My apologies for the lateness in this post however I have had a tumultuous time in my return to the states. I have had quite some time to review the course and the impact it had on me personally which is the primary reason we went to South Africa, to have experiences that we were to interpret and use upon our return. I have seen now that there was a vitally important aspect that was missing from the iteration of the course the Seven of us went on. The previous group where already acquainted with each other and had a working relationship as a group, we did not nor did we ever develop such a relation. The fact of the matter was that the different personalities involved and the different cultures we represented came into direct conflict. This was plainly obvious to me toward the end of the course however I believe that not everyone was fully vested in the intention of the course. We could have benefited greatly from Reconciliation. Then the question is how you get people who do not believe in or perhaps care to come to the table and work together.
I believe that the course gave us many opportunities to gain insight, however the rampant abuse and indifference meant that some of us where left in a quandary of how to proceed. I myself have been admitted and will be in recovery for months and I doubt I will ever deign to meet with anyone who left the states to go on the course. I cannot even bring myself to focus properly to the task at hand as a haze falls over my mind and I have to stop to calm myself. I will attempt to finish this at a later date.
Hamba Kahle! If we meet again Ryan E. Hardman
Mimi
My inspiration
A little history from the horses mouth
- Cabeza de Vaca
- I am a native of Boulder who has grown up with a diverse family that has lead me down many different and winding paths. I work in music but love history, I hold to the past but strive to know the future. I am a traveler who makes contacts in many different locals and who holds his word to be worth more then his weight in gold.
I would have to disagree with you on some level. I definitely think it was difficult to form a proper group while in South Africa, especially because we only had three weeks to to do so. I personally, and I think much of the rest of us, did get to know each other. I set out to make sure that if I were to be living with what were at the time strangers, I would certainly get to know them so that I could be somewhat sure I was safe. I know for a fact that I genuinely made friends on this trip and I will most certainly be seeing most of them in Boulder. I understand you seemed to have a hard time getting to know everyone on the trip, but that doesn't mean that everyone else on the trip didn't. I know I did have some clashing moments with Jack, but that only adds to me getting to him and him getting to know me. In that case, I do think I genuinely got to know Jack. I also feel the same way about Courtney, Maria, Nykeyia and Heidi, but I don't feel the same about you. It seems that you were able to remove yourself so far from the group that no one was willing to really get to know you. Not taking into account the concept of forming a group we learned in class, I still definitely believe most of the people on the trip were able to form a group in which we could rely on each other, feel accepted, safe and respected. But, of course, that is merely my opinion.
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