the West African nation occurred in June and was sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill�s World View program. Each year, World View provides state educators with a closer look at education abroad. "What World View is doing is absolutely priceless,� says Parker. �The program�in conjunction with the Global Education Initiative�is opening the channels of communication for the exchange of ideas between cultures. (It) provides an opportunity to broaden our perspectives as educators and equips us with first-hand experiences that will enable us to relate the commonalities rather than the differences between nations to our students.� In preparation for their trip, Parker and her fellow travelers attended a two-day seminar on �Understanding Contemporary Africa.� The program provided the group with valuable information for their overseas visit, though, as Parker said, nothing could have fully prepared them for the experience of actually being in West Africa. �I always had a feeling that Africa was not one of those places one could be satisfied only reading about or seeing on television, so this opportunity through World View was invaluable,� Parker said. �� This trip was certainly one of the highlights of my life.� During their visit, the North Carolina delegation of K-12 teachers, administrators, and community college and university faculty met with Senegalese educators and prestigious religious leaders and toured Dakar and the holy Muslim city of Touba. A visit to Goree Island proved to be the trip�s highlight, Parker said. There, she said, the group took a guided tour of the House of Slaves and the Door of No Return, reportedly the last sight in Africa for those abducted or sold into the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Parker said she found several opportunities during her trip to blog about her West African experience but often found herself at a loss for words. �I managed to relate some of my experiences,� she said. �But honestly, I think I will still be processing for quite a while to come; there simply is no way to adequately put into words what it was like to be there.� Before leaving for Africa, the North Carolina educators developed �culture kits� that included school supplies and artifacts from Tar Heel classrooms for use in Senegal schools. As part of the unique cultural exchange, Parker said she and her fellow educators enjoyed local cuisine and took Wolof language lessons, African dance, and Batik, a popular tie-dying art form. Parker, an English and Humanities instructor at PCC, said World View participants met on the N.C. Central University campus earlier this month to �reflect on their collective experiences and share ideas for incorporating what they learned in Senegal� into curricula at their respective campuses. She said she would be discussing what she took from her journey with PCC students and employees at upcoming events on campus. �I hope there is not a single thing I will forget about my trip, but I know that is impossible,� Parker said. �The one thing I truly hope to hold on to for life is the realization that no obstacle in life, no tragedy, no injustice has ever occurred that is capable of extinguishing the power and resilience of the human spirit. �Across the globe, we are amazing people, and adversity, it seems, only provides us with more opportunity to demonstrate that truth.�
|