In Odede and Posner’s book Find Me Unafraid, a Wesleyan student, Jessica Posner, describes the challenges of studying abroad in a Kenyan slum called Kibera. One thing that Jessica grappled with during her time in Kibera was her privilege. She writes, “I never knew, before I came here, that my background could be something to apologize for” (Odede and Posner, 88). As she spends time with Kennedy Odede, a man born and raised in Kibera, she realizes because her “childhood was surrounded by all the comforts of the upper-middle-class life,” they may never “truly be able to understand each other’s worlds” (88). Through this Global Engagement course, not only have I become aware of the great privilege of being born in America, but I have also learned that understanding and sharing the struggles of people from different worlds than mine are not the only ways to connect with them. Instead, connection is earned through humility, open-mindedness, and willingness to listen to the struggles of others, skills that Jessica Posner applied during her time abroad that made her successful in helping the Kiberan community.
