Today Dave and I spoke at an Intercultural Communications class at NDSU. Our friend who is the professor had asked us to come to her class to speak about Ethiopia. I am not one to speak in front of a large group of people so thankfully Dave is a natural at public speaking.
While considering to agree to talk at my friends class, I asked her for a general outline to what she would like us to touch on. She gave me this outline:
1. Overview of your family (adopting from Ethiopia)
2. Your trips to Ethiopia
3. Overview of the culture of Ethiopia
4. Things you learned about communicating in Ethiopia
5. Things that surprised you about the culture
6. Issues that you have dealt with currently (hair, racism, etc.)
We did adapt it to fit our comfort level, knowledge, and what we felt was important to share about Ethiopia. Our goal was to focus on the beauty of Ethiopia versus despair and adoption. We talked about us, our first impressions, history of Ethiopia, facts about Ethiopia, its people, the culture, etc. It went very well and I think the most of the class enjoyed it. Some of the students even had questions for us so that we pretty awesome.
I enjoyed sharing our family culture and Ethiopia with these students. Funny how a presentation can make you think about things you don't normally think about on a daily basis. When we sought out adoption we never knew how much we would love another country and how much the country itself made an impact on us. As we told our class, we are going to do what we can to infuse Ethiopia into our family so our girls can learn about their birth country. It will then be up to them as they become adults as to continue to incorporate Ethiopia into their lives or not.
Thank you my dear friend for giving us this opportunity (you know who you are!).
It's been a LONG while
4 years ago
