Words are impactful. Voices that say words matter. What we communicate with our voices matter.
As a Communication major I’ve more or less been studying words, voices, and communication my entire college career. I’ve cited journal articles about the importance of words in the education of bilingual students. I’ve written papers about how role models in media can give disadvantaged communities a voice. I have literally written entire papers about how to engage communities through communication. But never before have I truly understood how important communication is than with Bana this summer.
Bana helps give women and girls words that allow them to understand menstruation and how to take care of themselves. As Christina and I saw, and as all the fellows before us, knowing and understanding how to talk about something so stigmatized as menstruation gave women and girls alike the ability to talk about things that they never felt comfortable talking about.
In reflection of everything that I’ve experienced since that day in February when we found out we received the fellowship, I’ve realized that giving people words that help them find their voice to communicate their experiences is what I love to do. I quite literally begin to feel this sense of pride that I can only imagine a parent feels during their child’s talent show when I see someone I helped communicate their experiences in an impactful way.
When I had this realization upon my return from the field I realized that this wasn’t a new love that I only found out about in Uganda. Rather these passions for helping people find their own voices have slowly been developing my whole life, and Bana just shined a new light on it. From working in the Multicultural Center on campus to working on Unity 4 I have been trying to give a voice to marginalized communities on campus. Once I realized that this was something that I’ve been doing for years something clicked! This is what I want to do like in the real world—give marginalized and disadvantaged communities the ability to communicate their experiences in a way that makes the most impact.
That’s where the fun and uncertainty comes in. How do I, or anyone, know which form of communication makes the most impact?
That’s another area that this fellowship has helped foster. In all of the other enterprises and Bana they are considered innovative and exceptional, and what they really do is listen to and engage with their communities. From that engagement and listening they come up with these seemingly straight forward, but dynamic forms of communication and engagement that allow them to make such a large impact in their communities.
The form of communication it takes to empower and give a voice to communities depends on the community. I’ve seen innovative and dynamic ideas come from these enterprises, and it inspires me keep an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset when it comes to communication and cause-based work. So while I don’t see myself starting a social enterprise any time soon, I definitely see myself applying that mindset that won’t let my work become routine and out of habit, but rather fresh, new, and inspiring. Unfortunately people have become desensitized to everything bad happening in the world, from environmental disasters to civil rights violations. Changing the way we talk about the problems in our world to inform and engage through stories and narratives can pool a multitude of untapped resources to solve problems together.
Even if I didn’t receive this fellowship I could reasonably say that I wouldn’t be the same person I was one year ago, because that is life. Who knows what I would’ve done and how my life would be totally different without Thane, Keith, Spencer, and the other 17 crazy people. But, I do know that this fellowship has taught me how to stop living in the box, and think outside of it. I’ve always known that I wanted to help people (see my first blog post), I’ve recently stopped expecting and assuming things (see my in field blog post), I’ve been inspired by amazing women giving voices to their communities (see my last blog post), and now I have firmer grip on reality and the future.
In times that are as uncertain as they are now, knowing what my passion is, even if I don’t know what that literally looks like yet gives me solace. I’d be willing to bet that without this fellowship it would’ve taken me who knows how many years to find my passion in using communication to empower people voices with words.
