By: Loyalist College
Students in the one-year International Support Worker post-graduate certificate program at Loyalist College will spend four weeks in Chiapas, Mexico, this winter learning about relief and sustainable development. The professor-led placement builds on lessons from the first semester, ranging from international development strategies to global concerns about literacy, poverty, health, employment, conflicts and the environment.
On October 2nd, in anticipation of the placement, the College welcomed guest speaker Paul Poirier from Arthur Frederick Community Builders, a Belleville-based organization that works to relieve poverty in Chiapas by assisting with housing, education, water treatment, agriculture and sanitation. He spoke to a group of approximately 50 students about the challenges his organization strives to overcome.
“It’s very difficult, for women especially, to get a decent home in Mexico because they live in extreme poverty,” explained Paul. “The basic houses we’ve built for them have a significant impact, especially on children and their health. We replace dirt floors and mouldy wood walls with concrete blocks and flooring, as well as waterproofing the roofs to reduce mildew.”
Chiapas resident Juan Diaz, another guest speaker during the presentation, is one of the new owners of a home, built through Arthur Frederick Community Builders. After struggling to find work to support his wife and children, Juan and his family are relieved to have proper shelter.
“I was able to connect with Paul and his wife Diane and help with the work they do in Mexico,” said Juan through a translator. “They invited me to come to Canada and speak about the opportunities.”
While in Chiapas, the students will visit development organizations, ranging from the United Nations Development Programme field office to non-governmental organizations such as the Frayba Human Rights Centre. In the second and third weeks, they live with families in San Cristobal, where the majority of the approximately 100,000 people are indigenous descendants of the Maya.
"There is a real difference between international support and international development," explained Professor Kate Rogers. “Our program is all about learning to support local people to establish and invest in their own goals, rather than being perpetual recipients of the charity model. Being in Chiapas is the perfect opportunity for our students to see and analyze development at work so that they can apply the skills they’ve learned in a real international support environment.”
The placement experience is all about experiential learning, which means learning from doing. Just as important is sharing, reflecting and analyzing experiences, so the professors schedule regular group debriefings. The students are evaluated on their portfolio of evidence, written in their own words and supplemented with photos. In addition, they complete a case study, including an in-depth analysis of the different strategies used in international support.
When the students return to Loyalist after four weeks away, they will prepare for their final four-week internships. Last year, students completed placements in Peru, Bolivia and Mexico. Graduates of the program work in a broad range of international development environments. Opportunities range from advocating for refugees and immigrants to participating in disaster relief and assistance efforts. They may go on to create business and commerce concerned with fair trade and sustainable development or support education and literacy programs.