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What is Beyond Borders?
Beyond Borders is a year-long, holistic service learning program where you spend the first 8 months in classes, so you take two classes that you get credit for where you discuss world views and world issues -then you get placed with an international organization, where you volunteer for three months, and then you come back and do some post-departure work for a month.
Why did you choose to apply to Beyond Borders?
Well, I applied in my first year, and I was just looking for different opportunities and I was looking into service learning because it was something that I was interested in doing but I didn’t really know in what capacity yet, and I guess I decided to do Beyond Borders first just because it was such a huge challenge – I’d be going away for three months doing something that I’d maybe never done before. I just kind of applied for it on a whim, and surprisingly got it. So I guess I was just looking for something new and exciting that I’d never done before because I had never been on a service trip. I just wanted something that I could dive into and have it be really challenging for me.
How would you describe your experience with Beyond Borders?
It was very…life-changing, which sounds very big, but it was life-changing in the littlest senses. It changed the way that I viewed myself and the way that I went about things in my own life, especially since I was living in an area where I didn’t always have running water or electricity. I’m definitely more appreciative of the things I have in my life. It was also very life-changing in the sense that life was so different there, so it changed the way that I live my life and what my priorities are – and on top of all of that, it was a crazy, fun adventure. It was very challenging at moments, and very fun and exciting at other moments, so it was also kind of a big rollercoaster. I think going through something like that just changes you. There wasn’t one life-changing moment…I don’t think I appreciated how much my life had changed until I got back, where little things were happening differently.
What exactly did you do for your placement?
I went to Cabrera, Dominican Republic, where I worked for an organization called The Esperanza Project. They try to provide education for those who may not have it. Cabrera’s not a rural town, but it’s also not a city, and so there are definitely schools within the city but they’re not very holistic. The kids go and they learn their Spanish and their math and their writing, but they don’t really learn art or music or English at all – so what The Esperanza Project tries to do is give them that holistic education. They can come in the morning or afternoon from other schools or that can just be their regular school. When I went in May they were in the last month of their school year, so I taught English classes, I helped the other teachers do whole school activities, and I was a teacher’s assistant in their sister school, a preschool, which was adorable. When the summer came I was a camp counselor at their summer camps…so a month of teaching and two months of camp counseling.
What was your favourite moment that you had with Beyond Borders?
I guess it was a series of moments when I realized that every person has a different background and story but there are places in the world where they can all come together and share an experience. I think those moments where all of the schoolchildren were doing something together and having a great time; or I was meeting all of these camp counselors from all over North America; and just realizing that we were all in this moment together, but yet we had such different life experiences. Those were the cool moments where I appreciated what the world has to offer.
What would you say to a student who is considering Beyond Borders?
I would say do it! It’s terrifying and the fear doesn’t go away – like you’re going to be scared literally the entire time that you’re away, but it’s just so worth it. It’s a different kind of fear…it’s a fear of the unknown. One of the best parts of the Beyond Borders program is that it’s structured to be ambiguous, so at any point you have no idea what you’re getting into. Once you go your whole world just opens up. I think I would just say be afraid but not too afraid, and embrace it, go for it, and try to be present the entire time, because that’s the best way to experience your time away.
What is Encounter•KW?
For me, Encounter•KW was a week-long experience over Reading Week looking at crime and justice in Kitchener-Waterloo. We looked at how crime and justice were interwoven, how it’s hard to distill crime into one sentence and justice into one coherent sentence, and just how crime impacts us all.
Why did you choose to apply to be a part of Encounter•KW?
I wanted to do something related to social justice but I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to travel, and I didn’t really know what social justice looked like at St. Jerome’s. What drew me to Encounter•KW was how local it is and the amazing community partners and the work that they do – plus if I liked it, I thought it would be a good foot in the door for me to apply for future experiences, like SJU in Peru.
How would you describe your experience with Encounter•KW?
