"... Living in an Amish, Aboriginal and Muslim paradise."

Last week we had the opportunity to hear three more presentations on different cultures from around the World. The first presentation happened to be my group’s presentation, and we researched Amish Canadians for our assignment. I felt that our presentation went very well, and that we covered a great deal about the Amish culture. We discussed information regarding their spiritual beliefs, gender roles within the family, beliefs on education, and what Child and Youth Workers need to know. In developing our assignment, I really felt like we were ahead of the game. We had the PowerPoint constructed in more than enough time to be ready for the presentation, but we unfortunately missed a crucial part of our assignment and needed to rush to get it finished it at the last minute. Just before our presentation, we realized that we had not put our references on our slides and that this was an expectation for our assignment. We attempted to quickly locate all our references from our emailed work that we had been exchanging in completing the PowerPoint, and attempted to through them all together onto a slide. For future assignments, I will personally ensure that every aspect of the assignment (especially the reference page!) is included to prevent being rushed and making careless mistakes that are unacceptable at this level of education. On a positive note, one of the things that I found very interesting in our presentation was in the baptism of married couples. In researching our topic, I discovered that Amish people do not believe in the baptism of babies, as baptism is meant to clear the worshipper of sin, and the Amish people do not believe that babies have any sins to be rid of. This is why they wait until marriage to be baptised.  

The second presentation that we heard was on Canadian Aboriginal Communities. In reading their handout, I feel like I have a better understanding of First Nations members and what I need to know while working with them in the field. The group covered traditional family roles, ceremonies, social and economic issues within some Aboriginal communities, and guidelines for counsellors to consider when working with Aboriginal members. The group also spent a significant amount of time on residential schools, and I could not believe that the British had actually tried to push their “Superior way of life” onto the Aboriginal people in the 1840s. Some of the stories that I have heard about these residential school are absolutely appalling. Educators attempted to strip Aboriginal people of their cultural language and heritage, and wanted them to all become English speaking Christians and farmers. The thought of pushing one cultural belief onto that of another cultural group seems to me like a form of discrimination and prejudice and is absolutely unacceptable.

The third presentation that we heard was on Muslin Canadians, and what an amazing handout they provided the class with! The group discussed the seven elements that form Islamic Worldview (Humankind is innately good, mortality is absolute, unitary belief in one God, one lives in a community of the faithful, woman are the source of civilization, God is the center of the world, and all wisdom comes from Allah and peace can only be achieved by submission to him), the norms and values of Muslim Canadians, some of the challenges that counsellors may experience when working with them in the field, and also things for Child and Youth Workers to remember. In listening to this presentation, I liked how they addressed the stereotype that some people believe which is that all Muslims are terrorists. Every since September 11^th, I know that there has been a great deal of stigma surrounding Muslims, and although unfair, I think that a selected few tarnished the religions good name by making poor decisions. With this thought in mind, I wanted to research a little bit about Guantanamo Bay after hearing this group’s presentation. Guantanamo Bay was a detainment facility that belonged to the United States and was in Cuba. Opened in 2002, the facility was used to house detainees from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay alleged that they were tortured and sexual degraded while in custody. It took testimonies like these among other complaints about the misconduct going on within the facility to eventually result in Barrack Obama working to have an alternative prison built so that Guantanamo Bay could be closed.