Snow and grounded outlets are two things easily taken for granted as part of life in Minnesota, but two recent visitors to the state were able to look upon it differently.
Mauricio Vasquez, a resident of San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala, was in Minnesota this February as part of the Dakota County Technical College service-learning program, which is designed to be a reciprocal educational and cultural exchange. Over the last two years of the program, Mauricio has worked on community service and construction projects, shared his country and culture, and learned from DCTC faculty and staff at the San Lucas Toliman Mission in Guatemala where he is an electrician. Just recently, the reciprocation piece of the service-learning program became a reality and Mauricio was able to take advantage of the opportunity and pay a visit the United States.
For the first time, Mauricio was amidst American culture and education, speaking English, and experiencing snow.
During his visit to Minnesota, Mauricio participated in classes at DCTC to learn more about electrical work so he would be able to share the knowledge and skill with others in Guatemala upon his return.
As part of the experience, he attended a discipline workshop in Moorhead where he learned about electrical codes, a regulation not commonly found in Guatemala.
“The technology is much different here. Everything is much more technical and everything is inspected. It is safer for the people,” he said. “In Guatemala, things are very dangerous because outlets are not grounded and wiring runs everywhere. A child died where I live because an outlet wasn’t grounded. It is much safer for everyone here.”
Also participating in DCTC’s service-learning program was Maria Medarda Castro. Maria serves on the board for the service-learning program and has been a pioneer for Mayan women in Guatemala. Maria and four other women were the first females to graduate from her village. She also established the first political organization for Mayan women. Here in Minnesota, she is sharing her experiences in an effort to raise awareness about the discrimination that Mayans and Mayan women face in her country.
“Mayans experience something similar to what African-Americans have experienced here. There is a great deal of discrimination and racism,” Castro said.
It is exactly this kind of knowledge-sharing that the founders of the service-learning initiative hoped to create when setting their goals. Anna Verhoye, Doug Thompson, and Bruce Hansburger, all DCTC instructors who have been a part of the service-learning program from the beginning and have participated in the visits to Guatemala, were an integral part of the visit and are excited to see the goals of the program realized.
“Three years ago, the learning-through-service initiative began at DCTC and our goal was reciprocal sharing of lives through service-learning,” Verhoye said. “Yearly, we have sent more people to Guatemala but haven’t had anyone visit here. Now, in the third year, the reciprocation has happened and we are excited to see where it all goes from here. Our visits have reached many people and we hope that the program will continue to reach even more.”
