Spring Break for some University of North Florida students meant a plane ride to Latin America — not to party in the tropics, but to learn about economic development by interacting with indigenous people in a third-world country.
During an interview for the university’s honors program, student Josh Freedman learned of the opportunity to take a senior-level economic development course that would require fundraising skills.
Freedman, 19, is one of 17 students who signed up for the course, which required students to donate $300 each to a non-governmental organization and to bring a suitcase of items to give to individuals during a Spring Break trip to Guatemala.
The Port Orange native took the pre-requisite course and worked with a friend’s band to organize a concert at Hodges Stadium to raise money.
"Sometimes, you just have to do something to help," Freedman said.
Students in the class include non-business majors, like Freedman who is a political science major, and students from Latin America, like Fernanda Acha from Bolivia and Kevin Rodriguez from Venezuela.
The United States donated about $15 million directly to other countries in 2007 and about $15.5 million in 2008, according to the State Department. Guatemala received about $51,000 in 2007 and almost $63,000 in 2008.
But, money given to foreign governments often stays at the top instead of trickling down to the people, Acha said.
"Hand-outs don’t work," Rodriguez, 21, said. "To make mass changes, it can’t be top-down. It has to be bottom-up."
Acha, an international business and economics major, described the apathy of Bolivians as she helped two other UNF students at Hodges Stadium collect the $5 tickets from concertgoers.
"Living there," she said, "you think [corruption] is a part of life."
Mindy Sykes, another classmate helping Rodriguez and Acha at Freedman’s Feb. 19 concert, said Americans want to help without understanding the specific needs of a poor village.
"Throwing money at the problem tends not to work," the self-described Air Force brat said.
The third attendant at the gate was a friend of Sykes’ who had been asked to help.
Lauren Clarke said she volunteered on her 22nd birthday because she liked the idea of helping her common man, even one she will never meet.
A post-baccalaureate student working on a criminal justice degree, Clarke is not enrolled in the course.
Professor Jeffrey Michelman said he got the idea for a study abroad course from a Mayan Indian’s request to the Rotary Club of Jacksonville Oceanside asking the club to help the indigenous people get clean water.
Michelman asked a colleague for help as he designed the course.
Andres Gallo, another associate professor in the Coggin College of Business, agreed to co-teach the course and offer his expertise in the field of economic development. Michelman said Gallo’s familiarity with Latin American culture improved the group’s ability to interact with Guatemalans.
Gallo, a native of Argentina, said the American perspective of poverty is different from the realities poor people in other countries have to face. Most indigenous groups in Guatemala are still using subsistence agriculture, growing only the food that they eat, he said. The person who brings in the food is fed first — typically the father.
"They make decisions because of the conditions in which they live," he said. If the father cannot work, then no one in the family will eat.
"We live in a country [where] you can get a job, and a job can buy you some food," he said, "but it’s different [over there]."
Gallo and Michelman, however, said they want students to listen to what Guatemalans say they need.
Rodriguez said helping developing nations is part of America’s responsibility.
"You need to work together," he said. "We’re all part of something."
Freedman sold only 95 tickets to the concert. Half of the proceeds went to the band, but he felt the experience was a valuable part of the learning process.
"We got the word out [and] learned how to organize an event," he said.
Freedman’s classmate Jessica Herrada said at an April 4 fundraising event with Twisted Sisters on Beach Boulevard that classmates come to others’ events to help.
Herrada, 22, worked with a friend who DJs at the club collecting cover charges — $3 for men 21 years old and older and $5 for men and women younger than 21.
The money collected had to cover security and give-aways, such as gift cards and Easter candy, but Herrada had hoped to raise at least $600 after expenses. The event raised $391.
She said the economy may have affected people’s willingness to go clubbing, but she seemed undeterred by the low turnout.
"It’s going to a great cause," she wrote in an e-mail, "so any amount is better than none."
April 23rd 2009 - 5:38PM