November 6, 2009 – Someone You Should Know

Gretchen Curry ’12 and students in Assegai School take a break from videotaping for her documentary about life in South Africa.

Photo courtesy of Gretchen Curry ’12

From Ohio Wesleyan to South Africa
Gretchen Curry ’12 to share international experience in upcoming documentary

A six-week trip to South Africa provided a true theory-to-practice experience for Ohio Wesleyan University sophomore Gretchen Curry, who helped educate children in impoverished urban and rural areas of South Africa over the summer.

She and eight other college students lived with families in South Africa while participating in the SIT (School for International Training) Study Abroad program, which features a field-based cultural immersion for participants to examine critical global issues.

Curry received two class credits for her experience, which will be highlighted in a documentary she is writing and producing for her “Ethnographic and Documentary Film and Filmmaking” class this semester. Her film, which will be completed in late November, is tentatively titled “Rebuilding the Rainbow Nation.”

This West Hartford, Connecticut, native says she says she had never before seen such poverty and racial division, and that people in South Africa were surprised that she (as a white woman) lived with “colored” (a South African term for mixed race) and black families during her time there.

“I knew about South Africa before I went there, but it was still shocking to see the poverty and lack of educational resources for the children,” Curry says. “The white, rich minority gets most of the resources, and a huge mass of others gets very little.”

Gretchen Curry stayed here while in the rural areas of South Africa.

Photo courtesy of Gretchen Curry ’12

Curry said there was a major shortage of teachers, space, and books in the schools she visited.

During her stay, she kept a daily journal and presented her observations during a program at the conclusion of the project.

Curry’s documentary about her experience in South Africa will premiere at the OWU Documentary Film Festival to be held at The Strand Theatre in Delaware in April 2010.

– Linda O’Horo