STUDENTS STUDY ABROAD IN SOUTH AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE

   COLUMBUS -- African studies faculty and students will take their classroom half-way around the world as they travel from The Ohio State University to South Africa and Zimbabwe for an 18-day study-abroad program.

   The trip, Ohio State's first study-abroad program to that part of Africa, follows a 10-week class in which students studied the countries' histories, religions and cultures. Lupenga Mphande, associate professor of African-American and African Studies; his students; and Sherif Barsoum, coordinator for the Office of International Education, will leave Saturday (6/12), dividing their time between the two countries.

   These countries are sites of some of the earliest civilizations on the African continent, and are a good representative sample of the environment and a generous historical and cultural tradition typical of the entire region, Mphande said.

   "The trip will be my first time in the 'mother land' and I am beyond excited about it," said Khallai Taylor, 23, a junior computer and information science and Spanish major. "This also is my first study-abroad program. I hope that this trip will be a true learning experience with regard to African history as well as African-American history. I expect to see beautiful sights, wild animals on our safari and some Africans who at last have their equal rights."

   The need for this type of course was first expressed at a meeting that Ohio State had with the Zimbabwean ambassador to the United States last year, Mphande said.

   "We discussed the means of broadening Ohio State students' experience in understanding global cultures, particularly those cultures that minority students, such as African Americans, would identify with, in an attempt to empower them," he said. "This study-abroad course fulfills a critical intellectual need in the Ohio State curriculum."

   Aaron Harker, 22, a senior English major, said he has been waiting for Ohio State to offer a program like this for several years.

   "I had been interested in going to southern Africa for a number of years, but there had never been a program available through the university that I was able to apply for," he said. "There had been a few semester programs available through other universities, but since South Africa is in the southern hemisphere and they are in opposite seasons from us, I would have had to sit out at least two quarters here at OSU to get one semester there."

   Ohio State currently provides students with the opportunity to participate in more than 100 study-abroad programs, most of which are in Europe and South America, Barsoum said.

   "Being involved in these programs allows students to better understand and appreciate the world once they have been outside their own environment," he said.

   A portion of the African program is subsidized by the Office of Student Affairs, and the Office of Minority Affairs gave two scholarships to students enrolled in the course, Barsoum said. Each student is responsible for $1,975 out of the $3,400 trip, he added.

   The number of students in the class was limited to a maximum of 23; when more than 30 applied, he and Mphande gave priority to upperclassmen who expressed interest in the culture and history of South Africa and Zimbabwe, Barsoum said.

   "We have a great mix of students, half African American and half white," Barsoum said. "This was not by plan; it just happened that way. We had a feeling this trip was going to be very attractive to our minority students."

   Taylor, an African-American student, said that after reading about the course on a flier posted around campus, she quickly became interested in applying for the class.

   "I thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me," she said. "The other reason I wanted to go on the trip and take the class was to give me a better chance to go to the place where I got my complexion, where my roots are. So it's more than a learning experience; it's a spiritual lesson of the history of my people."

   Merrari McKinley, a sophomore international studies and Japanese major, said she has high expectations for the trip.

   "I predict the trip will make the imagined reality," she said. "All the things our class has been merely reading about thus far will become tangible: the Zimbabwe Ruins, Soweto and Victoria Falls."

   The trip also will include stops in Cape Town and Johannesburg, both in South Africa; Roben Island, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated; and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. The group also will dine on traditional dinners along the way, Mphande said.

   In class, students studied a wide variety of topics to prepare them for the many different aspects of life in southern Africa, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They also attended two orientations on cross-cultural awareness and safety basics to prepare for the trip, and were required to obtain a passport and immunizations, Barsoum said.

   Each night during the trip students will meet with instructors in a group setting to discuss the day's events.

   "We want to give the students a chance to talk in a group about what they have seen, how they feel about race relations, how Africans may see some things differently than white people living in the same countries, and how they can talk about it and bring their new knowledge back to Ohio State," Barsoum said.

Contact:
Lupenga Mphande, African-American and African Studies, (614) 292-8734
Sherif Barsoum, Office of International Education, (614) 292-6101