By Matthew Dooley Staff writer
junior Marissa Dacken participated in the Global Opportunities South Africa experience. She and 14 other students immersed themselves in the culture of South Africa for 19 days total, going from city, to township, to village, to game reserve and so on.
The Susquehanna website describes the trip as “a rich blend of cultures, compelling history and collection of wildlife not found anywhere else.” Dacken said, “students were made to live the lives of South African villagers and experience cultures unlike that of the United States.”
Susquehanna’s GO program was actually a main incentive for Dacken to choose the school. Susquehanna has a variety of GO trips to choose from, each providing unique cultural experiences. However, it was the GO South Africa trip that drew her attention. “Ever since high school, it was a dream of mine to travel to Africa,” she said.
She had a variety of reasons to want to go: “It appealed to me because of my interest in different things. Africa is vastly different than the United States, and I wanted to experience that. Also, I enjoy writing.”
The trip was focused on travel writing, having the students write about their experiences in a journal during the trip. They each had to write a creative essay about how being immersed in South African culture affected them, showcasing the similarities and differences from their own lives.
“Early-Modern Africa,” a course Dacken had previously taken at Susquehanna, gave her an idea of what South Africa would be like. However, not everything was how she pictured it.
“I expected it to look the way it did: wide areas of land with wild animals roaming. I didn’t expect there to be as much poverty within the cities. I was surprised by the conditions people were living in,” she said. “I expected to see more use of technology than I did. The first village had huts, some with electricity, some without… I thought it would be a bit more modernized and cleaner, for lack of a better term.”
As time passed, Dacken spent more time with the villagers, getting to know them better.
She made friends with the villagers by contributing in daily tasks or chores in the village, as did the other student participating in the trip.
Dacken learned new things from the people every day there as she helped them with chores
“I carried water in a bucket over my head, used water basins to wash myself and my clothes,” she said.
Dacken did also have some free time during the days to simply spend time with the people.
“I also danced with girls from N’come, learning traditional dance moves,” she said.