D.C. class field trips incite insight

Deanna Durham

The Community Learning and Hispanic Education class eats lunch at a Salvadoran restaurant in Washington, D.C. The class visited various Latino sites throughout the city during the field trip in March.

Three EMU classes invaded Washington, D.C., two weeks ago. The three separate groups were from Moira Rogers and Deanna Durham's Community Learning and Hispanic Education class, Earl Zimmerman's Peace and Justice in the Global Context class, and Calvin Shenk's World Religions class.

World Religions

World Religions, the third group to be in D.C., focused on visiting different places of worship. Their visits included a Hare Krishna Temple of the Hindu sect, a Buddhist meditation center, and a Muslim mosque.

Student Steve Horst said, "The Hare Krishna temple made the strongest impression on me because it was so foreign to me because of the worship of the deities and the chanting of the mantras. At the same time, they made the biggest effort to contextualize their religion to Christian vocabulary and understanding. This made me uncomfortable on one hand because to hear those concepts used in that type of a setting kind of caught me by surprise and was almost offensive."

The close interaction with people of different faiths prompted Kari Hochstetler to reflect upon her own beliefs. "I was encouraged to pray more fervently through silence the way the Buddhist monk, to sing praise songs more vigorously to God like the Hindus, and to approach God with respect and humbleness like the Muslims."

Peace and Justice in the Global Context

The Peace and Justice class headed up to D.C. on Wednesday afternoon, March 17. They visited the World Bank, where they heard from speakers Raymond Martin and Larry Smucker. The two described the work of the World Bank and addressed issues of the bank's role in global justice and how it has changed since the "War on Terrorism." The group had dinner at the Visions Cinema Beatro Restaurant and stayed the night at Hyattsville Mennonite Church.

On Thursday, the class spent the morning at the City Christian Church hearing from various speakers covering issues such as church-state relationships, same-sex marriages, the war on Iraq, global finance, poverty, and economics.

Their next stop was the Mennonite Central Committee Office, where they enjoyed pizza while discussing MCC's work in the nation's capitol. Katie Cockley, a member of the class, said she enjoyed the MCC office the most. "I enjoyed hearing about what MCC is doing, and knowing that even without immediate results, they do it anyway," she said. "We also discussed whether Christians should be involved in government."

From D.C., the group traveled to Arlington, Va., where they made their last visit to The Inter-American Foundation. The foundation is run like a church but is funded by Congress. They heard from Kevin Healey, who talked about grassroots development and justice. After their full trip, the class returned to Harrisonburg Thursday evening.

Community Learning and Hispanic Education

Moira Rogers' class left Thursday evening and, after many wrong turns in the city, eventually found the church where they stayed the night. Bright and early on Friday morning, March 19, the group packed into an EMU van and visited the MCC office. While there, the group enjoyed a long discussion with Bethany Spicher and Rosita Choy about immigration and how MCC works with these issues in the capitol.

From there, the class toured La Clínica Del Pueblo, a free clinic located in the heart of D.C.'s Latino community. The bright and colorful clinic is a safe and free place for Latinos to receive general healthcare. For Meghan Kemp, the clinic was the highlight of the trip. A nursing major, she said, "I can totally see myself working in a place like this." She was also impressed by the workers. "They had such commitment, passion, and hope through tough issues," she said.

For lunch, the group enjoyed eating at a Salvadoran restaurant. Then they headed to a Latin American Youth Center where they toured the facility, met the workers, and found out about gang prevention, drama, art, and language programs the center offers. The group was able to see progress being made on the center's new art studio. Brenna Beck was impressed by the building. "The art studio was my favorite part of the trip," she said. "I'm really interested in art and wish I had a studio like that."

The Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) was the group's final stop. There they discussed the center's work with Virginia Showalter, a 2000 EMU graduate who works there.

Deanna Durham, a group leader who had previously lived in D.C., said, "It was wonderful to be in my old neighborhood and see how much it has positively changed and to know that work like MCC, La Clínica, and the Youth Center still goes on with passionate people."

All the classes enjoyed taking advantage of having the country's capital so close to campus. In addition to all the information the groups soaked up, the trips were a fun way to get out of class and spend time with classmates. Cockley said, "It was really fun being in the city." Beck added that she enjoyed the group dynamics of her trip. "It was a great chance to get to know people I didn't really know in the class," she said.