Inclusiveness in Service-Learning

This year (2018) the theme of the IARSLCE research conference on service-learning and civic engagement is inclusiveness.  The participants of the conference is pre-dominantly American, and female. Among the several hundred (400?) people there, it seems no more than a couple dozen are non-Americans.   The keynote speaker is a female black professor.  The key issue appears to be the inclusion of ethnic minorities in the USA, particularly blacks, and even more particularly female blacks.  It seems the focus is on who should be served.  But the participants in service-learning is also an issue.  

In the closing plenary session, I raised a number of issues related to inclusiveness, in the field of service-learning.  First of all, the academic disciplines involved are lopsided - the hard science and engineering are hardly represented.  It is not that there are no service-learning activities involving engineering.  Universities such as Purdue and programs such as EPICS are doing really interesting and impactful work.  But they are largely missing from this conference.  

Then there are these service-learning communities outside of the USA.  In 2016, I went to a service-learning conference in Buenos Aires in Argentina which had been running for 19 years, attended by 600 people from all over South America: Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, …  There were only a dozen people there, including myself, who could not speak Spanish.  The way they run service-learning is quite different from the American model. 

And then there is Asia.  Our university has organised 2 international service-learning conferences in Hong Kong (2014, 2016), each attended by ~200 people.  And we are going to organise a third in early 2019.  There the participants are from Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, …,   with only a handful of Americans.  We are learning that the American model of service-learning has to be adapted to the Asian environment. 

And then there is Africa.  And Europe.  The communities of service-learning itself are hugely diverse.  How can we bring them together?

Design Thinking

Just came off a meeting on design for social innovation, and ran into an exhibition of the work of students at the School of Design.  All are very attractive.  Some are obviously addressing important social issues.   I am left with a strong impression of how important design thinking is. 

Some are obviously promoting culture and heritage. 

Some are tackling issues such as “priority seats” which have caused quite a stir recently. 

Some are tacking weighty issues such as whether animals should be used for testing. 

Some are addressing issues such as social isolation.

Although there are others that I cannot quite figure out what purpose they serve.  

In our service-learning projects, we often need to draw on creative design thinking.  We need to make STEM fun for primary and secondary school students.  We need to draw the attention of the elderly when we design games for them.  We need to find creative solutions in building zero-carbon community learning centres in developing countries such as Cambodia and Rwanda.  We need to make attractive graphics for e-learning.  

If only we know how to teach creative design thinking!  What we have learn so far is that creativity is often driven by necessity.  It is not something that we can teach in the classroom.  But it can be learned through practice.  

The Cross

What am I doing in Rwanda?  Service-Learning, obviously.  But there is more than that which meets the eye.  The people of Rwanda are also God’s creation, just like you and me.  In fact, God is particularly concerned with the poor and the oppressed.  When I can do my little bit to bring them electricity, so that they can cook and clean and study and have fellowship with their neighbours, I know I am serving Him and His people.  When I teach my students to care about the community and particularly the poor, even though they look differently, speak differently, and live differently, I know I am serving Him and His people.  

That is why when I met this woman who has opened up her house to serve as a charging station for her neighbours, I picked up a piece of corn stalk and made her a cross.  The cross is, of course, a symbol of Jesus Christ’ sacrifice for us human beings.  She was surprised but was also very happy with it.  I do not speak Kinyarwanda and she does not speak Chinese or English.  But we seem to understand each other quite well.  When I left her house, she came out and showed me the cross again.  

What I am doing in Rwanda is more than service-learning, even though it is very meaningful by itself.  I know I can serve God in a church in Hong Kong.  Equally I can serve Him in the slums in Cambodia.  I can also serve Him here up in the mountains  of Rwanda where the people are without electricity and running water.  

Imperfashion

While we were slogging away in Cambodia and Rwanda, our colleagues in Hong Kong have also been busy.  My friend J, in the Institute of Textile and Clothing, teaches a rather different service-learning subject, which teaches our students to use creative fashion and expressive textile arts as a caring medium.  

