Spring 2015 - Day 55

In photojournalism we did nothing pertaining to photos or journalism. We had a discussion spanning the entire class on how frustrated we have become with our shipboard community. It's interesting, I have felt that this shipboard community was different and not as strong as my previous one. But I have attributed it to the fact that it was still early and our community hadn't formed yet. But we have basically reached the halfway point and it isn't improving. 

 

While I was in Myanmar a friend from my previous voyage was messaging me and I confessed to him that I thought our community was better. I followed it up by saying "Shhhhh, don't tell anyone." 

 

But realized I shouldn't care, why does it need to be a secret? My shipboard community last time was incredible, it was my favorite part of the whole voyage. This community doesn't even compare. 

 

The things that I learned during our class discussion were appalling. People blatantly say culturally and racially insensitive things while on the ship. It doesn't even stop there. They are insensitive about gender, about sexual orientation, and about beliefs, religious or otherwise. 

 

The people on this voyage seem to be here just to have fun and, as Amber, my professor, pointed out, we are not supposed to be here to have fun. We may have fun moments, but we are here to learn and to be made uncomfortable. One of my favorite sayings is that a culture is not there to make you comfortable, it is there to make it's own people comfortable. 

 

I have been uncomfortable so often on this voyage. I have learned that language barriers make me uncomfortable. Everyone shares great conversations they have had with people in the countries we have visited and I have yet to have that experience. I struggle with communicating with someone who barely speaks my language and I don't like doing it. It is something I have had to push through multiple times. 

 

When I am on the ship I have also felt uncomfortable. I have not felt heard, I have felt brushed aside, I have felt ignored. Both by my group of friends and by other people. I have met many wonderful and interesting people on the ship but when I think of the shipboard community as a whole the words that come to my mind are mean, disrespectful, and clicky. It is nothing compared to what I have experienced. I do not know if it is because of the countries we are going to, the Deans running the voyage, or the people on the ship. 

 

We discussed our pre-ports and the things we are told in them. A lot of the things have been lies. It was not really true that you couldn't take pictures in Myanmar or ask people about their culture. They scared us and it wasn't completely necessary. Our cultural pre-ports are spent discussing things that are not completely useful to us. Sure, the history is interesting to learn about but it is not really helping me understand the culture of the country as it is today. 

 

Many people in class gave other examples of how the leadership of our voyage has let them down. I don't have any examples and I am sure they are doing everything they can to make our voyage as safe and wonderful as possible but it is clear that, in a way, they are dictating our ship culture and a lot of people are becoming frustrated. 

 

We also discussed voluntourism, when people go on service trips just to say they have done it. How is that helping anyone? You think you can solve a problem a country can't solve themselves after only one day? Think again. When you only have a limited amount of time in country you should spend it learning and listening, not necessarily doing. Many of the students on our voyage seem to have a tourism based mind instead of a travel based mind. They are waving their privilege around and not going about their times in these countries in the most sensitive or classy ways. 

 

Our talk lasted our entire class period and got really heated at some parts. It was the first time that I didn't feel alone in the way I had been feeling on the ship. It was nice to know that other people are also frustrated with our shipboard community.

 

This discussion carried on into the evening where I went to a seminar called Privilege With a Purpose. Amber was hosting it along with two other community members in order to open the discussion about our privilege and how it affects us and others. 

 

There really has been tension on the ship when it comes to insensitive comments and I think it has really made an impact on the way our shipboard community has formed. The countries we are traveling to on this voyage are significantly different from the countries I traveled to last time. Most of the countries we have been to have turbulent histories and different governments and policies from what we are used to. The histories of these countries have shaped them into things that may not make us comfortable and we have been responding to that with insensitive comments. 

 

I can't tell you how many times I have heard someone say that the Chinese people were rude and that they never want to go back to China. I've said it once or twice. China was uncomfortable and many didn't like it. But how would you feel if someone visited one city in America and then said that Americans are rude and they never want to go back. 

 

I would feel awful. America is huge, one visit can not give you a sense of how the people are. And China is even bigger than the US! We absolutely can not stereotype the country after being there for only 6 days. 

