Have You Been to Long Pa’sia?

Guest Article Written by Griffin Kammerer Swarthmore College Since week one of school my students have been asking me a question, “Sir, have you been to Long Pa'sia yet?” Tragically, it would take me another seven months to finally reach the village and understand why they were so eager to ask me such a question. …

Life on the Unnamed Road

Guest Article written by Maddie Taylor Pennsylvania State University It’s a Friday morning at the beginning of May and something important occurs to me.As I wrap up my routine of a beach run and four-way video call with my family, a WhatsApp message from an ETA friend flashes across my screen reading “send me your …

A poem: Two Squares Of Light Cast Out The Window

Guest article by Carlina DuanUniversity of MichiganPoem first presented at a celebration of the 2016 ETA program at the National Library of Malaysia on October 31, 2016.  Carlina and her Form 4 students at the release party of their literary arts anthology, Underneath My Heart (in collaboration with SMK Jengka 16 & 18). One of …

Bootstraps and Boleh

Guest article by Alana Deluty College of Wooster Some of Alana's Form 4 students at the ETA led Superteens Teen Empowerment Camp  During orientation, the program coordinators had us read an article Called "Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person," an excellent piece by Gina Crosley-Corcoran. This blog post isn't really about white privilege, …

Where the Doors Stay Open

Guest Article by Shayna CitrenbaumPomona College Raya (Eid al-Fitr) is like this: the eighth house of the day all in pink and the whole family matching, pink and shiny, my student with the kind eyes saying “pow pow” and me supplying the word “fireworks,” hearing tambah lagi tambah lagi and Meg's giggle over how much …

The Hats We Wear

Guest Article by Kayla SweeneyWestern Kentucky University I’m convinced months have fewer days here in Malaysia, although the hours sometimes pass like a humid, slow-motion film. There is much I cannot form into words yet. The constant but slow processing that happens as we learn from the students in front of us, the mountains stretched …

Giraffe

Guest article by Matt Fernandes Syracuse University A couple months ago, I spent a lot of time reading about giraffes. Giraffes in captivity sleep about four hours a day. Wild adult giraffes apparently can sleep in short, restless bursts, only about 5 minutes at a time to lower vulnerability to predators. Many giraffes even stand …

Sister // Outsider

Guest Article by Joanne Chern Scripps College Joanne "free-styling" with the drama team   The thing that nobody really wants to admit, even within the cohort, is that being an ETA can be an intensely lonely experience. It’s a natural part of the ETA job – you cannot feel lonely if you do not feel invested, …