Service Learning Blog Post 1

For my service learning experience, I knew that I wanted to do something that would push me outside my comfort zone and put me face to face with issues that I am extremely passionate about, i.e. social justice and the plight of women and minorities. New Orleans, being a city with an extensive history, especially in regards to race relations, is a perfect city to see these issues come to life. Ever since moving here, three years ago,  I honestly can say that I've never been to a place quite like New Orleans. Being a Northern girl with a liberal approach on life, I've experience some things that have definitely shook my liberal senses. One of my most distinctive memories was from a year and a half ago when I was in Saint Francisville, Louisiana, evacuating New Orleans due to Hurricane Isaac. My roommates and I were there for a week and we started to experience cabin fever so we decided to get our kicks at a local bar. When we were there and we entered the bar, everyone started staring at me. I felt a little uncomfortable because I didn't understand why I was being stared down. The owner of the bar eventually came up to me and told me, and I quote, "You are so exotic looking. Is that your real hair?" Now, I am quite use to this question so it really doesn't phase me anymore at this point. I told her yes, my hair is real and she proceeded, without asking, to touch it. To her amazement, she shrieked to the others in the bar that my hair was real. I smiled and tried to politely walk away and that's when she asked if I was an "A-RAB," not Arab but "A-RAB." I told my roommates it was time to go after that.

That's just one of the countless race experiences I've faced as being a Middle Eastern woman in the state of Louisiana but I really don't feel like I've truly understood what it was to be a minority until I came to the South. I grew up all over the place. As a child I lived in Iran, where my mother is from, Kenya, Nigeria, Holland, and numerous states. As a kid I had blond hair, freckles, and hazel eyes. I looked very much like my father's family, who are predominantly White, and I never really thought about race. My mother, being 100% Middle Eastern, is brown. People often mistake her for being Indian (from India). She has long straight hair, dark brown eyes, and a honey complexion. People would question my mother all the time in whether or not I was adopted. They sometimes even thought she was my nanny. I remember when I was 14 my father told me, "Gabby, no matter how light your skin may be, or how White you may look, the world will never treat you like you are White. You have two strikes against you already, you are a person of color and you are a woman. In a White man's world you are considered a second class citizen and this, unfortunately, is a White man's world." This is something that has played in the back of my head every since he told me this and has become even more prevalent in my life today. It is one of the reasons why I strive to be the best I can be. Sadly, not everyone is given the same opportunities that I have been given.

I was interested in working for Hagar's House. Service Learning was a requirement in my Black Theatre class and a option in Early Shakespeare. I wanted to find an organization that fulfilled both and Hagar's House was it. It was as if the stars aligned because I could find time to volunteer there that didn't conflict with my hectic work schedule. My best friend Akeem and I work on Wednesday evenings with the children. Hagar's House is a place of refuge for women and their children who have been displaced due to many different circumstances. At Hagar's House, Akeem and I come up with different activities for the kids to participate in with us. I've already completed two days of service with this organization.

From my Service Learning experience I expect to learn more about the varying experiences of the people at Hagar's House. The important stories that are swept under the rug by mainstream society. I feel like sometimes children are dismissed and their stories are often left untold. We all have something important to contribute to the world and I believe that I can learn from the children at Hagar's House just as much as they can learn from me.

Hagar's House might expand my understanding of Shakespeare's works because the issues of Shakespeare's time are still relevant today, that's why we revere him as the playwright and social commentator he is. Issues of race and class are something that needs to be addressed by all audiences and I think my experience at Hagar's House will help me see the perspective of minorities from another minority's viewpoint. We all have different experiences and they all contribute to the whole. No one's story should be forgotten and no one should be forgotten. These children, who don't come from the best of circumstances, have a right to have the best life possible and hopefully the amount of time I spend with them will have a positive influence on them as it will on me.