A group of 24 Education and Business students will travel to Zambia this summer as part of Cabrini’s month-long Bridges to Zambia cultural immersion and education program. Established in 2019 through a federal Fulbright-Hays grant, the program will make a much-anticipated return to Africa after trips in 2021 and 2022 were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fulbright-Hays Program is a United States Department of Education initiative that enables greater research and training in the study of non-Western culture and language. In Zambia, Cabrini students will engage with students and teachers at St. Lawrence School, a Pre-K‒8 school in the capital city of Lusaka.
Faculty leaders involved in the Bridges to Zambia project see it as an extension of the Cabrinian mission.
“This idea of mission-driven partnerships and building cultural awareness is who we are at Cabrini,” said Erin McLaughlin, PhD, Associate Dean, School of Business, Education, and Professional Studies. “The fact that Fulbright-Hays has funded us to do what we do…just makes it even more enjoyable.”
The experience is available to undergraduate students enrolled in two Engagements with the Common Good (ECG) courses—People, Planet, and Profits and Bridges to Zambia—as well as graduate students in Education (MEd), Business (MBA), and Leadership and Organization Development and Change (PhD). Graduate level educators in local districts who recently enrolled in Cabrini’s ESL program through two National Professional Development grants, ÉXITO (serving the Norristown Area School District) and ADELANTE (serving Avon Grove, Oxford Area and Kennett Area School districts) are eligible to apply for the immersion experience as well. Any student with a dedicated interest and commitment toward participating in Bridges to Zambia will be considered for admission on a case-by-case basis.
Education students will have direct classroom engagement with the children at St. Lawrence School and will be encouraged to help with lesson planning. The Zambian learners bring a passion for education that is often missing in the United States, said Martha Ritter, PhD, Associate Professor, Teacher Education, who will supervise the 2023 trip.
“One of the things that really struck all of us who were at the school [in 2019] was how very important education was to the students,” Ritter said. “That was startling in a good way: just how valued it is and how eager to learn [they are].”
Ritter added that Cabrini students will have a chance to understand Zambia far more deeply, returning to their classrooms in area schools with the ability to teach their own students more effectively about Africa in general, and Zambia in particular. The 2023 trip will also see Cabrini students engaging with after-school clubs at St. Lawrence School, where the exchange of ideas is “a little more open.” Mutual knowledge-sharing is the goal.
“This year, we are focusing on working with the after school clubs at the school…collecting oral histories and writing poetry that can actually be used in the inquiry units that [Education students] are teaching to classes in Philadelphia,” Ritter said.
Though the Fulbright-Hays program typically funds initiatives for pre-teachers and other education professionals, the Bridges to Zambia project is unique in its engagement with business students. Participants in this year’s excursion will help Zambian partner organizations Vision of Hope, which supports exploited and trafficked girls, and Home of Hope, the complementary organization for boys, with their business ventures.
As in 2019, students on the 2023 Zambia trip will work with Vision of Hope’s crafts business Peace by Piece. New this year is Home of Hope’s “hare-raising” venture which intends to teach boys about subsistence farming by raising rabbits.
“We are truly partners with the community and our students feel that,” McLaughlin said. “They form relationships with these community members.”
On December 7 of last year, representatives from Vision of Hope, Home of Hope, and Cabrini’s Northern Ireland-based partner organization, Project Zambia, came to campus for educational workshops, marking the first time these partners had been face-to-face since 2019. Cabrini students gathered along with them for a day of educational workshops exploring Zambian culture and the value of strong international partnerships, as well as a crafts gallery.
“The [Zambian partners] spoke to our students about how transformative it can be for them to become part of these projects,” said Susan Pierson, PhD, ESL Program Coordinator and Associate Professor, Education, who co-led the first Bridges to Zambia excursion with McLaughlin and will return this summer.
Ritter said seeing Zambian friends again on campus reignited a sense “of community and welcoming, incredible warmth, and hopefulness.” After three years of isolation and cautious optimism that turned to disappointment, the Bridges to Zambia project leaders are looking ahead to July 2023 without trepidation.
“It doesn’t feel like that at all this year,” Ritter said.