They work with people going through psychiatric rehabilitation.  Our students and the participants jointly create expressive fashion prototypes. 

“Emphasis is placed on using colors, textures and patterns for creating expressive textile arts designs as an interpretation of participants’ memories and personal narratives to self-discovery and healing. Through the interactive co-design process, the service participants are able to rebuild a satisfactory identity by their creative expression and their self-confidence can be further enhanced.”

I missed their opening ceremony by a few hours, having landed in Hong Kong coming back from Rwanda in the same afternoon of the opening ceremony.  I went up to see the exhibit the following day.  The photographs are very colourful and cheerful.  The fashion products are very attractive.  I understand the students and the participants have had a wonderful time working together.  

It takes a lot of planning, effort, logistic and material support to put together  The result is one of our most creative, popular and visually attractive subjects.  Well done, J.  

Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda

Sometimes we just sit and think.  Other times we just sit.  Unless, of course, when we are eating.  

I have been aware of the mountain gorillas in Rwanda since I started going there in 2013, but I have not had a strong urge to visit them.  First of all, I am in Rwanda for the service-learning projects, which require all my attention and energy to manage.  Secondly, they are quite far away from where we work.  Thirdly, it is expensive.  Then, a year ago, I became aware they are the same gorillas that Dian Fossey studied and literally lived with.  

This year, after the project was finished and students were sent home, I went to visit them. It was quite an encounter.

They live on Mount Besoke,  an active volcano part of which is in Volcanoes National Park to the north west of Rwanda.  We had to book ahead through a travel agency, registered when we arrive at the park early in the morning and then drove to the launching point in a village half way up Mount Besoke.  From there we hiked up Mount Besoke.  

The slope became steeper and steeper, the grass got longer and the mud got wetter and more slippy.  Worst of all, there were more and more stinging nettles.  After an hour and a half, I suddenly went face to face with my first gorilla. It was no more than 10 feet away and it was eating.  

At first, it didn’t seem too too big, half hidden in the tall grass.  

Only after my initial excitement did I realised that its head was bigger than mine, that its arm is bigger than my thigh, and its shoulders are much broader than mine.  I was told this was only a female, which is much smaller than the dominant male.  A silverback dominant male can weight 600 pounds!

We were told to stay 7 meters away from them.  But they often went straight at us.  

We could do nothing more than give way.  Or to stand still while they brush our legs.   It was exciting, to say the least!

They were certainly aware of us being there.  Often they would look at us for a bit, without obvious interest, and then look away.  We were told not to stare, which can be interpreted as a challenge, and to lower our gaze.  

During the hour-long encounter, we met young gorillas, females and a silver back dominant male.  A total of perhaps 5 or 6 individuals.  They would munch on the vegetation, walked on all fours to another spot, and munch some more.  Sometimes they would simply roll sideways, sit up, and munch again.  

My observation is that the gorillas eat often.  Sometimes they just sit and think.  Other times they just sit.  

At the foot of the volcano are rich fields and the people who farm them.  The tidy, intensively cultivated fields reached up to the edge of the national park. We were told that the villagers often went up the mountain to collect fire wood and do other tasks.  Dian Fossey set up rules to protect the gorillas which the villagers didn’t appreciate.  Some said the resentment might have something to do with her murder, yet unsolved.  

Nowadays gorilla tourism brings in enough economic benefits to keep the place peaceful.  

We were told that sometimes the gorillas would venture outside the park.  The villages would just shoo them back, knowing that the gorillas’ existence is of benefit to them.  

Down in the town a hotel advertised itself as the place where Dian Fossey used to stay.  

A Dian Fossey style steak is available.   To see her room?  You have to come up with 10 US dollars.  

Seeing the gorillas is quite an adventure.  Highly recommended, despite the stinging nettles.