Day 9: Enabling Equity

Hello to my friends and my family and to all other people whom I do not know and have yet to meet!

Today was my favorite day of the whole trip thus far, so I’m grateful that today is my day to blog. There were so many wonderful things that happened today and too many to make note of in one blog, so I will only speak to one of them.

This morning, we visited the Chikuni Secondary School for Girls. We began our time there with a tour of the campus and then spent time walking into each classroom. Each of these classroom interactions typically occurred as stated below:

1.     We Gonzaga students walk in

2.     The Secondary School girls giggle excitedly in their seats

3.     We ask them how they are and they respond, “fine”

4.     The Head Deputy explains to us what grade the girls are and what they are studying

5.     We nod and half-smile awkwardly

6.     We leave

Honestly, these classroom visits, which occurred upwards of 6 or 7 times, were quite awkward because a power dynamic was established every time we walked into a room. We (light-skinned, university-aged students) stood in front of each classroom, where the teacher stands, watching the students (dark-skinned, high-school-aged students) who sat below us in their seats. With each uncomfortable classroom visit, we reinforced the idea that we were superior to them, and that made me feel really uneasy.

Our final interaction with a room full of students was with the 12C class. We began our visit with the 12C class in the same manner described above, but quickly we found that our time with them was going to be different. Teresa, Ian, Rory and one of the Secondary School girls began our visit leading “campfire songs.” During this time, we Gonzaga students were standing and singing (shouting?) among the girls, who were also standing. Immediately, the power dynamic that had once been established in the other classrooms started to break down. It brought so much joy to all of us to sing silly songs with our tongues sticking out alongside our new friends.

After a while of the girls playing with my hair, asking me which scalp oil I use and if I plait my hair, we Gonzaga students were asked to sing for them, so we did, and responded with all the joyful hoots and hollers that that tiny reverberant room could handle. We were about to leave when the girls called out to ask if they could sing for us. They all made their way to the front and it was our turn to sit in their chairs. They sang with such a hearty power that my tiny voice cannot replicate.

This is when I noticed that the superiority complex that had once been identified in the classroom had been entirely broken down. Us Americans were no longer higher and mightier and wiser than the Zambians, as our body language might have represented. Rather, the girls were teaching us something, there singing to us in front of the classroom. They were teaching us that music has a way of enabling equity among people of all cultures. In this classroom, there were no longer Zambian secondary school students and American university students. Rather, there were humans with vocal folds who used those vocal folds to make awesome sound. There was no longer a clear power dynamic. The only thing that executed its power was the music that brought us together, and brought us Gonzaga students to Zambia in the first place. I’ll never forget what these girls taught me today.

Thank you for reading! I cannot wait to see you all when I return home!

Love,

Annie Stanger, soprano, class of 2019