Wednesday, 28 February 2018 (North Side, Anguilla) — Another soon-coming community connection is in the mix with a group of college age students from the USA. Be prepared for this Communities Come Together from Afar connection involving students from Howard University in Washington, DC and youths in the Anguilla community. The university students will be accompanied by staff and/or faculty, comprising a group of 24 persons. They are preparing for a 10-day visit to Anguilla and will arrive on Thursday, 8th March and depart on Saturday, 17th March 2018.
Their arrival fortuitously coincides with International Women’s Day and they will be on island during Anguilla’s celebration of International Women’s Week. Both of these special events are scheduled as part of a worldwide recognition and honouring of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women in the community.
These mission oriented university students are eagerly anticipating their international travel and visiting countries during a recess from their academic studies. They are traveling under the auspices of Howard’s university-wide initiative administered by the Office of the Dean of the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. That is the Howard University Alternative Spring Break (HUASB) programme.
According to Howard’s President, Dr Wayne A. I. Frederick who is from Trinidad, the HUASB 2018 programme will connect Howard students with communities in hurricane impacted countries. They will visit the Caribbean islands of Anguilla, Puerto Rico, Saint Thomas and Sint Maarten. HUASB students seek to assist in the restoration of Anguilla by combatting violence through youth empowerment.
During their 10-day service trip, the Howard University Alternative Spring Break participants will serve in various educational and social development settings. Their itinerary includes visiting The Valley Primary School, Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School and the Anguilla Red Cross. Other activities planned are a yoga session on one of Anguilla’s spectacular white sand beaches and a meditative journal writing session in a similar venue.
The Howard University Alternative Spring Break programme is a worthy endeavour that exposes young people to communities that may be far from where they live. It teaches them the merits of being of service – helping people who are underserved and underrepresented – and provides them with life-long learning lessons that are not taught in the classroom.
I personally know the benefits of studying and traveling abroad, and encourage us in the Anguilla community to continue incorporating these learning experiences in the academic curriculum for our students ranging in age from primary school to tertiary education levels. Perhaps we may wish to consider emulating a similar international travel and studies programme organised through the Anguilla Community College. Embracing other cultures, languages and ways of life broadens our horizons and makes us true citizens of the world.
A teaching lesson that has been emphasised in my involvement with organising such an endeavour, as an overseas visit, is the need to understand another culture and society, to have patience and compassion, and to be sensitive to different customs as well as advanced planning. We are challenged in organising a visitors’ programme when the visitors have not previously travelled to the country or have not had international travel experience. On top of that is the visitors’ unfamiliarity with the phases of a community’s progression recovering from the impacts of a massive natural disaster like a 5++ category hurricane.
Through our words and photographs, we do our best to convey to those who are not on island what it is like functioning in such a changed environment. But unless persons are actually in the country and can see with their own eyes what we are going through, to put our lives back in order after this forecasted Act of God, they won’t fully comprehend the reality of the present living conditions. If we have not lived through this experience, or been a part of the nation’s rebuilding, then we may not truly comprehend the reality of what actual exists.
HUASB’s arrangements for the Anguilla visit are being finalised, as I speak, with grateful assistance from the Department of Youth and Culture Staff and other persons involved. On behalf of Howard University, I express heartfelt thanks to Mrs. Josephine Gumbs, Mrs. Evadney Richardson and Ms. Avon Carty for their willingness to locate accommodations; to Mr. Bren Romney for arranging access to the public schools; to the Hon. Mr. Perin Bradley for his recommendations; to Ms. Sammi Green for her availability to teach a yoga class; and Col. Dawn Hodge for offering logistical support. Thank you to everyone who is not named but who played a role in helping to organise this overseas visit programme.
May be this short visit by HUASB participants will not have a huge impact on the local community, but I am hoping and praying that together we will be able to create long term connections which will benefit both the Anguilla and Bison communities. Please join me and other Howard Alumni in the Anguilla Community in warmly welcoming these distinguished visitors to our tranquillity wrapped in blue shores.
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(NOTE: Bison is Howard University’s mascot. This name is given to students who attend the university.)
The Howard University Alternative Spring Break is a learning programme that involves students in meaningful service projects connecting them to the significance of their education and preparing them to be servant leaders for the nation and the world. To learn more about the HUASB programme, visit the website https://chapel.howard.edu/HUASB.
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Ms. Kay M. Ferguson is a Howard University alumna. She is assisting HUASB Site Coordinator, Ms. Alexa Imani Spencer, who is majoring in journalism, with various programme details. If you would like to participate as a host for this community connections visit or engage in conversation with these dynamic young future leaders in America and throughout the world, please contact Kay by telephone on 1 264 476 8735 or email kayferguson@ymail.com.
