I am a white, cisgendered male and have been and am very privileged. The diversity that I lacked from within my family unit, my parents, tried to expose me to and expand my horizons by moving around every 3-5 years. I was born in Kenya, and lived in Spain, Turkey, Argentina, and the US (once again, we were very privileged to be able to travel and experience the world). This childhood exposed me to many cultures and distinct ways of thinking, understanding, and doing.
In growing up, experiencing the world, at times as the minority, and others in the clear majority, I was able to expand my understanding of diversity. Seeing the poverty, racial, gender, and sexuality gap in different countries opened my eyes and my need to confront these realities at an early age. Throughout my life I have been an active member of Habitat for Humanity and I’ve tutored many ESL students and helped others learn to read through programs like the HEAL program. I’ve realized the importance of being different – the creativity, points of view, and solutions that others offer that I alone, just don’t have.
I lived in Argentina at a time where they lacked racial diversity, there was a huge poverty, gender, and sexuality gap. Our international school (our ivory tower) was right next to a villa (the slums). In high school we would go to the villa and help tutor the parents, help with meals, and play with the kids. On the flip side, Argentina became one of the leading countries tackling the sexuality gap and was the first Latin American country to legalize same sex marriage. This fight for equality, which a friend took me to march for, in the streets of Buenos Aires, exposed me to the fact that love is love (PERIOD).
My international upbringing has made me face the inequalities we have in this world and once I saw them up front, I could not go back to my ivory tower and put my blinders back on. Once you’ve had a village offer you food, knowing they wouldn’t eat that day; marched for rights that you have and others don’t; taken feminist classes as the minority, you see the importance of diversity and acknowledge the need to confront these truths. That said, I must acknowledge that I have a lot to learn and I still must speak up and participate more to help narrow these gaps. I hope to expand upon this and fight for awareness and inclusion as a teacher.
