Back home

Back Home- Coming home has been a joy because I learned so much during my time in South Africa and I have truly enjoyed sharing my experiences with family and friends. My recovery from the jet-lag was quick and painless and this only further reinforces my feelings of strength and renewed energy to get back into my routine. As I have interacted with my friends and family, it has been interesting to put my learnings into practice especially relating to white male privilege and the things I’ve learned about expressing emotions as a male. So far, I feel very comfortable giving up space for others to live into. I have had many opportunities to take an active listening role since returning to my job coaching climbing. I’ve enjoyed seeing my coworkers thrive with this space. I am continuing to work on expressing emotions as a male in a safe way by naming my emotions instead of defaulting to anger, as it is socially acceptable for men to be angry most of the time. I find it interesting and freeing to be able to name something like frustration instead of not knowing what I’m feeling and expressing anger.

White male privledge

White Male Privilege- Going into this trip, I wanted to learn about my white male privilege (WMP) on a deeper level. This is mostly due to the lack of opportunity to discuss my questions further with my peers given the nature of the online program to create a bit of isolation. South Africa is a country where WMP awareness is heightened because of the historical context. Some key learnings I gathered on this course through great feedback from my professor and others in the course centered on how I want to allow others to take up space in society. As a white male, it is very easy and often expected, that I take up the conversational real estate. Recognizing this and allowing others to have an opportunity to take up this space by taking a listening role, rather than talking breaks down the power dynamic of WMP. I also struggled to recognize that in many situations I am a representative of white males so I need to intentionally be aware of the damage that others have experienced from white males. This awareness changes how I can choose to show up in situations and can bring healing to everyone.