Reflections on a Sandal - Grebel Now article by Rachel Reist
The Spring 2015 edition of Grebel Now, the newsletter for Conrad Grebel University College, was recently published. Included in this publication is an article by Rachel Reist, the Field Study and Internship Coordinator for PACS, on the lasting impact of international travel. The full article is below, and the Spring 2015 Grebel Now can be accessed online.
Conrad Grebel University College will confer its first honorary doctorate to John Paul Lederach at its Convocation ceremony on April 13, 2014.
On a balmy Sunday morning in Georgia, a large crowd of people slowly walk in a circle holding crosses, each with a unique name. When the name is called, the cross is raised and the bearer declares “presente!” These crosses are placed one by one in the fence, creating an impactful memorial. Name after name is called as the vigil continues and the people march on.
For Rachel, the past year involved many new crazy and stretching cultural experiences. Even just taking public transportation every day became a funny anecdote, between being squished into a minibus like sardines, being pecked by a chicken the entire way home from work, creating a make shift window out of an umbrella to protect passengers from getting wet during a monsoon, and not being entirely sure if the bus was dropping her off at the right destination. These are just some of the crazy things that can happen on a PACS field study.
On November 7th, four students flew from Waterloo down to Wichita, Kansas to attend the annual Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) convention.