December 7,1990
FEATURES
The Lance
Zimbabweans Add to Community
By Sharon Frain
Campus Life Editor
Going away to college is a big test of
one’s independence and maturity level,
especially if one goes to school half a
world away. Along with the usual
registration jitters, adjusting to a new
culture takes a while and this is exactly
the students from Zimbabwe have been
doing well for the last several years.
The Zimbabwean students are: Robyn
Went, Garreth Griffith, Adam
Whitehead, Kevin Finch, and Anton
Whiley.
Many people are unaware of exactly
where Zimbabwe is. They know that it
is somewhere in Africa yet many un-
correcdy assume that the country is in
South Africa and therefore the Zims
are racist. This could be the fartherest
from reality for Zimbabwe has a black
socialist govemment. True, Zimbabwe
is in southern Africa but not in the
nation of South Africa. The false stere
otype has been a big hurdle to over
come but people are starting to leam
what a few lessons of geography could
•teach anyone.
I: For a little background information,
;Zimbabwe is approximately the size of
France or California. The climate is dry
;with a mild winter and hot summer.
•The Black Socialist government came
.to power ten years ago, taking control
,out of the hands of the whites. The
isvhites that were racist then moved to
.South Africa and now if one speaks out
as racist they will be put in prison.
Many foreigners imagine America
•as full of the glitter and glamour as so
jpften depicted in JJollywood movies,
^his, too,wa§,the case with the Zims.
rihey all had been to the typical tourist
[spots and had not experienced rural
•America until arriving in Laurinburg.
JCevin Finch had heard stories about
Laurinburg so his arrival was sort of
anti-climatic for he expected some
niralness around St. Andrews. Garreth
Griffith saw a totally different side of
America then he had seen in Florida
and California. Garreth was shocked
by the road from the Fayetteville air
port because of the rural scenes of cows
grazing near the highway. Adam
Whitehead had never seen pictures of
the college so on his first trip from the
Fayetteville airport the more and more
rural it was getting the more and more
worried Adam was becoming. He did
admit that the area has since grown
tremendously.
There is a belief that people are the
same wherever one might go. This
could be true individually but on the
whole whatever type of govemment
that one grows up under nurtures or
hampers the thinking process. Zims are
typically narrow minded while Ameri
cans are well-spoken. However, Adam
couldn’t believe how conservative the
townspeople of Laurinburg were.
When Anton Whiley came to Amer
ica four years ago the differences be
tween the cultures was a bit of a shock.
The key differences lay between the
formality of the societies. “My first day
in classes I realized how the classroom
structure was different. For one thing,
in Zim the teacher teaches with no
interaction and here there is a high level
of involvement. “ Asked if any embar
rassing things happened to him the first
day of classes, Anton recalled, “ I was
brought up in schools where you stand-
up when the professor enters the room.
Well, in my first class I sat front and
center in the classroom and when the
teacher walked in I stood up. Luckily
for me nobody really noticed so I just
acted like I was standing up to tie my
shoes.”
Kevin Finch was initially taken aback
in his first class when the professor
walked in with sandals on her feet, a
cup of coffee, and sat on the table to
teach. Kevin remembers, “The profes
sor moved the chairs around making
class more social than what I was used
to.” One difference the Zims have
noticed, and not only in the classroom,
was the contrasts of the Zimbabwean
woman and the American woman.
American women are more inde
pendent and they stand up for their
beliefs. While the Zimbabwean woman
might have had just as good as an edu
cation as an American, the Zim female
Robyn Went, Adam Whitehead, Garreth Griffith, Anton
Whiley, and Kevin Finch gather together for a photo op
portunity. (Photo by Sharon Frain)
won’t stand-up and defend her opin
ion. The liberation of the woman in
America is something that the St.
Andrews’ Zims all respect.
Robyn Went shined light on the
social life in Zimbabwe. “The women
in Zimbabwe use a different language
than here for a girl would just not
swear and would never be caught with
a beer, “ revealed Robyn. Adam
thought that one thing he admired about
the women here is their openness and
that they consequently don’t play as
many “head” games, women are thus
more honest with others. Another
social aspect that surprised Adam was
the habit of chewing tobacco. Adam
thought that chewing tobacco was
something only cowboys did in mov
ies and was stunned when he saw a
person dipping for in Zimbabwe that
simply is not done.
The biggest problem of the Zims
fitting in at St. Andrews was that when
people hung-out or partied the topic of
conversation usually centered around
some American celebrity, such as
Johnny Carson or a professional ball
player. Thus, they really could not fit
in or contribute to any conversations
for they had no idea what was being
talked about.
The question still remains as to why
the Zimbabweans decided to go to col
lege thousands of miles form their
homes. One big reason for them was
that in Zimbabwe the university is so big
that they wanted something smaller.
