Peace Corps Cross-Cultural Experience Essay

Cross-Cultural Experience

While growing up in a rural Kentucky, I did not have the luxury of being exposed to a varying array of peoples\cultures. For instance, during my eight years of Elementary School, there was only one Non-Caucasian student at my school. Because of my lack of exposure to other cultures, I became interested in expanding my cultural knowledge. I achieved this goal by majoring in Cultural Anthropology, Folk Studies, and Social Work at Western Kentucky University. I also achieved this goal in my work with adolescents at Glen Dale Children’s Home.
During the years of 1996-2002, I majored in Cultural Anthropology at Western Kentucky University. Cultural anthropology is the study of living people, their beliefs, practices, values, ideas, technologies, and economies from around the world. Through a variety of approaches and research methods I was able to study the cultures of people in many parts of the world. Topics of my study included ethnic and race relations, gender, sexuality, law, medicine, and popular culture. I also minored in Folk Studies and Social Work at WKU. Folklore is the general term for the verbal, spiritual, and material aspects of any culture that are transmitted orally, by observation, or by imitation. The Social Work classes taught me how to enrich and enhance individual and group development and how to help alleviate adverse social and economic conditions for all types of age groups, cultures, ethnic groups, etc.
I was able to put my university cultural studies to the test, while working for three years (2003-2006) at Glen Dale Children’s Home. Glen Dale is a residential facility for at-risk female youth (between the ages of 12 & 18). While at Glen Dale, I was exposed to adults and youth of diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Part of my responsibility at Glen Dale, was to ensure that the cultural and religious needs of all the youth in my program were met. I was able to draw on the knowledge I gained at WKU, and also from my fellow co-workers to manage this undertaking.
For instance, I needed to ensure that the hygiene\grooming needs of all my residents were met. One of my African American co-workers brought to my attention that African Americans need accessibility to hair care products that differs from Caucasians. With this knowledge, I was able to ensure that all the African American youth in my program were provided with the proper items to care for their hair. I also needed to ensure that the religious needs off all my residents were provided for. So, each Sunday I took the residents to one of several churches in the area. I was able to work out a rotating schedule for each Sunday, so that each girl could attend the church of their choice at least once a month. We also permitted various church groups to come to campus each week, to spend time worshipping, praying, singing, etc. with the residents. I also attended the church services with the residents at all the various churches, so that I had a better understanding of their religious needs.
I have been able to expand my cultural knowledge and understanding through study and experience. I believe that understanding and living with diversity is one of today's urgent challenges. In today’s global world, it is imperative that everyone be able to appreciate and understand cultural diversity.