In Africa—

Local WestConn Student Helps To Address Economic And Social Issues A World Away

   By Larissa Lytwyn

In college, students can find more than a potential career — they can find themselves.

Amid her studies last fall at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, 20-year-old history and anthropology major Keira Morin found herself gripped by the plight of child soldiers in third world nations, including areas of Africa.

“While I was doing my research, I found a link to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC),” she said.

Founded by Quakers in 1917, AFSC, according to its mission statement, “carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world.”

Keira found information about an April 2004 trip to South Africa and its neighboring countries; participants would be able to meet with top policy-makers to address myriad economic and social issues.

She acquired funding from WestConn’s Student Government Association (SGA) to participate in the two-week, $3,500 trip.

“Usually, the SGA gives funds to groups representing the university, not individuals,” said Keira. “There was concern about starting a precedent.”

At last, the SGA relented.

Keira was excited — and a little nervous.

“This was going to be a totally new experience for me,” she said.

To prepare for the journey, Keira had to become vaccinated for diseases such as malaria; she also received a thick binder of information on South African culture and its war-torn history.

The 26-member AFSC group split into two missions, one journey to Mozambique, the other to Zimbabwe.

“I went to Mozambique,” Keira said, “which only became independent [from Portugal] in 1975 after the Portuguese government was overthrown by a revolutionary movement, the Frelimo.

This long period of conflict plunged Mozambique deeply into debt.

Before its government can even begin to address Mozambique’s social ills, Keira explained, it has to finish paying off its billion-dollar debt.

“Most of the trip consisted of conferences, a lot of meetings with business leaders and economic and political leaders,” she said.

Keira’s group stayed in a tightly secured five-star hotel in Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique.

Mozambique is located in southwest Africa, bordering South Africa and the Indian Ocean.

The security was paramount because of political concerns, she explained.

But, as is necessary throughout most of the region, clean drinking water was scarce even in the plush hotel.

“You had to rely on bottled water for drinking,” Keira said.

She was advised not to open her mouth or swallow any water while showering. Maputo, itself, she said, was widely westernized.

Not surprisingly, there also remains a deeply Portuguese influence; many of Mozambique’s inhabitants speak Portuguese. Keira discussed the region’s equally heavy Western influence.

“In the cities, everything is really very modernized,” she said. “The people are very friendly, too.”

She also raved about the cuisine, consisting heavily of exotically spiced chicken and types of rice and other grains.

“It was delicious,” she said.

Another highlight was Cape Town, South Africa, a modern seaside city whose temperatures, though warm, are less humid than the villages and cities.

“A lot of Americans describe Cape Town as being just like Charleston, S.C.,” Keira said. “I’ve never been there, so I don’t know first hand. But Cape Town was gorgeous, just a beautiful, beautiful place. I fell in love with it.”

Many of the schools and other programs are partially or fully sponsored by American corporations.

She discussed one school, Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto, Johannesburg, which is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

“That’s the only way a lot of schools can be managed, is through sponsorship,” she explained.

She also noted that she felt physically safer, day-to-day, in the Maputo and Cape Town than she did in many American cities, like New York City.

Less endearing, however, was the remote South African village of Chatunga.

“It was very primitive,” Keira recalled. “It was a strikingly isolated community.” Many of the villagers, she continued, had never seen a blond person before. “Only two of the children, two boys, really came up to me,” Keira said.

 She engaged in various activities with the children, including joining a “football” game. “Their soccer ball consisted of plastic bags wrapped with twine,” she said.

 Seeing villages like Chatunga, she said, made the context of her discussions with South African and Mozambique officials seem more real, more “immediate” in its urgency.

One official she met was South African president Nelson Mandela’s wife, Graca Machal. Ms Machal is the widow of Mozambique’s first president, Samora Machal.

 Born in 1945 in the small Mozambique village of Gaza, Ms Machal’s family was determined to see her excel academically and pursue an education.

She became involved in the Frelimo movement as a young girl, attending Frelimo schools that taught her how to read and write.

Ms Machal was 29 when Mozambique at last achieved its independence; she was appointed minister for education and became the only woman in the cabinet.

She married the charismatic new president, Samora Machal, shortly after; he died under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash in 1996.

Ms Machal married Mr Mandela in 1998 on his 80th birthday.

“Meeting her was incredible,” said Keira. “Despite being, you know, this big dignitary, she was very down to earth. She came right into the room and sat down and began talking to us. All of the officials we met were like that, very down to earth.”

Upon her return to the United States, Keira shared her experiences with classmates at WestConn, as well as area high schools and middle schools.

A 2002 Newtown High School graduate, Keira is eager to share her story with Newtown High students this fall.

“Educating people about what its like there is so important,” Keira said. Many Americans have misconceptions about Africa, believing it to be wholly rural and remote.

“They think an elephant is going to walk through a city street, and that’s not the case at all,” she said.

Keira hopes to return to South Africa next spring.

To ensure funding from the SGA, she recently formed a social justice group endeavoring to continue relief efforts in African nations, as well as countries in Latin America and South America.

“My trip really helped me grow and mature as a person,” Keira said. “After college I would like to live in South Africa for a few years doing relief work. This experience really helped me find what I really wanted to do with life.”