Santa Clara University

Fall 2009 Immersion Trip Information

Ecuador Immersion ~ September 4-13, 2009

Ecuador is one of the world’s most dynamic and fascinating countries, a land in which incredible natural beauty and rich resources interface with desperate poverty. While in Ecuador, Santa Clara students will be hosted by Rostro de Cristo (Face of Christ – www.rostrodecristo.org). The immersion group will stay in the Rostro de Cristo retreat house, which is located in the Antonio José de Sucre neighborhood of Durán. SCU students will spent most of their time developing relationships with local families through daily visits and helping out with the community afterschool program for grade school children. The group will learn about educational and healthcare needs of the community. The group will also witness the importance of faith and religion in the lives of people living in this community. The SCU students will be challenged to think about how they can work with the Ecuadorian people to find long term solutions to the problems of poverty and together seek opportunities to improve the lives of the people – most of whom are a part of the world’s 3 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. This immersion invites participants to enter into a very simple lifestyle that resembles the way in which the local community lives. The group will gather for a daily practice of reflection that integrates spiritual and intellectual dimensions.

El Salvador Immersion ~ September 3-15, 2009

This immersion into the reality of El Salvador will support a deep and intensive consideration of the country’s history of violence (including the 12 year civil war which ended in 1992) as well as the current challenges facing developing nations in Latin America and around the globe.  The SCU delegation will spend 13 days collaborating with Christians for Peace in El Salvador (Crispaz -www.crispaz.org).  Crispaz builds bridges of solidarity between communities in El Salvador and those in our country with the goal of advancing the causes of peace, justice, and human liberation. During the first part of the trip, the SCU students will stay in the capital city of San Salvador.  This introductory period will include meetings with a variety of professors, social workers, educators, politicians, clergy, and other experts who will describe both the history and the current national reality of El Salvador.  These initial days in San Salvador also include a visit to the University of Central America (UCA), the Jesuit University in El Salvador where the SCU students will speak with current faculty and staff.  While at the UCA, the students will have the opportunity to visit the site where 6 Jesuits and their 2 co-workers were martyred for their efforts to bring peace to the country’s civil war in 1989.  Time will be spent in prayer and reflection about the example of their lives.  During the second portion of the trip, the SCU students will spend 7 days with simple campesino (farming) people in La Chambala. The SCU students will live with the families of the community, accompanying them in all aspects of their lives.  They will visit and work in the corn fields, learn to make tortillas by hand, share meals, play soccer, and engage in ongoing conversation and relationship-building during the week.

Goals of the immersion program

• To provide students with moments of direct contact with the materially poor, individuals and communities facing injustices.
• To empower students to see the world with new eyes -- to recognize their privileged position as well as their fundamental connection to those who experience injustice and suffering.
• To inform and further students' vocational discernment.
• To unmask the cultural and commercial messages that prevent us from experiencing true compassion and solidarity and which keep us separated from others.
• To connect with and understand viscerally the experience of profound deprivation and marginalization common to our ancestors and to the majority of the world's population. These experiences are so foreign to us today that we are estranged from 90% of the world's population.  The immersion program thus seeks to break down the gates between our community of privilege and the reality of our world.

Immersion trips allow you to witness the injustices many of our communities face, but also come to know the courage, strength and faith of these communities. You will develop friendships, you will learn, you will laugh, and you will return to campus with a new view of the world and your place in it. Immersion will change your life.

Cost

There is a participation fee for each immersion and we are able to work with students on an individual basis to provide additional support through scholarships, payment plans and fund raising. We do not want monetary limitations to prevent you from participating in our immersion program.  The cost to participate in these international immersion experiences is approximately $1,200.  This will cover all major expenses, excluding personal spending on souvenirs.  You can generate some of these funds through individual and group fundraising.  In general, if you have financial difficulties payment arrangements can be made by contacting Richie Lumley or Valerie Sarma in the Ignatian Center.

Immersion timeline

Going on immersion involves a commitment to the preparation process (5-6 group meetings before the immersion), reflection on immersion, and post-immersion gatherings (3 group meetings). Preparation is an essential piece of immersion because it will help you get to know the other students in your group, learn more about the community that you will visit, and also think about what it really means to enter into this experience. While you are on the immersion there will be time and space dedicated to reflect as a group each evening and talk about what you are seeing, learning, and feeling. When you return from immersion you will meet with your group during the spring quarter to discuss what you learned & experienced on immersion.

Please Note: All participants must be willing and able to attend the preparation meetings and willing to meet at least 3 times after returning to campus in the fall.

Apply online by Friday, April 24, 2009 at noon!