Hi! My name is Carley Brown. I recently graduated with a major in social work and a minor in sociology. I had the opportunity to do community development as my last internship in the beautiful country of Belize. I spent three weeks in Dangriga. Belize is located south of Mexico and east of Guatemala and is composed of Mestizo, Creole, and Garifuna ethnic origins.
Our time in Dangriga consisted of serving the local community by providing alternative interventions in the local schools. We taught lessons in various schools in the community. These lessons included topics such as respect, bullying, conflict resolution, self-esteem, and self-care. A week prior to leaving the country was spent preparing multiple lessons for the classrooms and small group sessions. One lesson we found effective was a lesson on respect. Each student made a chart about what respect looks like in the classroom, at home, on the playground, and in the community. Respect and bullying are prominent issues in the schools. We also did small group sessions, which consisted of doing group intervention with students. This was the first year the University of Arkansas students did small groups. Behavioral issues that the students may struggle with include blurting out, disrupting peers/teachers, disrespect, bullying and violence. Our team was able to teach students positive affirmations, empathy, respect, and conflict resolution. Many of the activities focused on regulating negative and positive emotions. As this was the University’s first attempt at implementing therapeutic small groups, students were able to identify areas for change and growth for future student groups including a need for one on one sessions, teen groups organized by gender, and involving the family unit to enable a more comprehensive approach to change.
As a team, we worked with Youth Cadets, those in the community who are facing adverse situations. We spent time doing activities that involved communication skills and emotional regulation. One activity that was effective was group yoga. This activity was followed by a lesson on ways to maintain emotional distress. In the afternoons, we worked with the elderly women in Dangriga. We played memory games and made arts and crafts. During our first meeting we had close to 30 members and we played memory bingo. The women love Bingo so this was a huge hit! The second week we played Belize trivia and made memory flower crafts. The women loved the trivia questions about their country and enjoyed writing life memories on their pedals of their flowers. We also served in a special needs classroom. We read with them, exercised motor skills through arts and crafts, and sang and danced with them. We organized a royalty themed parade to educate community members on Special Needs. They loved the parade!
Lastly, a few Social Work students had the opportunity to do home visits and hospital visits. During these visits, we were able to care for the ill through emotional, physical, and spiritual support. Rapport was built within the community and we learned about various family dynamics and caregiver roles provided primarily by the family unit. In comparison to western hospice care, Dangrigan care followed more of a spiritual/emotional model as compared to a medical model within the United States. Spiritual support was incorporated in every visit and students engaged in Christian prayer and song with patients.
Through this opportunity to study abroad, I gained a deeper understanding of cultural competency. I grew in professionalism as a social worker by being immersed in a diverse culture. Overall, this experience has challenged and changed my perspectives to become more inclusive.
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Carley spent the 2018 summer term in Belize with our U of A Faculty-Led: Global Community Development program with the help of our our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship.
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