Indescribable. I started Encounter•KW thinking I would know exactly how the week would go and be able to form some coherent thoughts about my experience, but I went home on the Saturday afternoon thinking I had been a part of this amazing week with these amazing people and now I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I was told throughout the week that reintegration would be important – in other words, we have all of this new information and these new perspectives, but what are we going to do with it? Just seeing how people experience social disenfranchisement and social disadvantage, and not really knowing how to process all of that, is really challenging. Also, life-changing…I know it’s a bit cliché, but looking at crime, I always thought it was black-and-white but it really isn’t. The week got me to think about crime outside of the dichotomy that I had known for my entire life up until this point.
What was your favourite memory of Encounter•KW?
I loved the end of each day. Every night, we did reflections and debriefed as a group. We talked about our day, plus any ideas or themes that seemed to come up. I loved the mind mapping that we did. There was this big mind map on the wall, and every night we’d get a different colour and we would write and diagram the relationships between different ideas that we encountered during the week. I loved that mind map so much that I have a picture of it on my wall in my room.
Has Encounter•KW changed your perspectives at all?
Yes – I used to think that crime was this mysterious thing that only “bad” people do, whereas sometimes it’s just wrong place, wrong time, and not really having another way out. As a society we don’t really give people options and we don’t do a good job of explaining, “This is crime. This is justice. This is what the punishment is.” Justice is so much more than just the consequences of an action. Justice allows us to ask questions like, “How do we create more peace in our society? How do we rehabilitate the offended? How do we respond to the community with care and concern and compassion?
What would you say to a student who is considering Encounter•KW?
Go into the week with an idea of what you think your week will look like, but be open to any ideas that you encounter. Jump right in with both feet; be thoughtful and in sync but also be as open to new experiences as you can. Don’t be so afraid of the unknown. Be open to the week, it’s very engaging.
Why did you decide to apply to be a part of SJU in Peru?
To be honest with you, one of my friends [Amandreo, an SJU Ambassador] got me involved. He wanted to apply and so he introduced it to me – and from there it was kind of like peer pressure. I did my application because a few of my friends wanted to apply as well, and then I got a spot on the trip.
Was it what you expected?
No. I went on a similar trip to Ecuador with my high school, so that helped, but this trip was geared toward service learning initiatives so we were still helping out but there was more to it. We did get to see how the people lived, but then going to Nathan [Beninger, of the Pura Vida Foundation], that hit us hard. He was very straightforward and stuff that he showed us was very emotional. Quite a few people broke down and I think that was very shocking for us. You hear about it all the time on the news but to actually see it firsthand is different.
What were some of your favourite moments from the trip?
I can’t remember what day it was, but one that sticks out for me was when we went to Café Feminino in Agua Azul and they showed us the manufacturing process for coffee. In Canada we just go to Tim Horton’s for coffee that’s $1.29, but in Peru we saw everything. The whole process takes them a month or so, and to see that, it was very eye-opening. For something so small that we don’t even appreciate it takes so long to produce.
Another moment that I’ll never forget was in a town about an hour away from Chiclayo, where we were helping to basically move boulders. There was this seven-year-old boy who could move a boulder that none of us could move with a spear. It was astonishing to see because it really made us think about how we do things. There’s a very Western attitude to always think that the way we do things is “right,” when there’s usually a better way that we never consider. They were building a small community centre that might take us a week to build in Canada – in Peru, it takes a few months or almost a year to do the same job.
Did you learn anything about yourself on the trip?
I’ll be honest: when I came back, I changed. Afterwards, when people asked me how the trip was, I would say things like, “It was good,” but I never went into specifics. I think a lot of what we did is not what people think they’re going to hear when they ask me, and there are some things that I won’t ever forget from this trip because they shocked me so much. It gave me a very different perspective on how I live and what I have. I knew that I was privileged before I went on the trip but after coming back I know exactly how fortunate I am to be who I am and live where I do.
Do you miss it at all?
I do. There are lots of days where I miss Peru. Seeing any photos from the trip bring back a ton of memories.
What would you say to a student who’s considering applying for SJU in Peru?
