Reflection

My Reflection

On my very first day at the Florida International University, I took a class named societies in world. Whenever I was in this class, my professor went over the syllabus and states that this was a Global Learning class and if I took some more along with other requirements, I would be considered a Global Learning student. I took this very seriously since I was looking for ways to be involved on campus and this seemed perfect as being worldly educated is something that I attended the Florida International University for.

I started to look more into the program and realized that this was perfect for me. I took a leap of faith and attended the information session where I got more information. I was also helped by those who were tabling in the Graham Center as they answered all the questions that I had about Global Learning. This made me more and more interested to the point that I was willing to try it and see what became.

I was born and raised in The Netherlands. Growing up there gave me the ability to know a lot about different ways of living. A big culture shock for me was that the United States did not make global awareness as big of a deal as I believed it should be. My global perspective was already bigger then the average due to the places where I grew up but I knew it wasn’t enough to make me relate to people that I would meet in my life journey or just my journey at FIU due to the high volume of internationals that attend.

During my time going to Global Learning events, I was able to quickly learn about different issues around the world that I had no idea even existed. Due to me not being from the United States, I was also able to learn about several issues right Infront of our noses that are being ignored or not being dealt with due to various issues within the infrastructure of the United States itself. If I was to individually go into detail about the events I attended, there would be no end to this reflection, but some events in particular that were able to broaden my global perspective were the Living in Limbo: Policy Implications on the future of immigration event and the New York Times Speaker Series- The secret sauce to revolutions. Both were Tuesday Round Table events and both were very powerful in the impact it had on my global perspective. For the Living in Limbo, I learned about refugees. This is something that hit close to home as both my parents were refugees at one point in their lifetime right before they had me. If The Netherlands did not allow them asylum, I could have been stuck in Liberia where at the time, a serious civil war was occurred. This TTR went over how difficult immigration is and the issues the United States has when it comes to people trying to immigrate here. A lot of questions were asked and a lot of examples were given which allowed me to understand what those who are immigrating really go through. I was also able to broaden my perspective on the racism that is involved when migrating. Countries in Europe are usually labeled as expats when they try to immigrate into the United States while other countries like Mexico and South American nations are securitized and labeled as criminals by governmental officials. These issues were brought to my attention and motivated me to do something about it.

As mentioned above, The New York Times TTR also added to one of the most impactful experiences in my Global Learning journey.  Global Awareness plays a big part in Global Learning as it is one of their main objectives. This specific TTR was held during women’s month and we were exposed to the important role women play in the world of activism. Some of the examples included ways women made change happen. One of the examples that stood out to me was during the Liberian war, women decided to stop having sex with their partner until the war stopped since they were often soldiers. The Black Lives Matter organization was started by two women and much more was done with women on the frontlines. This made me so much more globally aware of the issues in the world and the changes that were made directly due to the impact of women all over the world. I was able to feel comfortable enough to ask questions which global learning encourages. The confidence that I carry with me today is due to the questions we are able to ask at the end of every meeting.

My global engagement was heavily impacted by Global Learning. One of the main ways that happened was through my internship I got directly from one of the Global Learning directors, Yeni. I was able to get an internship with the International Rescue Committee through Global Learning and have hands on experience with solving global issues. I started with outreach in Miami where my role was to help those in need in Miami. Human trafficking victims and unaccompanied youth. I was able to engage with people coming from all over the world even those who had trouble speaking English. I was very engaged in projects where my own opinion was valued and I was asked about where improvement could be appreciated even though I was just an intern. Due to me getting the internship with global learning, I was able to have some type of trust from those who worked with me. A lot of people who I worked with also graduated from FIU and were very aware of the Global Learning program. This helped me a lot within my work as that felt like something that vouched for me within this internship. Global engagement was also displayed in my capstone internship with CILPA. CILPA is a African law think tank that was started by a FIU law professor and I decided to continue working with them well after the time of the capstone. I have been working with CILPA for a year now. Global engagement is displayed due to me working over Zoom with people in Sierra Leone and London. This is something that allows me to see what people on the other side of the world struggle with. A prime example is that one of my colleagues is in Sierra Leone and often times she has trouble getting online due to the internet only being available at certain times. This makes me globally aware and engaged as we on our side try to figure out ways, we can help out those who have trouble accessing the internet. I also deal with very complex issues in corruption and the use of power in a negative way in Africa. I am allowed to throw out ideas on how to solve some of these complex issues with the use of extensive research. This can be seen in my work. Global Learning is the reason why I joined CILPA as it is my capstone but this was something I also did for myself.