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April 30, 2001

Students 'journey' to five varied sites

By Elaine Justice

 

Four interfaith groups of Emory students will travel in May to Cuba, Bolivia, Northern Ireland and two American Indian reservations to meet with community leaders, educators and religious groups, and attempt to understand the roots of conflict in the locales and ways those rifts are being healed.

Called “Journeys of Reconciliation,” the trips take students outside the insular world of a university campus to connect with far-flung communities. The goal is to cultivate relationships of collaboration, learning, partnership, service opportunity and friendship with communities around the world that are working toward reconciliation, according to Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of the chapel and religious life. Her office sponsors the trips.

More than a dozen students and staff will travel to Cuba May 17–26 to meet with community leaders, universities and religious groups to explore partnerships to support the work
of reconciliation within the country.

Health and healing will be the focus for the dozen students and staff traveling to Bolivia, May 17–31. They will partner with Andean Rural Healthcare, an organization that provides health care to remote regions. The Emory group will help build a medical clinic, as well as volunteer in other clinics and meet with local community members and religious organizations.

The group traveling to Northern Ireland, May 15–30, will be partnering with political leaders, religious groups, community centers and leaders from across the six partitioned counties of Northern Ireland. As in past years, they will discuss how to support the work of communities and individuals working toward reconciliation, according to Emory Assistant Chaplain Lauren Cogswell.

The fourth journey will take students and staff to Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations in the vicinity of Billings, Mont., May 19–29. The group will meet with health care providers, tribal police and area business and civic leaders to learn more about the history, culture and current issues faced by these American Indian communities.

“Several students’ experiences with different religious communities abroad have spurred them to recommit to their own religious communities here at home,” Cogswell said.

 

Back to Emory Report April 30, 2001