Report on World Affairs Seminar - Aliyah Maynard

MY EXPERIENCE AT THE WORLD AFFAIRS SEMINAR AT CARROLL UNIVERSITY, WISCONSIN.

At approximately eight p.m. on Friday 24^th June 2011, the plane touched down at Piarco International Airport. It was a bittersweet moment as I was quite happy to be back at home but there was a pinch of emptiness upon realising that one of the best weeks of my life had just ended.

At the end of this amazing week, I was able to meet people from all corners of the globe, as well learn about their different cultures and their values. The World Affairs Seminar whose slogan is “Peace Through Understanding” has encouraged just that. This was a lifetime opportunity to learn about the way of life in places such as England, Japan and the Cayman Islands just to name a few.

During the seminar, we were separated into groups of fifteen, where every morning we would come together to discuss an issue under the main heading of “Sustainable Development”. These discussions, guided by our “Red Cap” counsellor within my group included the advantages and disadvantages of the use of Bottled Water.  Another was on the things that each individual thought improved the quality of life, such as education and religion, and how these values helped to contribute to sustainable development, and my favourite where we had  a session on making art out of garbage,  in which, we made a collage out of various forms waste.

The university’s Main Hall was a loaded with fun, where there was occasional burst of laughter and clapping, games with cups and the buzz of chattering during mealtime. I enjoyed this part of the seminar the most as it allowed participants to get to know each other the most as students from all over the world sat together to eat and talk.

During this week, I learnt a lot of important information about how the world’s global population will be seven billion by mid October and this was a growing concern as a large population puts a strain on the earth’s resources. One of the lectures given by Fred de Sam Lazaro from the Pulitzer Centre for Reporting who is known for exposing the plight of certain countries that may have otherwise been unknown, helped me to understand that poverty and real hardship exist in ways that cannot be imagined. He also gave us hope that many of the issues such as inequality that women face in other parts of the world can be changed, if we as the future world leaders use proper negotiation skills to bring about change.  Names were also put into a hat and randomly selected; it was quite an honour to have my name chosen as one of the fifteen that got to have dinner with Fred de Sam Lazaro, which I found enlightening and quite moving.

Groups were arranged by the preference of the student for a breakout session, which allowed the students to interact with one of the lecturers for the week. I was placed in the group with Peter Sawyer who is also affiliated with the Pulitzer Centre for reporting where he showed us a video on the life of women in other parts of the world. These women were often made to marry off by age nine due to the culture where having daughters is seen as a burden compared to having sons. This resulted in making their daughters child brides in an effort to marry the girls off and to eliminate financial burdens associated with having daughters. These girls were often married to men twice their age and were virtually made house slaves who endured domestic and sexual abuse. This brought out a passion in me that I never knew I had as I wanted to change this unfortunate situation.  

The nights were also filled with fun, as there was recreation time, which include games that I learnt from other people as well as card games, accompanied by late night pizza deliveries. There was also a Karaoke night, which I enjoyed to the fullest and I also learnt to make braided hand bands.

Another very informative and interesting lecture was one from Robert Neuwirth, who is the writer of the book “Shadow Cities” where he speaks about the general stigma attached to so- called slum cities. He helped to enlighten many that these so-called slums are actually a very efficient way of living and instead of   trying to bulldoze these cities, proper infrastructure should be placed within these cities.

This seminar was not only about staying indoors during lectures every day. We had the opportunity to go out on field trips where my group was taken to the Urban Ecology Centre ( A forest Reserve) where we did community service and helped to eliminated an invasive species of plants (weeds). Three hours later, we came back to the university, dirty and tired, but it was worth it.

On the last day, our main groups discussed what we each like to see by the year 2030. Some views included the elimination of all disposable teacups my bringing your own mug, taking three minute showers to reduce water waste and mine was to see women in other parts of the world to be truly liberated and able to make choices for themselves. At this point in time I could not help but think how fast this week flew.

The last thing we did was to show case out garbage to art and soon we set up for the dance. Mind-blowing lighting effects as well as great music helped to build the atmosphere of the dance floor. I danced the night away with all my new friends and at 11:30 p.m. the dance was over. It was soon time to pack our bags and head out to the airport.

Though I am quite sad that it is over I rejoiced that it happened and each time I feel sad about it I remember all the lifelong friendships I have made and the invaluable lessons learnt. At this time I would like to thank the Rotary Club of Maraval for giving me the opportunity participate in this extraordinary experience.