By Heidi Kloostra (ECAS, '25 & Trip Participant)

Online & Social Media Editor

Published in  Lumen (Online Edition)

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“Sawubona!” That’s how you say Hello in Zulu, one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. It’s also a word you can hear every Tuesday night in Murphy as 15 students and two faculty members prepare to visit South Africa. Led by Dr. Matthew Bersagel-Braley, this will be the fifth trip he has brought to the Rainbow Nation since 2014. Co-leader for this trip is Sheryl Jacobson, a professor from the School of Nursing. This class, called Resistance and Reconciliation in South Africa, covers content before and after the apartheid era, the HIV/AIDs epidemic, and more. Following graduation, students will embark on a 18-day trip to South Africa.

 

When asked about the inspirations for the trip, Bersagel-Braley said that it all stemmed from a VUSM 200 course. Students read a book, still used in the course today, and wanted to visit the country; two years later they made it happen. He also says that “For me, South Africa picks up on the mirror of our own racial history and gives students another lens to view it from.”

 

This course isn’t his first connection to South Africa. While pursuing a Ph.D. in Religion from Emory University, he visited and did work in South Africa. Bersagel-Braley also cites inspiration for his connections to Africa to Desmond Tutu, who was a visiting professor at Emory.

 

On the trip, students will visit Cape Town, Durban, and Pietermaritzburg; exploring local sites, volunteering at Project Gateway, going on a safari, and spending time learning from locals. This trip hopes to begin to demystify Africa and provide students the opportunity to reflect on another culture while also seeing how the United States has a global impact, says Bersagel-Braley.

 

There are 15 students on the trip, ranging from first years to seniors, with majors from ECAS, biology, nutrition, and everything in between. One of the students going on the trip, junior nutrition science major, Alessia Eckelaert, when asked why she is going on the trip says, “Having an entire class dedicated to learning about our travel destination has been such an amazing opportunity [...] I believe the more experiences that I can be a part of and the more perspectives I am exposed to, the better person and better healthcare provider I will become.”

 

On the syllabus for this course, quotes from Nelson Mandela can be found between the course materials and the grading scale. One of these quotes is, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” That’s the goal of this trip, to educate students in ways that the classroom just can’t.  On this topic Bersagel-Braley says, “As much as we want books to increase empathy, there’s nothing like making human connection on the ground; it just can’t be replaced. [...] While abroad, students are in a whole different world, their senses are on high alert, and they are able to absorb so much more.”

 

There are many study abroad trips offered each year. Every trip offers a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity for experience and education. To learn more about study abroad offerings students can visit viterbo.edu/study-abroad