Outsider

the UPEACE campus - flags of supporting nations

As I’ve shared my UPEACE learning journey here on the blog, I’ll continue with that theme. Previous blog posts shared my Global Citizenship Education course experience. The short is: despite being a Zoom Room full of people from all parts of the globe with different identities and backgrounds, work in the world and more we all were committed to the idea of GCE and GC, more simply. No one was “other” because we all were so different. There wasn’t a monotype in the Zoom Room. And, I felt very comfortable there.

A welcome sign at the UPEACE campus

Flash forward a week after the GCE class ended. I was on campus for two days at UPEACE for a Positive Leadership course. The room was smaller and everyone was either Costa Rican or American with the exception of one European who had lived in the US and various Latin American countries. Everyone except for me could fluently speak Spanish or it was their native language. I felt like such an outsider. And not because anyone was cold, mean, rude, or disrespectful. The class was taught in English and we engaged as a group in English.

And yet, I felt different. Unable to fully participate in the side conversation or lunch table discussions.

Crane art piece adorning a hall at UPEACE

I write about this share an experience, as a white woman, where I felt other ed because of an identity feature. This is an experience that so many of our PGM, immigrant, queer, and disabled friends and neighbors experience regularly - especially in white dominant culture. I was able to empathize even more deeply with the experiences of immigrants and non-native English speakers in the US navigating the complexities of life in a foreign language for just two, six-hour days. Imagine a lifetime of that - never fully feeling the ability to participate? I think especially in this political climate where immigrant is becoming a word filled by the right with so much hate and vitriol, I want to bring to light what so many have been saying - that immigrants bring such a vibrant fabric to a society - in America and elsewhere. The ability to be integrated into a society that is not your own and maintain your own culture connections, imho, is a gift like speaking more than one language.

A new friend on campus:).

Where have you found greater empathy from an uncomfortable experience? Share in the comments!