Go. I remember when I was doubting myself and wondering if I should even apply, but my Don had been on the trip before and he persuaded me to follow through and go on the trip. It will completely change the way you look at things. It’s truly an experience that I don’t think I could get anywhere else. There’s no other trip like SJU in Peru. Your main purpose is to see how Peruvians live and learn from them – you’re not there to “do” things, you’re there to learn.
What is Beyond U?
Beyond U is an opportunity to have a local placement with a non-profit or organization within Waterloo Region. It’s kind of a spin-off of Beyond Borders, but at the local level. A lot of students wouldn’t have the opportunity to work at a non-profit and get paid for it, so this gives students the opportunity to have paid experience for a co-op term, and it also helps out the local organization.
Where did you work?
I worked at Supportive Housing Waterloo (SHOW). It’s a permanent housing complex for people who are homeless because they either have extreme mental health issues, addiction, alcoholism, hoarding issues, or broken relationships – a variety of issues. This provides them with reduced rent, counselling services, and programming to get them off the streets and into a permanent housing location.
Why did you choose to apply to Beyond U?
I had done some volunteering with homeless people in the past and I found that the marginalization that they experience on a day-to-day basis was very shocking to me. Also, I’m Urban Planning right now so I found it to be very relatable to what I want to get involved in as a professional urban planner one day. When I was volunteering with homeless people in the past I found it to be a very rewarding experience in a lot of ways and I learned a lot. When I saw the opportunity to do the SHOW placement I thought that it was something I definitely wanted to do, and I knew that I would be able to at least make some sort of an impact but also learn a lot from the situation and take a lot away from the experience.
How would you describe your experience with Beyond U?
My co-op term may be done but my experience definitely isn’t over yet. I think that’s the best way to put it. I know that there’s more work to do, so I’ve actually taken the opportunity to go back in the summer and continue volunteering because I’ve really fallen in love with the work that SHOW does and I think it will be a really neat experience to continue doing it. The opportunity was phenomenal. I loved working with the office staff – they’re all very down-to-earth, very genuine people. Even working with the tenants too; they’re all people who have gone through a lot in their lives but they’re still very positive and thankful and grateful for everything that they’re offered.
What was your favourite experience from your time as a Beyond U participant?
In the Beyond U experience I really enjoyed the check-ins that I got to do with Bess Mitchell [Outreach Programs Coordinator at SJU and founder of Beyond U] and Sarah, another Beyond U student who worked at Forest Hill Public School. That was really awesome because we would meet regularly and see how we could proactively work towards doing other things in our placements, which I found really rewarding.
When I was working at SHOW I definitely enjoyed the relationships that I built. Going into the placement I definitely thought that I would be doing a lot more paperwork, but then after a while I started to realize that the relationships I was building were far more important than the work I was doing. Building those relationships allowed me to learn a lot more about the people I was serving, and why they’re marginalized in so many different situations, and so that was probably the best.
Has Beyond U changed your personal perspectives at all?
If I was to picture myself interacting with homeless people about three years ago or so, I would look very uncomfortable. I volunteered at a soup kitchen in Guelph and I had great interactions with people while I was serving them but I was still very uncomfortable and it was tough for me. I didn’t really realize why I was so uncomfortable and why it was such a challenge for me.
After working at SHOW I started to create relationships with these people and realized that I have a lot more in common with them than I thought. It was much easier and more natural for me once I developed these relationships. This past weekend I actually volunteered at another dinner and it felt so natural. I felt so comfortable. Afterwards I realized that many of the other volunteers might not have been as comfortable as I was so it was a very full-circle experience for me. I realized that everything that I had done this term really benefitted me and contributed to my self-growth.
What would you say to a student who is considering Beyond U?
I would say…think about why you’d want to get involved in the program. Assess your values and what you want to get out of the experience – but if you’re on the fence, just go for it. It’s a really great experience to see Waterloo, but also to build relationships with other people, applying your skills elsewhere, and really making an impact on an organization or cause that you care about.■
For more information on SJU's service learning opportunties, please visit https://www.sju.ca/service-learning.
Interviews by Jon Franchetto. These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.