Guelph Chapter Questions

Hey GEWBies, just wanted to address some of the questions you asked before we finished school. Hope everyone is doing well and the chapter is organizing itself and getting ready for the coming year! I can tell its underway from the emails in my uog account! Best wishes.

In what ways do you plan to grow during your JF placement? Just think of a few examples.
I hope to become more confident in myself, learn to make those big and risky decisions, and give them my all even though its scary as hell and I will likely fail, learn to overcome the mental limitations and frustrations brought on my health problems, and learn to stay open-hearted and open-minded in new situations. I hope by the end of the summer, I can look back and feel stronger and be proud of what I accomplished. It’s definitely the hardest thing I have ever taken on, but I know I will get through it, and I know that after it I will have the confidence and courage to take on anything!

Have you changed in any way yet thru your preparation?
Through the reflection on our priorities, in which ways we want to grow and learn, have been incredibly useful tools to help see where I want to go in live, and how I can take steps to get there. Through the trainings and preparations in Canada, I have learned a great deal about myself, my strengths and weaknesses, how I learn, and the role I play in groups. I am continuing to learn throughout this experience who I am and what makes me happy. What I am willing to change about myself and what I am not. Its interesting to find the fundamental things that make you happy. Like nature and bonding with people and playing with kids.

How comfortable do you feel with the concept of using your 'white privilege' while overseas? Or is it more just being aware of the concept that is important?
To be honest, I came in wanting to reject it left right and center, but when you are treated differently everyday, whether by children calling after you Cabruni! Cabruni! Or by people asking how much your laptop cost and asking you to marry them or take them back to Canada, it feels like you are taking an extra kick to the gut by expecting in other circumstances to be treated like everyone else…like waiting in line at the hospital, or catching a bus. I know it sounds awful, but its one of those things where you really need to pick your battles. Some days you have the strength to refuse the privilege, and some days you do not. Furthermore, people don’t always appreciate when you do it, sometimes they are confused that you are refusing their hospitality, and so on, so it is not always cut and dry.
On that note...Racism.
I think one of the hardest things to deal with has been the discrimination I feel. The amount of unwanted attention is overwhelming, though I am starting to get used to it, and the amount of conscious rudeness that I feel is upsetting, considering Ghana is supposed to be one of the friendliest places. So what have I experienced as racism…the feeling that all the little things that make me who I am become unimportant, and I am lumped together as the same as any other person with the same skin colour. I am just as easily European as Canadian, and there is no distinction between the two. It feels weird to represent what it means to be Canadian to so many people. Because even though I am Canadian, I am Kim Jusek! I am many things, aside from having white skin and being from Canada. One of the benefits of staying in Ghana for a couple of months is that people will know me for who I am, not for just being different. As hurtful and offensive as it is at times (most of the time), I know it is mostly rooted in lack of exposure to the rest of the world. I grew up in a multi-cultural city where it is offensive to point out peoples differences and I am used to and accept those differences.