This essay is published in our quarterly publication: ¡Escucha! which can be found online here: http://www.universidadpopular.us/escucha/fallwinter2014/#/0
An International Experience
During his visit last Spring to Universidad Popular, Dr George Palamattam, the executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council of International Programs USA, was so impressed with UPrising’s performance that he proposed to us the idea of hosting someone from another country just as passionate as our facilitators about the role of sport in turning around youth lives. After a quick examination on this venue, Dr Palamattam suggested that Uprising consider Ouamar Benikene, a non-traditionall education practitioner that resorted to sport to engage youth in Les Ulis, a multicultural suburb located about 12 miles southwest of downtown Paris, France, for a cultural exchange. Just as our youth facilitators in Little Village, who work with children from immigrants to this country, Ouamar works with French-born children whose parents are still socially and culturally attached to their countries of origin or birth.
Ouamar arrived in Chicago September 6th, and immediately got himself in the swing of things with our UPrising team. Gradually, a strong work relationship was in place for the delight of the staff and participants alike. With our softball team, he help developed a curriculum and weekly lesson plans to help the team have a successful season. Our cooking class was co-facilitated by Ouamar, he shared some of his personal and famous recipes from France, such as crumble aux pommes and fettuccine alfredo. He was also fully invested is our cultural table activity where he shared many of his personal, cultural and traditional experiences. He also shared some of the hardships that people in France have to overcome to be accepted in society. Thanks to Ouamar, our youth realized that although we come from different places, we face the same struggles.
In our all staff meetings and community meetings, he shared ideas that analyzed and highlighted possible problems. Not only was he critical, but he was able to implement activities and necessary assessments to help facilitate a better program. Ouamar was a great help to the Uprising Youth Program during his time in Chicago. Universidad Popular is grateful for his time and the expertise he was able to share with us. Hopefully, we can repeat this kind of exchange more often between Paris’s southwest Les Ulis and Chicago’s southwest Little Village.
You can also be a part of the solution also! Multiple volunteer and internship opportunities are available at Universidad Popular. For more information e-mail us at volunteer@universidadpopular.us, call at 773-733-5055 or fill out our online form here: http://tinyurl.com/volunteer-up