CU students teach and learn from African refugees
A volunteering program through CU’s Smith Hall International Program is giving students the chance to combine their knowledge in the classroom with real life experiences.
Fourteen SHIP students enrolled in ANTH 1150: Regional Cultures of Africa Service Learning Class have spent time volunteering with Mercy Housing Grace Apartments, which is a housing complex in east Denver that serves refugees from Africa. The class’s first trip was on Feb. 20, and another is scheduled for April 26.
Laura Deluca, an assistant professor in anthropology, received a grant from the Institute of Ethical and Civic Engagement in 2005 to begin the class. This is the first year of the program.
The students have helped in Mercy Housing’s Peace Pals Program by working with kids aged from about 8 to 12 years. Tasks have included working with students as tutors in subjects like math and geography.
Mercy Housing is a program that helps refugees find housing. The nonprofit organization also helps other organization maximize their resources available to refugees.
Freshman Mary Katherine Frongillo, an open option major, was unsure as to what to expect her first time volunteering with the program.
“My first impression was a total culture shock, because I didn’t know anything about Africa,” she said. “But it’s been nice to help people and keep learning in the class.”
The first time Frongillo went to Grace Apartments, she and the other students were given an introduction to Mercy Housing. She played “duck, duck, goose” and soccer with the kids and spent time talking with them.
She also met a group of women who made bead necklaces and sold them online as a source of income because they were unable to work.
For sophomore Daniel Ciucci, a management major, the women’s story had a big impact on him.
In his reflection journal, which students are required to write for the class, Ciucci wrote that a fellow student bought a necklace from the women for his mom.
“As Eric was in the process of buying a necklace for his mother, one of the ladies helping the women of the tribe work a transaction was explaining to Eric and me that because he was buying a necklace from her for $12 she was able to go to the doctor’s the next day – something that she hasn’t yet been able to do since being here in America,” Ciucci wrote. “That put a large lump in my throat and a deep feeling of remorse for my ingratitude of the blessings in my life.”
The second time the students went to Grace Apartments, Frongillo said they worked with the Peace Pals program and helped the kids with their homework and did other activities with them.
Frongillo said she is now friends with one of the 7-year-old girls at the apartments.
“I was lucky. I met a girl the first time, and the second time she remembered me. She called me ‘monkey,'”, Frongillo said. “She was talking with me and telling me her problems with her friends, which made it easier. She confided in me. It’s nice to know we’re making real connections with people.”
The Volunteer Clearing House, a student group that helps organizations find volunteer opportunities that suit their interests, also helped Deluca coordinate the program with Mercy Housing.
Deluca sang praises about both the IECE and the VCH.
“It’s a really great, organized program,” she said. “It takes a lot of time to set these things up, especially for a nonprofit organization who is stretched thin. But the people there have been so warm and welcoming; it’s been the most amazing fit.”
Deluca described the program as “3-D learning.”
“The idea behind it was service learning,” Deluca said. “It’s about learning concepts and theories in class that are reinforced in a hands-on experience.”
She said while her students are learning about concepts like colonialism and the British rule, they are also able to see their impacts on lives of refugees.
Deluca said her students have been inspired by their time working with the kids.
“It’s really been amazing,” she said. “It’s obvious [when reading them] that they’re not faking it.”
Frongillo agreed with Deluca.
“The class is very unconventional,” she said. “I wasn’t sure of what to expect. But when we began the service learning, it’s been really great learning from it. I think all of the students would agree with me, it’s nice to be involved in the community you’re living in.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Marcy Franklin at marcy.franklin@colorado.edu.
