Bazmail and Kareem, two young children from an impoverished neighborhood in inner-city Lahore in Pakistan, leave their home early every morning to collect paper waste wherever they can find it. They spend up to six hours searching for paper or cardboard in parks, streets, public trashcans and alleys. Their daily lunch depends on whether or not they can gather enough paper waste to satisfy their parents, who sell the paper to recycling companies to earn their livelihood.
As I recorded the children’s daily lives as part of a documentary-making project, I became good friends with them and they began to share their little secrets with me. On my last day of making the documentary, Bazmail told me that he had been secretly collecting abandoned books from public places and storing them in a hidden compartment at home. Upon seeing his collection, I came across books in English, a language he could not understand. I asked Bazmail how he would learn to read and he said, “You can read and write. Won’t you teach me?” Unlike other underprivileged children, Bazmail had not asked me for some extra money on our last day together. Instead, he had asked for something far greater.
10-year-old Bazmail had a sincere desire to learn, read, write and discover life outside of his neighborhood. However, he did not have the means to do so. A vast majority of children in the developing world do not have access to education. Many of them have been locked in an inescapable chain of poverty and child labor for generations. It bothers me to know that I have done absolutely nothing to earn the opportunities available to me. By virtue of luck I was born to a family that could afford an American education.
I returned to The College of Wooster last August as a reformed individual. My experience abroad† made me realize the true worth of the opportunities that I previously took for granted. I never thought the Internet could serve as an amazing gateway to a myraid of outstanding opportunities. It never occurred to me that I could accumulate a wealth of knowledge in a variety of disciplines and become a walking, talking encyclopedia thanks to our rich college libraries. There is an endless list of opportunities; it is only a matter of reaching out for them. In broad terms, my experiences abroad have significantly increased my level of motivation and ambition to pursue the life goals that I have set for myself.
While it may sound clichÈ, such experiences abroad can be incredibly life-changing, and my experience was exactly this. However, sometimes students returning from study abroad would tell you that their experiences were not necessarily profound or life-changing. That is because they were simply studying abroad.
It’s a whole different thing to be leading a project on your own in a different country than to be merely attending classes. I believe that you will truly break out of the “Wooster bubble” when you follow these three guidelines. First, experience a society that is extremely different in culture and values than that of the† United States. Second, delve into that culture and society because closely observing a culture is one thing and becoming a part of it is another (in many cases, this only happens when you have to complete a difficult project that requires collaboration). Thirdly, pursue a project where you are not just attending classes, getting trained or learning information that is fed to you, but instead getting things done on your own. In my opinion, this is the recipe for making the most of your experience abroad.
Usman Gul is a contributor for the Voice. He can be reached for comment at UGul12@wooster.edu.