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FastStart: Spring, 2007 Newsletter
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(written by members of the FastStart Student Advisory Group)

This issue includes:

Senior Spotlight: Jennifer Velasquez
FastStart's Spring Events
Giving Back Over Spring Break
In the Words of First-Year Students
FastStart Advertisements

Questions
We welcome your comments and questions. To get involved,
call 814-863-6386 or e-mail FastStartInfo@psu.edu .

Community Service Instead of Beaches and Sun
When people think about Spring Break, they don't often think of hammers and rakes, housing demolition, and flood damage clean-up. That is unless they were involved with any of the groups in the next articles. In this, our second edition, we will follow up with two projects from last year, Project Haiti and a Gulf States Service Project. New this year is an experience shared by the Paul Robeson Cultural Center.

Project Haiti
By Be-Ut Le (Sophomore, Biobehavioral Health)

My trip to Haiti was amazing—absolutely nothing less. We boarded the bus late on Thursday evening, excited to venture on a journey together, many of us strangers to each other. Our trip came to a screeching halt on Friday morning when our flight was delayed. A few hours later, our flight to Haiti was cancelled. We didn't leave until Sunday morning. Most of us were frustrated because that meant two days had gone to waste. Nonetheless, we made the best out of it by having Creole lessons and getting comfortable with each other.

Finally, we were off to Haiti. Immediately after our plane landed in Port-au-Prince, we boarded a bus for a ride that would last for seven hours, literally. It was excruciatingly painful. People were either sitting on someone, standing, or were being sat on since we had to squeeze 26 people and 52 suitcases into a bus intended for about 25 people. It was insanely hot, dusty, and mighty sweaty. Nonetheless, we enjoyed every minute of it!

We arrived at the Maison Fortune Orphanage in Hinche after dusk and were welcomed by a gathering of kids. Then we ate dinner, showered (under what Americans would consider poor water pressure), and prepared for bed. The orphanage was accommodating in the sense that we were able to bathe every day, eat three meals a day, and sleep on foam mattresses. Additional bonuses included sleeping under the starlit sky and having a rooster as our alarm clock. Trust me when I say that roosters are the most, if not the only, efficient alarm clock in existence.

The four-day stay was worth the sweat, muscle ache, and sunburn.  We didn't do any projects—no construction, no gardening, no cleaning—but as one of the members said, “We are ‘building a bridge’ with Haiti.” It's true. By immersing in the Haitian culture—saying, “Bonjou” (Good morning), “Bonswa” (Good evening), “Sak pase” (What's up), and “Ki jan ou ye?” (How are you?) to nearly all pedestrians we encountered and interacting with the children at the orphanage—we were indeed building a bridge with Haiti.
 
Meeting the kids, especially those at the orphanage and the Azil, a home for abandoned babies, was both heartbreaking and inspirational. Despite their circumstances, of which some of them were aware and others unable to comprehend, all the children possessed such a carefree spirit. They were always eager to teach us Creole or hold our hands. I came to realize that more than the necessities to maintain their flesh, what the children wanted most was human contact. The Azil babies, either malnourished or suffering from tuberculosis, all wanted to be held, and when we departed, their flimsy arms clung to our shoulders.

On Friday morning, we boarded the bus, this time with only two suitcases, and headed down the dusty mountain. The journey was nothing any of us could imagine. Personally, I prepared myself for visions of people in the most destitute circumstances imaginable, but never did it occur to me that we would have a roof party with a follow-up of Free Willy. There is so much to share and so many emotions and re-evaluations of my lifestyle that I must unpack. I left Haiti feeling very content and eager to return, “if God willing,” as the Haitians would put it.

Gulf States Service Project II
By Jennifer Velasquez (Senior, Liberal Arts)

Once again, I had an amazing Spring Break experience due to my participation in the second Gulf States Service Project. This past Spring Break, I volunteered for Lutheran Disaster Services in Ocean Springs, Miss. A group of 108 students, faculty, staff, and members from the Penn State community participated in the service project.  We traveled in maxi vans to Mississippi for a total of 26 hours. My group (11 of us) was assigned to a house located in Pascagoula, Miss. The house had moderate damage due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  During the week-long project, we dry walled and painted a bedroom in the house and repaired the roof. The service project gave me with the opportunity to help a family in need and also meet new and interesting people. What truly made our experience worthwhile was the fact that we developed a close friendship with the family we worked with. They shared their stories with us and truly welcomed us into their home. On our last day of the service project, the family prepared a southern style meal for us in order to thank us for all our hard work. They were really appreciative of our help. All the while we were doing service, we also managed to make our experience fun.  For example, we had paint fights, betted on who could place more shingles in an hour, and gave ourselves celebrity nicknames on our brown lunch bags. Overall, I would not trade my Spring Break experience. This being my Second Spring break that I engaged in service work, I enjoyed being able to do something that was truly meaningful.

