Cultural Classroom

A man with a gold tooth stood by as UB student David Turnbull plunged 180 feet off of the South African bridge, shrieking all the way. And he did it all in the name of education.

It was the summer of 2003, and Turnbull, now a senior French and Spanish major, was participating in a Study Abroad program in South Africa being conducted by UB professor Shaun Irlam. The group of 10 students was on its way to the mountains for the weekend when they saw a sign advertising bungee jumping.

"I went first on a 5 Rand (60 cent) bet," Turnbull stated in an e-mail from Besancon, France, where he is studying this semester. "I got a security talk from one of the gold-toothed workers in incomprehensible English, and had about three seconds to think about what I was doing before I went screaming off the 180-foot bridge, and was lowered into a raft by a shoeless man."

Laura Halliday, a senior dual major in English and political science who was also on the trip, said the bungee excursion was an example of the diversity she witnessed.

"There are so many amazing things to remember, from traveling across South

Africa and seeing the jarring effects of apartheid that still exist, to bungee jumping. The trip, like the country, was filled with contrasts like that," she said.

Irlam isn't promising bungee jumping for this year's trip to South Africa and Senegal, scheduled for May 16 through July 5, but he said students will have a wide variety of experiences. A native of South Africa who came to the U.S. in 1985, he said the country is a land of enormous disparity of wealth.

"The country inherited a huge legacy of poverty and injustice and crime that is going to take a long time to work itself out of the society," he said. "One doesn't get over 300 years of racist oppression in one generation."

While parts of the capital city of Cape Town look like miniature English estates, he noted, the native Africans were forced out of the best parts of the city into the surrounding countryside.

"There are sprawling miles and miles of shacks," he said, adding that the students will be taking trips into these townships to see the reality of poverty.

The students will spend three weeks in Cape Town studying the political history of South Africa through historical accounts, literature and field trips.

The opportunity to see things first hand made a huge difference, according to Turnbull.

"I learned what apartheid really was. I learned what poverty was," he wrote. "Imagine wooden shacks, smaller than a typical suburban shed, as far as the eye can see. Imagine seeing small children alone, sleeping in the streets becoming part of a daily reality."

Halliday agreed with this viewpoint, and said it gave her a sense of perspective.

"It is really easy to become absorbed in oneself and one's own culture. This program forces you out of that habit. No matter how many classes I take on Africa, there is no substitute for going there and experiencing it first hand," she said.

Students will earn six credits from the trip, three from the course in South Africa and three from the new element to be added this year, a two-week session in Senegal. This nation, a former French colony on the westernmost point of Africa, just below the Sahara, was once a center of the European slave trade.

During the two weeks in the capital city of Dakar, participants will study the literature, film and music of Senegalese culture. Exposure to Senegal will provide a wealth of new experiences to the students, according to Irlam.

"You really are leaving behind everything that is familiar," he said. "Africa kind of rushes at you like a runaway train when you get out of the airport in Dakar." The images one may have of vibrant, colorful street life in markets and bazaars still exists, he said.

Safety should not be a concern, he added. Although the country is 90 percent Islamic, it doesn't represent the kind of radical fundamentalism that would cause apprehension.

"The Senegalese people are overwhelmingly friendly," he said. Actually, he noted, Cape Town might be more dangerous, given the poverty level. He briefs students on how to safely conduct oneself and not draw attention. During the past two trips to South Africa, he explained, there hasn't been one incident where anyone had an encounter with criminal or unfriendly behavior.

The cost for the trip, including tuition, airfare and spending money, comes to about $6,000 for the seven-week experience by Irlam and the Study Abroad Program office. Students can get an application at the office in 210 Talbert.

U.S. citizens need only a passport, said Irlam. Sarah Wilson, a graduate assistant in the Study Abroad office, said it takes four to six weeks to get a passport that costs $85 and is good for 10 years. Students would need to fill out an application and get transcripts, also, but there's no cost for UB students there.

"There's nothing better you can do for yourself as an undergraduate than study abroad," she said.

Turnbull agreed that it's a good idea to take the opportunity.

"It's relatively inexpensive and you're at a point in your life where it's easy to do so, being that you're not tied down by a family or a career, not to mention that broadening your cultural horizons is well worthwhile," he wrote. "Traveling to a third world country can really put things into perspective."

Both Turnbull and Halliday said that the trip was unforgettable from a personal as well as an educational experience. Irlam said that for some, it is life-changing as well.

"Close to a third of the students (have had their) academic course altered by their experience in Africa," he said.

Some have changed their major and others have decided to join the Peace Corps and return. Promoting some sort of change seems to be one of Irlam's goals in conducting the trip.

"If it doesn't change their lives, they better check their pulse, there's something wrong," he said with a laugh.