Holy Cross students see Third World poverty up close

from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette

By Bronislaus B. Kush

About two years ago, Nicholas Campolettano, a student at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester who was studying religion and sociology, began developing an interest in the plight of some of the indigenous people of Africa.

He researched issues affecting Africans and carefully monitored news developments from the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent.

Last year, Mr. Campolettano, a resident of Hicksville, N.Y., on Long Island, even worked with U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, and state Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., D-Worcester, to organize a program on the genocide in Darfur.

“I did a lot of studying, but you can only read so much,” said Mr. Campolettano, who will be a senior next fall. “I wanted to expand my understanding, and the only way I could do that was to get some firsthand experience.”

He got that chance.

Mr. Campolettano and 13 other Holy Cross students recently returned from Tanzania, an East African nation on the Indian Ocean. The trip was arranged through the school’s faith-based Arrupe International Immersion Program. A second Holy Cross group is visiting the country now.

“The trip certainly made an impression on me and it provided me with a special perspective that I didn’t have before,” Mr. Campolettano said.

The program is named after Pedro Arrupe, a Jesuit missionary who aided those injured in the 1945 atomic blast at Hiroshima and who later became superior general of the Jesuit order — or the Society of Jesus, as it is formally known.

Holy Cross spokeswoman Kristine Maloney said the program has been offered at the school for 22 years and hundreds of students have participated in trips to Mexico, Jamaica and Appalachia, as well as to Africa.

She said the program’s aim is to make participants more aware of the privileges they have and encourage them to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate.

Students get a real feel for the country they’re visiting because they have direct contact with inhabitants in natural social settings.

Ms. Maloney said some students are so affected by the trips that they decide to study a discipline that trains them for career fields geared toward aiding the needy.

“A lot of the participating students are transformed by the experience,” Ms. Maloney said.

Rebekah C. Linga of Douglas, a junior, said she was struck by the poverty most Tanzanians live in.

“I knew we were going to a Third World country but I didn’t expect that things would be that bad,” said Ms. Linga, an English major. “We realized we were in another world as soon as we got off the plane.”

Slums dominate the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city and its commercial center, she said.

“The homes were basically made up of sticks in the mud with roofs of hay,” said Ms. Linga, daughter of Eileen and Boleslaw Linga. “They were about the size of a Holy Cross dorm room.”

Many street people tried to sell visitors jewelry, trinkets and other items, she said. One woman even offered to pose for a picture in order to get a Tanzanian shilling or two.

Many people had no shoes.

“There was a young boy who walked around in pink flip-flops,” she said. “Boys don’t like pink, even in Tanzania, so you knew he had nothing else to wear.”

Ms. Linga said things aren’t much better in the countryside, where there is no electricity in many places and where some residents must walk a mile or two for water.

Holy Cross students were humbled by the trip and wanted to reach out to the Tanzanians they were visiting, she said. Some, she said, wanted to donate some of their clothing or toiletries, which are considered luxury items in Tanzania.

On some nights, the students gathered to reflect on what they had seen or experienced with Marty Kelly, the assistant Holy Cross chaplain, who accompanied the group.

“Personally, I wanted to do whatever I could to help these people,” said Ms. Linga, who hopes one day to become a magazine writer or editor. “I wanted to get my hands dirty and to do some kind of work.”

Despite the obstacles they face, Tanzanians work hard to improve their lives, said Ms. Linga.

She and Mr. Campolettano said Tanzanians realize the importance of education and noted that many students in rural areas walk miles to go to school.

“The people have a great spirit,” said Ms. Linga, who brought home some jewelry, a small tribal mask, and some animal figurines from her trip.

Mr. Campolettano, who also took part in an immersion group trip to Mexico, said there’s a mounting effort to fight AIDS in Tanzania. Previously, many Tanzanians refused to deal with the issue because of the stigma associated with the deadly disease, he said.

Mr. Campolettano said he particularly remembered a small clinic staffed by three doctors — one from Wisconsin — and some nurses who provided AIDS prevention counseling to the 50 or so patients treated daily at the clinic.

He also noted that women are working to empower themselves within the framework of a patriarchal Tanzanian society. For example, he said, cooperatives have been organized, some by the Sisters of Notre Dame, in which women pool their financial resources for the betterment of all.

One such group is saving money for a cow, said Ms. Linga.

She added that more and more Tanzanians seem to think tourism might bolster the fortunes of their country.

Tanzania’s economy today is mostly based on agriculture: About 80 percent of the work force is involved in some aspect of farming. But Tanzania, with a population of about 40 million, is home to a dozen beautiful national parks, such as the Serengeti, and some see tourism as a means to expand the national economy.