Do you remember those old school field trips?

That’s really why I am here. I am not just sightseeing and gallivanting in the red light district (by the way parents….we had a tour guide with us the WHOLE time). I opted and was approved to take this study abroad course to the Netherlands in lieu of a Public Health Promotion course at KSU. The course is designed as a comparative analysis of health and social justice issues in the Netherlands versus the US. We are specifically examining issues related to euthanasia, sex workers, drug policy, and health care. Monday through Friday we have been in class from 8am-5pm daily (I have a few comments about that which I will place liberally and with my full birth name when submitting the course evaluations). This blog started with the trip and was an idea that I got from my friend Kelli whose blog I follow daily (yay Kel and thanks for the comments) and her husband Rondell (who once said, in response to news of an upcoming trip, that he was seeing the world through my eyes). This blog is an unusual practice of full disclosure and candidness.

While no one has ever accused me of being shy, this is different …

GROUP LEADERS KOOS and REUBEN

PART OF THE GROUP GATHERING OUTSIDE THE FACILITY

I have seen and heard a lot, and the past two days have been particularly challenging. Today we visited a residential facility for youth with mental and behavioral issues in Rotterdam. We met the director, staff, and most importantly the youth who shared their stories, asked us questions about being Americans and showed us what and how they live their lives in the facility. This was the point of “last resort” for children who had experienced sexual abuse, homelessness, abandonment, been witness to and victims of violence and other experiences that led to challenging behavior. I heard stories from the mouths of 8, 9, and 10 year olds of things that I am not sure that I could ever recover from. I looked dead ahead, did not flinch, or show any sign of emotion when listening to one particular girl whose story of sexual abuse had been so publicly recorded in newspapers across the country, sat on the lap of her counselor holding a teddy bear. At a separate rehabilitation facility for ex-offenders I met a young man whose struggle with mental health issues and addiction led him to prison. He cited his fear of hanging around his old friends again and hoped his belief in God would pull him through. He looked in size and skin tone so much like my nephew who is navigating his way through adolescence. I explained this to him and asked through an interpreter what advice he had for me. He said “Find the good, the things he does well and make those the focus of his success. You will not change him and should not try.”

It was hard not to cry today. Really hard.

Both of these individuals, and the majority of those in the social facilities and program which I am visiting are from minority populations. Tomorrow’s blog (which I have already titled “Where have all the Black people gone?) will focus on some of the issues of race and culture that are shockingly a part of this liberal Dutch culture. I have heard and seen some of the most ridiculous statements about race since being here…