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STUDYING IN SOUTH AFRICA AND LEARNING WHO I AM
Of
the more than 330,000 U.S. students studying abroad, only 6.1 percent
are African American and 10.1 percent are Latino. This is one in a
series of articles by students of color who are breaking down barriers
by studying abroad thanks to the Frederick Douglass Global Fellows
program, which awards 10 full scholarships a year to students at
Minority Serving Institutions.
These students will periodically share
their stories, hopefully inspiring others to apply. Join our social
media campaign, #CIEEmpowered #MSInspirational
#FrederickDouglassGlobalFellows, launching on January 7, 2019 that will
celebrate these extraordinary students and their experiences studying
abroad.
By Darielis Cruz
Nationwide -- I was born in Moca, a small city in the Dominican Republic, and today I am a 21-year old junior at Mercy College, in New Jersey. Thanks to the Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship, I studied in South Africa last summer, and it was a transformational experience for me. For the very first time, I learned about myself, who I am as a person. Here is my story:
When I was five, my father left to get a job in the United States, packing boxes at an Oreos factory in New York City. One of my earliest memories is being under the guava trees, saying goodbye to my father. Every day, he called me and told me about metal bridges that float over the water and white frozen water that fell from the sky and looked like cotton candy. Once a month, we would get care packages with Oreos in them. I would read my favorite book, The Giving Tree, and eat Oreos.