 

That was a rant that went a little off topic. Back to the seminar. 

 

At the start of it they things off and if they pertained to you then you stood up. They all pertained to privileges and various different ways you identify. Here some examples: 

 

Stand up if…

 

You grew up in a household with three or more cars

You grew up in a house that had books 

You grew up in a single family house with four or more bedrooms

You have parents that have a masters degree or higher 

You are a first generation college student 

You are part of the racial majority in the country you are from 

Your great grand parents were immigrants 

Your parents were immigrants

You are an immigrant 

Your parents pay your credit card bill or phone bill

You ever attended private school

You have never held a job

You are consistently told you are beautiful or handsome

You have ever felt afraid to practice you religion

You are not religious

You are cisgendered and have never had someone question your sexuality

You have ever had your relationship status questioned because of your sexual orientation 

You ever felt afraid to stand up to one of the statements 

 

That is probably half of them. The exercise was powerful. As I listened, watched, and stood up and sat down, I was overcome with emotion. I can't really explain it but I had tears in my eyes and I watched people admit to the struggles they have endured or the privilege they were not granted. 

 

Most of my privilege was handed to me, it wasn't something I earned or asked for. I am very blessed to have it and I know that there isn't much I can do to change it but it still makes me feel guilty sometimes. That I am so blessed in so many ways and others have to struggle. But that is something that this seminar addressed. There are infinite number of ways to exist and none of them is better than the other. While you may have privilege in one way someone else has it in another. As you live your life your privilege will change depending on fate, geographic location, or personal choice. Just people you have privilege doesn't mean you are better or worse off than someone else. It doesn't mean you need to give your privilege away either. Some people are perfectly content with the way they exist. Here is a story we were told: 

 

A SASer met some boys in a small village. They lived in a hut and seemed to be very poor. The SASer played soccer with these boys and got to know them. When they were done playing the SASer felt like he had made a connection to them and wanted to give them something. He pulled a Coke out of his backpack and gave it to one of the boys. In response the boy ran back to his home, got a Coke, and gave it to the SASer. That's what the boy thought us foreigners did, exchange Cokes. 

 

The SASer made an assumption that the boy needed help when that may not have been true. 

 

Here's another story.

 

A researcher and philanthropist moved to the Amazon in order to help. She immediately saw a need. The people needed money and woman and girls knew how to make beautiful crafts but didn't have a way to sell them. If they could sell them then that would be a good way to make money. So she taught them some business basics and set up a way that they could sell their goods. At the end of her time there she realized that although they now had money, they young girls had dropped out of school in order to spend more time making their goods and so were no longer getting an education. The woman didn't really help at all. 

 

So what is the moral of these stories? That when we go into these countries that are very impoverished we don't necessarily need to have a the mindset that everyone is poor and needs help. Sure, maybe they are poor economically, but they may live very rich lives in other ways. 

 

These two stories and many of the discussions that we had made me change my perspective on the meal we took part in at the school. I was so put off by the meal and felt that it was wrong that we were taking food away from these people that really needed it. But maybe they didn't really need it. Maybe they have plenty of food. Maybe they were just very grateful for all we have done for them and for visiting them and they wanted to say thank you by serving us a meal. These people are giving too, and they wouldn't expect us to come in and help them with out a thank you. By checking my privilege and realizing that these people aren't completely helpless I came to see an experience I had in a different light. 

 

This again has gotten off topic from the seminar but it is all important stuff. 

 

In the second half of the seminar they performed a skit of things actually said by people around the ship. It was horrible. Then they ran the skit again and stopped it periodically so that we could reflect to the statements and offer ways to respond if you ever hear people saying such things. The bottom line was think before you speak, don't generalize entire cultures or countries, and basically don't be an insensitive asshole. 

 

This whole day has burst me wide open. I am looking at this voyage in a whole different light. Maybe the shipboard community will improve but I am not going to wait for it and I will not let it define my voyage. My last voyage was about friends and fun. This voyage is not about friends. It's about the world, and my view of the world, and myself in the world.