Group XII (2006-2008) News
Diversity: Finding Common Ground Seminar
by Joanne Keyzer, Group 12 Fellow, Joanne Keyzer is a materials supervisor for Domtar Inc., Port Edwards.
As all past participants know, every session ends with reflections and comments of inspirations for our future. Our last session held in Green Bay, April 1-4, 2008, was titled “Diversity”; topics were covered on how diversity affected business and religious culture in communities and some stirring thoughts on where we would be as a country without this blessing of diversity. From the learning’s of this seminar and teachings of the past two years with WRLP, we can see diversity is not just race or an ethnic group mixing in communities. It is each and every one of us in all aspects of our lives.
Diversity Definition - 1. variety: a variety of something such as opinion, color, or style (a city of great cultural diversity); 2. social inclusiveness: ethnic variety, as well as socioeconomic and gender variety, in a group, society, or institution (a company committed to diversity).
At the end of the seminar, we were asked, “what will we take away and what impression has the session had on our lives”. I shared with the group the following commitment. As the Keyzer family, we are going to have culture week. We will take one week a month and dedicate it to one of our ancestor’s countries; we have five to get started with, Ireland, Poland, Canada, Germany, and Sweden. My kids were not real enthused with the project at first but once we got going they seemed to get into it a little more. We divided up the research and gave ourselves a week to get ready to start celebrating our heritage. My daughter Rubie’s assignment included planning a breakfast, a song, and finding out how people looked and dressed. Roddy planned a dinner and found a story from the past, and I found a movie, a blessing and a poem. We planned a night the following week to experience being Irish. We watched an old movie that took place in Ireland, “Waking Ned Devin” a movie our Leadership Group enjoyed and so did my family. I used a prayer I received on a card from a friend that visited Ireland, “May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
Both my kids used the internet to do their research; we had Lentil Soup with our movie and an Irish breakfast the next morning. We decided these meals were similar to things we eat every day. In fact, my daughter asked, “If other countries had culture night with their family what would they eat as an American meal?” It is not easy to find a food we did not get from another country, but Rubie questioning this made the whole thing worth it. I wanted the kids to think about diversity and their culture. The reflection I got back from them is “we are all a little different”, my son said, “as a matter of fact I try to be different.” I think 5, 10, 15 years from now the word diversity will describe the clothes in my daughters closet not her friends; kids will not have to have a definition to having friends that are not like them. We could learn from the younger generation on this one.
Thank you to Seminar Chairs, Yvonne Horton, Associate Dean and Associate Director, UW-Cooperative Extension and Paul Ohlrogge, Community Resource Development Educator, UW-Cooperative Extension, Iowa County.