By Maureen Inouye
The Moreau Center plans to take three students to Africa this summer who will return in the fall and plan a full Africa Immersion Trip in 2009 for their peers.
This latest immersion trip is the final step in a five-year plan established by the Moreau Center that also included the immersion trip to Nicaragua in May.
For the past year, a committee of faculty and staff met, and they are now choosing a student committee to continue exploring the possibilities available for student service in Africa.
"It's very important for students to be invested in the African continent," said Melissa Florer-Bixler, assistant director of Volunteer Services. She thinks students need to visit Africa in order to understand the conditions and cultures of the people there. Florer-Bixler studied in Kenya during college.
"There's no place like Africa. Until you experience what it's like to be a racial minority and see people who live in poverty, but still are hopeful about the future, it's hard to grasp," she said.
The faculty and staff committee included Florer-Bixler, business professor Lisa Reed, and Noela Nalujjuna Lwebuga, a senior international student from Uganda.
"Because there's a negative view of Africa in the media, I think students need to experience Africa for themselves for longer than a couple days," Nalujjuna said. She has been finding agencies and establishing contacts for the Moreau Center, as well as providing input about good programs and cultural activities to give students a well-rounded learning experience.
"In five to ten years, with such a global community, there will be opportunities available in Africa, and those students who visit now will be better prepared for them," Nalujjuna said.
In the summer of 2008, three students will travel to East Africa to work with members of the Holy Cross community there. These three students will be chosen from the pool applying this semester.
The three students will spend three weeks in Africa at the beginning of July, led by Tom Frieberg, director of Volunteer Services. They will visit Kenya, Uganda and perhaps Tanzania - the final itinerary has not yet been established.
Florer-Bixler anticipates that student participation in planning the Africa trip will be crucial to the success of the program.
"Student leadership is important with all the immersion trips," she said.
Student leaders are even more important in this case because Africa is so far removed from anything most students have experienced before.
"The first three students will be doing things like evaluating places to stay, making sure they are comfortable enough for the larger group," Nalujjuna said. "This is basically a scouting trip."
Applications require references, essays and an interview, and are due on Nov. 26. Because the students who travel to Africa this summer will be on a planning committee next fall, seniors who are graduating this May are not allowed to apply for the spring 2009 trip.
"The students will be visiting places tourists don't usually go," Florer-Bixler said.
Students traveling to Africa will see and support the efforts of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Florer-Bixler expects the students on the immersion trip to perform several types of assistance for the African people, including teaching, farming and ministering to street children, along with Holy Cross members.
"We chose East Africa because of the Holy Cross history - the Holy Cross has been a presence in East Africa for years," Florer-Bixler said. "I've been there, we have experience there, and that makes it easier to plan."
East Africa has a violent history of guerrilla warfare, genocide and political corruption.
Holy Cross has been present there since the early 1960s.
The Holy Cross projects there include parishes, schools, clinics and a radio station. Students who travel to Africa will work with Holy Cross members in these ministries.
"Eventually, I hope as the program expands it will be able to cater to different students' needs - like a nursing student will work at a hospital while a student teacher will work in a school," Nalujjuna said.
The Moreau Center also offers immersion trips to sites in the American South, Alaska and Nicaragua.
