April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
SEMESTER ABROAD
Student experienced three countries
Tricia Kinns, 20, a junior majoring in social work at the University of Vermont in Burlington, says she "learned and unlearned more than I could have ever imagined" during her stays with host families in Kathmandu, Nepal; Amman, Jordan; and Santiago, Chile.
Along the way, she earned 16 academic credits, learned languages, listened to speakers and visited human rights organizations. But the experience went beyond academics.
Study abroad is "almost never what's taught in the classroom that is the most important," Tricia explained. "It's the experiences you encounter and the assumptions that you challenge."
She learned to "challenge or at least question everything [I] hear in the media."
Tricia was among two dozen college students in the 15-week human rights comparison program, run by the School for International Training's study abroad program. Her trip started in January in New York City with visits to the United Nations and other international human rights organizations.
Next up was multi-ethnic Nepal, which became a parliamentary democracy and then a republic in the late 2000s after a decade of armed conflict between Maoist rebels and the Hindu monarchy, according to SIT. Tricia learned about issues like environmental justice, the livelihoods of Tibetan refugees, women's rights and the security of sex workers.
A speaker also told the group about "many situations [Nepalis] have encountered where there is no investigation to a missing person or homicide because it is known to have been done by someone of power," Tricia wrote in a blog about the trip.
One cultural immersion experience in Nepal that stood out for Tricia was witnessing a public cremation ritual at the Hindu Pashupatinath Temple.
"To say that this was easy to watch would be incredibly misleading," she stated. "However, there was something much more peaceful about it than your standard funeral in the U.S."
In Jordan - in between excursions to Mount Nebo, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea and a camping trip in the Wadi Rum desert - the students learned about security states, gender rights in the Islamic world and the flood of Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian refugees in the country. They visited the Zaatari refugee camp, which had 700 new arrivals from Syria at the time.
"We went into tents and caravans to have short conversations with families," Tricia said. "There are many districts, each of which houses about 80 to 85 families. In each district, there is only one female bathroom facility, one male bathroom facility [and] one kitchen."
She struggled to understand "the fact that a person can put a monetary value on someone else's life. On the farm, one of the head people talked about the concept of having Syrian refugees work there rather than Iraqi or Palestinian, because they were cheaper."
Chile, a former dictatorship, was another hotbed of human rights issues. Students stayed in the capital, Santiago. They heard from student activists and stayed with indigenous communities on farms in the Andes.
Tricia's Catholic faith was strengthened by the injustices she saw on the trip.
"Things get better because people are willing to help," she noted. "There is a plan for each of us. I spent the past few months of my life learning how to be appreciative of what I have."
Tricia did an independent research project on how women's access to education affects their role in the home. She's not sure about her career goals, but has an interest in raising awareness about barriers presented by the media and in promoting alternative sources of information.[[In-content Ad]]
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