For someone who has recently emerged from a loud, chaotic and polluted desert city Bradford appears a calm, clean, full of green contrast.
(the Yorkshire dales just beyond Bradford)
I have found people in this community to be incredibly helpful (particularly when toting a large suitcase up stairs or as I need directions), and many people have even ventured a friendly ‘hello’ on the streets. I am enamoured with the willow trees on campus, delighted by the recycling bins everywhere, and ecstatic about the basket of local organic veg and fruit I can cart home from the Treehouse café each week. It has been a gentle transition with all the support of Rotarians and new friends, and I feel that U. of Bradford and the African PACs program is a beautiful fit for me at this point in my life. In fact, so far I am feeling this to be a period of incredible convergence for me… academically, culturally (with the neighbourhood’s blend of ‘east’ and ‘west’), professionally and personally – knowing where my heart is and where I want to channel my passions in the short and long term.
Being Canadian one of the things I have been most struck by is the weather. (What else do we talk about so incessantly?!) It’s been years since I’ve seen such beautiful clouds… high slow-moving dreamwhip sculptures, low enveloping-ly thick ones that the church steeple seems about to pierce, enchanting mists that make dewy tapestries of spiderwebs, and clusters of light and soft-rounded clouds that glow gold and fuchsia at sunset. The rains have yet to set in, and indeed I am still awaiting a proper downpour, but I’m confident it will come soon enough.
It’s nice to be in a place where I can hear myself think again, where I can blend into the background in many ways (not the least of which being on the streets – what a blessed change from dear Cairo), and where I am surrounded by so many conscientious and critical thinkers. I just attended the Africa conflict monitoring group meeting where MA and PhD students as well as faculty members share the latest news from the continent. Each person has their own academic geographic or thematic area, and today we were learning about Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Those sharing had either studied those areas extensively, or had lived in and/or were from that country. What made the session so useful was that those who spoke linked the ‘news’ with deeper historical/political/socio-economic context and explained as far as they were able the potential implications of these events. I have been deeply impressed with the caliber of students in the program – many I have spoken with have arrived after years of experience in a range of professions from accounting or security details with humanitarian organizations to work with the British military or in the realm of international law to teaching. It leads to very rich discussions and it’s exciting to have months to nurture some of these friendships!
I think who you are standing with also has a tremendous impact of what you see – both in terms of breadth as well as what you focus on. I think the diversity of our class and (dare I say) vision of our tutors and lecturers are a real strength of this program.
(some of the other Rotary Peace fellows from Palestine, Australia/Croatia, New Zealand, Zambia, and Canada)
Speaking of those who stand with you, I’ve been particularly inspired by one of my peers – a former journalist and single mom who has just moved around the world with her beautiful son and is nurturing his development at the same time as she is studying full-time. How different this transition looks and feels when one has to think about the wellbeing of another life and their adjustments as well as your own. I have been struck by her incredible courage and grace as she juggles her many roles and responsibilities. May she receive the support she needs in establishing rhythms with her wee one standing beside her.
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