Kent State senior Brian Johnson recently returned from a 15-day education abroad program in South Africa.
The Faculty-Led: Heritage Ubuntu Student Project education abroad program was the travel component to an ongoing collaboration between Kent State University and the University of Fort Hare in Alice, South Africa. This U.S.-Embassy-(South Africa Mission)-funded project has been spearheaded by Dr. Felix Kumah-Abiwu of Kent State University and Dr. Nomzamo Dube of the University of Fort Hare. Dr. Luvuyo Dondolo, who is currently at the University of South Africa, also worked on the project with Dr. Felix Kumah-Abiwu at the initial stages. Students from both institutions met virtually throughout the Fall and Spring semesters and had the opportunity to meet in person when the Kent State students traveled to South Africa this May.
The educational experience of a lifetime
Johnson, a Public Health major and Africana Studies minor, first learned about the Heritage Ubuntu Student Project through his connections as Director of Student Programming of Black United Students and his minor in Africana Studies. Interested in further exploring his African cultural roots and heritage, he saw this program as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Johnson was also interested in the project due to its focus on learning about and comparing the Apartheid system in South Africa and Jim Crow laws in the United States.
Each day during the program, the students took part in educational activities such as visiting Soweto Township and the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, touring Nelson Mandela’s birthplace of Mvezo near Qunu, in the Eastern Cape Province, and seeing the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha. The students from Kent State University and the University of Fort Hare also met frequently to collaborate on their research projects. The program’s activities culminated with the students from both institutions presenting their research at a final colloquium at the University of Fort Hare.
Having worked with the University of Fort Hare students virtually throughout the Fall and Spring semesters, Johnson was excited but also nervous to meet them in person. As an undergraduate student, Johnson thought it might be difficult to connect with students who were studying at the graduate level. However, he was happy to report that when everyone met, “We connected instantly… We call them our cousins. We love them. They greeted us with such positive energy, and you’d think we’d known each other all of our lives the way all of us connected. It wasn’t just one or two people, our entire group connected with their entire group.”
“You can go abroad and still be loved like you are at home.”
This sense of community followed throughout the program and was highlighted by Johnson’s favorite experience: being able to participate in Africa Day at the University of Fort Hare. Everyone dressed in traditional African attire and gathered in an auditorium for the celebration. Johnson said, “In my opinion, I’ve never felt such positive energy and love being in a place not home…Everyone was just in the moment, and I feel like that was the biggest part. It hit me that I’m really in South Africa right now.”
One of Johnson’s biggest takeaways from the program was the kindness of everyone he met. In the United States “you don’t get hugs or positive remarks from everybody you meet within the first encounter. Like everybody that we met, they were like ‘my brother,’ ‘my sister,’ no matter what we looked like… It was a shock factor, but it was also something that I learned. Like you can go abroad and still be loved like you are at home.”
What’s in store for the future?
Kent State and University of Fort Hare students will continue working together throughout the Fall semester, and the University of Fort Hare students will visit Kent State in November. Johnson is eager to be involved during the visit. “I told Dr. Felix, I said, ‘I don’t care where I am at that time, when the time comes to start planning, I will make sure that I am present.’”
Johnson further illustrated the close bonds formed during the program and requested that this article close with, “Shout out to my cousins in South Africa!”
To learn more about the Faculty-Led: Heritage Ubuntu Student Project, visit the Education Abroad program database.