I was born and raised in the small village of Jakakehn, Liberia, West Africa. The area was often referred to as the “Liberia Hinterland,” perhaps, because of its distance from the coast. Today, the area is now River Gee County, one of 13 counties in Liberia.
As a child, I was always fascinated by stories about life beyond my own village. My inquisitiveness grew when I taught social studies at an elementary school in Pleebo, Liberia. There, I helped my students to be curious about the world beyond their home towns and villages and beyond Liberia. Even though they, like me, may have never been outside their village, read a newspaper, or watched a television program, they, like me, loved to learn about the people, cultures, countries, and continents that they could never even imagine existed or actually have the opportunity to visit. Even in Pleebo, Liberia, a place of limited opportunity and resources, the lives of my students and me as their teacher were enriched by an awareness and appreciation of the international perspective from reading and following the world through our study of geography.
Over the years, and having traveled more than 202,924 miles, with students Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD), to 24 countries around the world I can clearly say that I have seen the world and learned a lot from interacting with people and cultures on six of the seven continents. Sometimes people ask me if I have a favorite country. The answer I give them is that whether you live in Sydney, Australia, Salzburg, Austria, Mumbai, India, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Zurich, Switzerland, Accra, Ghana, Beijing, China, Athens, Greece, Rome, Italy, and Dublin, Ireland, we all belong to the world. We eat, sleep, work, have families, and would love for people to listen to us when we talk to them. Yes, we all have favorite foods and places to eat, and our favorite past times.
Hence, the years that I have directed the Wayne County Community College District’s Study Abroad Program have taught me to be humble. I am proud of the WCCCD’s Study Abroad Program because over the years, it has opened my eyes and the eyes our students to a new horizon by exposing them to different languages, music; the art, and helping them to become global citizens. I believe that every student should study abroad because I believe that globalization is here to stay. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the values of studying abroad. It helps you to experience another culture; language and interact with people from other countries. It teaches students to appreciate difference and diversity firsthand, and enables them to recognize and then dismiss stereotypes.
Studying abroad enables a person to learn how to interact with people from other countries and cultures equips future leaders in all sectors to address urgent issues from curing diseases and finding energy solutions, to fighting terrorism and hunger shared across borders. Like I once advised my students in Liberia many years ago, my advice to any student today who is hesitating on taking the plunge to break any stereotype by studying other cultures abroad, “do it” because we all know that globalization is here to stay. If you really want to work in the internationally, interconnected workforce, you need to know who is on the other side of the oceans. David C. Butty, a native of Liberia, is executive dean for International Programs and Director of the Wayne County Community College District’s Study Abroad Program.
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