Paul Robeson Cultural Center Collective Energy:
An Integrated Arts Experience
Arts in Action Spring Break Cultural Immersion Programme, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago
By Toby Jenkins (Director, Paul Robeson Cultural Center)

Surrounded by beautiful beaches and bathed in warm sun, students in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center’s Collective Energy: An Integrated Arts Experience, learned about one of Trinidad and Tobago’s hidden treasures—the Arts in Action Spring Break Cultural Immersion Programme within the Center for Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine.

Collective Energy is an art and social action seminar experience offered by the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. Through weekly meetings, Collective Energy poets, musicians, and vocalists collaborate on creative performances. The experience seeks to grow students’ individual capacity as artists and to create collaborative performances that can be used to educate communities on campus and beyond. Collective Energy has performed at the University Park spoken word program “Bed,” the Greater Allegheny Campus, and the Rockview Correctional Facility in Bellefonte, Pa.

Spring Break is a major component of the Collective Energy program. During Spring Break, the group participates in the University of the West Indies Arts in Action Spring Break Cultural Immersion Programme, an intense one-week education abroad experience in St. Augustine. The week is filled with campus arts workshops, cultural tours, visits to cultural events and performances, writing workshops, and a final performance in the Educative Arts Festival. 

The visit included:

• A day in Tobago touring the island and learning about the culture and history of Tobago. The group ended the day in Tobago by attending the play Guinea's Other Suns, a University of the West Indies production in the two-week Educative Arts Festival.
  
  
• An official welcome to campus by the campus principal, Dr. Bhoendrdatt Tewarie, who expressed great excitement about the Penn State visit to his campus.
  
  
• A visit to an Orisha Yard for an introduction to Shango beliefs and practices. Orisha means "God" in the Yoruba language of West Africa. A traditional religion, Orisha is an African derived spiritual practice that honors the spirits of ancestors as central to the daily lived experience on earth. The Orisha Yard serves as a spiritual shrine and community gathering place to pass on the spiritual teachings of the Orisha culture.
  
  
• Visits to two Hindu temples, a pottery making factory, and the Temple in the Sea. The Temple in the Sea was built by Siewdass Sadhu, an indentured laborer who came to Trinidad in 1907. Originally built on land owned by a sugar company, under the orders of the company the temple was demolished and Sadhu imprisoned. Committed to his spiritual beliefs, Sadhu rebuilt the Temple in the Sea so that no one could claim ownership of the land and prevent spiritual practice. The Temple in the Sea stands as a strong example of spiritual commitment and sacrifice.
  
  
• A half-day workshop facilitated by the Arts in Action Department which focused on their theoretical approach to the use of arts as a tool of education and the role of culture in society. The philosophical basis of their work has been that art has an indispensable role to play in the process of social and attitudinal change and development. Their team facilitated an HIV/AIDS performance workshop to illustrate their methodology.
  
  
• Participation in the University of the West Indies Guild of Students Campus Program, "UWI Speaks." The premiere open mic event at UWI, "UWI Speaks" is held outside with attendees relaxing on the grass and enjoying the talents of UWI students.
  
  
• The Collective Energy performance in the Educative Arts Festival. The primary audience at the festival was comprised of two local secondary schools. The group performed an hour-long spoken word and musical show that focused on issues of community responsibility, historical oppression, community uplift, self understanding, and cultural efficacy.

Undoubtedly beautiful and radiant, the Trinidadian sun must also set. And so did our experience come to an end. After a week of 12-hour days that were inspiring, fun, and educational, our group packed our bags, put on our sweats, and braced ourselves for the return to winter. But our week has given us a lasting experience that will live much longer in our hearts, minds, and social conscious than the suntans that will most likely fade in the next week. And because of this gift of inspiration our Spring Break abroad was a cultural treasure!

For more information about the Paul Robeson Cultural Center's Collective Energy Program, call 814-865-1779. Thanks to International Student Services for their support of this initiative.