Based in Seattle, WA, Bridges to Understanding works to create networks in schools all over the world. Already established in countries like Peru, India Kenya, and now South Africa, their main goal is to have classrooms participate in cross-cultural exchanges using the Internet and photography skills. In South Africa, Bridges has just started working in conjunction with EMEP (Extra Mural Education Project) in order to reach out into the community.
TESTIMONIALS
Gretchen Geerts
Fall 2007 South Africa Service Learning participant
While in Cape Town, I have been working on the Bridges to Understanding Project at Hector Peterson Secondary School. Bridges to Understanding makes use of photography and storytelling “to build cross-cultural understanding.” As a service learner with both EMEP and Bridges to Understanding, I hold after-school sessions with learners and educators in order to teach them how to use the internet and e-mail, how to use a camera, how to take photographs, and how to use Photoshop and Premiere. The end goal is for the educators to be able to carry on and integrate the project in their classrooms and for the learners to establish communication with other learners around the world and create a digital story that illustrates a problem their local community may face or tells a story about their culture or community. This project is so important because it gives the learners access to tools that they may not have had access to before and allows them to have a greater understanding of the world.
Email Gretchen for more information!
Katie Bates
Spring 2007 South Africa Service Learning participant
My service learning with Bridges is a new option this semester. I have been setting up an after-school program at a high school named Hector Peterson in the Wallescene informal settlement. The program works with 60 students to develop an interest in their own culture and the culture of foreign countries, specifically the culture in Seattle, WA. They learn basic computer literacy and typing so they can go on to write emails to their partner school, Washington Middle School. The goal is to get the teachers to lead the interaction, though I found I often had to step in to the South African teacher position. They also develop photography skills with the ultimate goal of making a digital story to share with their sister school and put on the website for the rest of the world to view.
Another aspect of the Bridges program in South Africa is to select 6 students to travel to Seattle for a three week face-to-face exchange. This is the second year South Africa has participated in the exchange program.
This service learning project is great for those creative types who feel comfortable working independently. There is a lot to build on for future service learners. I ended up learning so much more from the students than from anyone else in Cape Town concerning what life in townships is really like.
Email Katie for more information!
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