I enjoyed the first day of our Culture and Diversity class. We did this activty where we were given a list of words that all had to do with different culutres. There was a few words on the list that I was familar such as Ramadan, Hannakuh, and Meltiing Pot. After doing this mini actviity I realized that I did not know a whole lot about other cultures and their lifestyles. I am very intrested in learing more about other cultures, and more about my own culutre as well.
When we did the am i ready to expolre difference and commonality handout I noticed that I was making some assumptions. These assumptions were based on prior things that heard from other peers. This made me think back to our Adolescent and Pyschology class last year when we talked about stigma. This proved to me that their is much more for me to learn.
My ethnic background is a mix of Trinidadian and Turkish. Sadly I do not know very much about these two different cultures due to the fact that I was adopted at a very young age and not having much background knowledge on my bloodline family. I did do some reasearch on both these country's and learned some intresting things that I did not know about these two countries.
Trindad and Tobago is a twin island. Trindad is the main Island and Tobago is the sister island. Trindad's ethnic group consists of both East and West Indian, African, Mixed, European, and Chinese. Their relgions are Christian, Hindu, and Muslim those are the most common ones. Each Colour on Trindad's Flag has it's own meaning. Red symbolizes fire, the energy of the sun, and the courage and warmth of the people. Black symbolizes earth, strength, unity of purpose, and the wealth of the land. White symbolizes water, the sea by which the land is bound, the cradle of their heritage, and the equality of men and women.
Turkey's Capital city is Istanbul. It is the only city in the world that is built by two continents, (Asia, and Europe) Every fit Turkish male is required to serve some time in the miltary. This can be for a short or long period of time depending on the level of education they have. Turkey's religion is mainly Muslim. Over two-thrids of Turkey's population is under the age of thrity.
I am happy that I choose to create my own blog because this is something that I am not use to doing. It is important to have an understanding of other cultures and their diversity. In all honesty I think life would be boring if we just stuck by our culture and didn't go out and learn about other peoples cultures and their way of living. It is important for both young and old CYW's to be respectful of Culture and Diversity in there workplace and also in their communities. After finshing this class I will be able to connect better with people of different backgrounds and that can lead to stronger relationships that I can make with the clients that i work with.
