While most Ohio University students were lounging or working during Winter Break, four were doing something a little bit different.
Four OU students, along with Jan Griesinger, director of UCM: Center for Spiritual Growth and Social Justice, went to Koinonia in southwest Georgia where they volunteered at a pecan farm from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7. Koinonia is an inter-racial community that lives in harmony and works together.
Griesinger said one reason they went to Koinonia was because of the unique learning experience the inter-racial community provides.
The group also had a cross-cultural experience within the group itself. The group consisted of one student from Japan, one from China and two students from the United States.
You get an idea of your own cultural limitations
Griesinger said. You can take lots of classes but when you drive hours and hours and eat and live with someone it is an experience of its own.
Yin Yin, an OU graduate student from China, said even though the community already was diverse, she made a difference sharing her culture with the community.
I believe that I brought different culture to the farm
to different volunteers. Different cultures have different feelings about work
but we still have something in common
said Yin. I believe that we worked very well. Sometimes
we learned from each other
from the cultures.
During the trip, the students volunteered at a pecan farm and a mail-order business, said Griesinger. They helped by doing jobs like working in the bakery, working with children and creating a float for a Christmas parade.
Working with the children and the float was OU graduate student Sarah Engler's favorite part.
She said the float was a good display of the inter-racial cooperation.
As I held Bria close and waved my hand alongside hers
I thought about how we looked to those people on the streets - me with a winter-pale complexion and she with a deep
chocolate one
stunningly contrasting each other
