BECATravels: Flight Home

Friday, July 1, 2016

Flight Home

In Abu Dhabi, more of the group broke up. Nick Chiang was flying on to Istanbul for a connection to Greece. (That was scary, given the bombing of the Instanbul airport the day before.) Jumana Zahid was headed to her home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She and Nick departed for the same terminal. Ivan left to spend several days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai before heading back to San Francisco. So, all of a sudden, we were a group of five.

We found our gate and learned what we had to do in terms of U.S. Customs before going to the food court and having lunch (dinner?) at an O’Leary’s in the airport. There had been an announcement on the plane that, during Ramadan, no food or drink could be eaten in the airport during daylight hours. I think we were all amazed that an international airport could restrict food and beverage like that. But we were there after dark, so we were able to get food. Later, we went through U.S. customs – minus our baggage – in the airport and then had another long wait before the flight took off at 2:30 AM.

Some sixteen hours later, the five of us landed in San Francisco. We retrieved our luggage, and sorted out the equipment for return to the BECA Cage. Then we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Another trip over. It’s always bittersweet; everyone’s so glad to be home, but it’s hard to say goodbye.

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BECA International Video Project

The BECA International Video Project began in 2001 when Dr. Betsy Blosser and then BECA graduate student Gabriela Martínez applied for a grant jointly offered by the San Francisco State Offices of International Programs and Community Service Learning. The purpose of the grant was to design and offer a service learning course that was international in nature. Blosser and Martínez proposed a class in which students would travel to Cusco, Peru, to produce PSAs for Huchuy Runa, an organization that works with street children in Cusco. Winning that grant led the two to offer a two-course sequence entitled, "Media and Community Service" in which students prepared for the trip during a class in the spring semester and traveled to Peru in June to produce the PSAs.

Since that time, the course has been offered 12 times, and students have traveled to Brazil, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Tanzania and Thailand, in addition to Peru. The title of the course has changed; it is now, "Electronic Media and Social Justice I & II." And students do two sets of productions: one, for a local, not-for-profit organization in the spring semester, and one for an NGO in the country they have studied in the summer.

In each case, it is important that students remember that they are "in service" to the respective organization. In part, this means that students produce the video(s) the organization wants or needs for its purposes. Students offer their media skills and, if requested, their advice, but the nature of the production is up to the organization. The organizations receive the videos free of charge, with the knowledge that they are receiving student-produced videos.

It is the intent of this project that students become exposed to social justice issues in the local Bay Area, where San Francisco State is located, and to social justice issues in the country to which they travel. In addition, they have the experience of practicing their craft in a low-resourced environment in the Global South. Usually, this is a transformational experience for the BECA students.