Also, many of them wanted to get their
education in America because of the
quality of learning.
Why did the Zims choose this col
lege in particularly? For Robyn the
friendliness and closeness she saw at St.
Andrews last year was something she
had been looking for but just could not
be found at her previous school, Santa
Rosa Junior College, primarily because
it was a commuter college. Garreth was
looking at going to USA International
University in San Diego, San Diego
State University, Arizona State Univer
sity, and Menlo College in Arizona.
However, the Zimbabwean bank has to
allow only a certain amount of money to
be carried out of the country because of
lack of foreign currency and two weeks
before leaving for school Garreth was
given some bad news. The bank would
not allow him to take out as much as
needed for tuition at his top choices so
he started to look for a less expensive
Zimbabwe
American school. He then decided to go
here mainly because Kevin, Anton, and
Steve Reed, who graduated last year,
went here. Anton’s reason for attending
a school in the states is his father’s head
office is in Richmond, VA and therefore
Anton wanted to go to school some
where in Virginia or North Carolina. He
chose St. Andrews and then found out
that his old mate Steve Read attended the
school.
With diversity being a key word at St.
Andrews, the Zimbabweans sure have
contributed their part to the SA commu
nity. Their adding to the pot of cultural
diversity has helped in the educational
experience both in and out of the class
room as can be seen in their positions of
leadership academically and socially.
Candi Cann Reflects Term in Korea
- w- • •
Candi Cann is pictured with two of her friends who are
also exchange students at Han Nam University in Korea,
J (Editor’s Note: Candi Cann is a
sophomore from St. Andrews who is
Studying abroad this term in Korea.
The following is her story of what life
has been in Korea.)
I have been at Han Nam University
since August. I am the first person from
St.Andrews to travel to Korea in the
second year of the Korean Studies
program here. I got off to a good start in
mid-August and am now busy in the
final weeks of term papers and last
minute excurisons.
Han Nam’s campus is large, though
not as forboding as I expected, consid
ering Han Nam’s populadon of 10,000
students. The University is divided into
ij
different colleges, and there ^s a small
quiet lotus pond, as well as a campus
town with which to diverge one’s atten
tions. There are no air-conditioning or
heat facilities in the classrooms, so,
needless to say, in the summer, class
was fairly hot, and, now, we come to
class wearing several layers of cloth
ing. It is not as bad as it sounds, and a
room quickly warms when a few friend s
have gathered.
The faculty here is fairly helpful,
and all the students are eager to im
prove their English conversation skills.
This makes it difficult to leam Korean,
but I am learning, though slowly. There
are two other exchange students here -
I
one is a Korean-American, and the
other is a professor from the Phillipi-
nes. We take six classes together - two
language classes, one language lab.
East Asian History, Korean Sociol
ogy, and Korean Politics and Admini
stration. On the weekends, we have
made several excursions - mountain
climbing to see a sunrise, going to mu
seums, visidng temples and palaces,
and the like.
The social life is very different from
that of St. Andrews. Here, one goes to
coffee shops for socializing. There are
many coffee shops all over the town,
and they are decorated in a quiet man
ner, dimly lit, music playing in the
background, and are quite intimate.
Often, I go to coffee shops with my
friends and talk for several hours.
Sometimes, we go with our professors.
They are very pleasant. It is too bad
that America does not have these sort
of establishments.
The closest event to a party is a
Korean festival, in which there is some
drinking (usually men only), and lots
of traditional music, dance, and games.
Outside appearances make Korea seem
much more conservative than Amer
ica, and it is interesting to observe
these differences.
I live with a Korean host family and
must commute to school, as the major
ity of the students do. We have a West-
ern-style home, so I am not altogether
removed from Western comforts. We
eat Korean food every meal, and I have
come to like even those foods which I
hated when I came.
The last thing I must remark upon is
the campus demonstradons. Students
here are so concerned about their gov
ernment, and their country’s search for
democracy, that I am put to shame by
some of the petty concerns 1 have in
comparison. Last week, the South Ko
rean government was angry at the Uni
versity for possessing a North Korean
video, and there was a fairly violent
demonstration as the riot police marched
on campus to take it away. There were
fire bombs thrown, much tear gas, as
well as fire guns which caught the bushes
on fire. Although this is somewhat unre
markable to the Korean students, it has
sobered me to the realization of the
importance of the concerns that many
people have.
I hope Uni is doing well and enjoy
ing her stay at St. Andrews, as I know I
am doing at Han Nam. I look forward to
my return to St. Andrews, and I hope
that other students will be interested in
coming to Han Nam to study, either in
the spring or next year. It is a worth
while adventure and I am learning a lot.
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