Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Tracy Kemme, an alumna of the University of Dayton, reflects on her experience in Chile while studying abroad as an undergraduate student for Global Sisters Report in honor of National Migration Week.
Thinking on her experience in Chile, she remembers “I got a taste of the beautiful diversity of the people of God. Our world is much bigger than I could have imagined growing up in the suburbs of Cincinnati, where most people looked, talked and thought like me. Over plates of arroz con pollo in sweltering little houses, the “poor” of Latin America catechized me. In building cross-cultural relationships, I’ve witnessed and felt the splendor of a mutual exchange of cultural goodness. My mind has been opened through honest conversations about the shadow side of cultures, including, and especially, my own. Perhaps most significantly, my experiences of being the “stranger” have made me a more compassionate “welcomer.”
Kemme encourages all readers to have experiences where they become a “stranger” by traveling to new places or neighborhoods to live the theme of this year’s National Migration Week, Creating a Culture of Encounter.
Read the full article here.
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