Spring Break
International relations students plan trip to Africa
Students to study post-civil war developments
Jesseca Bagherpour
Issue date: 11/27/07 Section: NEWS
Two North Texas international relations majors are going to The Sierra Leone Youth Summit over winter break. They will observe the country's development after a 10-year civil war.
Hanna Schwing, Spring junior, and Lindsey Bengfort, Sanger junior, will depart for Sierra Leone on Jan. 1 and will begin their journey back home on Jan. 16. The Global Youth Partnership for Africa is sponsoring the trip.
"I've never been to Africa," Schwing said. "I've lobbied for Africa and I've been really involved in African issues from the states and I figured if I'm going to be this active in African causes I might as well have gone to Africa."
Schwing said her minor is in peace studies and one of the goals of the summit is to learn about "post-conflict reconstruction" and "transitive justice." She said she thought the summit would be good for her minor and would help her "further understand Africa and African conflict, current events and history."
"I'm super excited," Bengfort said. "I'm majoring in international studies with a concentration in peace and development and the summit is focusing on peace and development. I'm excited to see first hand the devastation that's happened over there and how they've pulled themselves out of it."
Bengfort said that after she graduates she plans to work with non-governmental organizations or government agencies to help development in Africa. She wants to help people in Africa learn to develop themselves rather than being dependent on aid.
"That's what I want to do," Bengfort said, "work with people on development. And that's what the whole summit is about. There are so many refugee camps and aid out there but they're not really teaching people to … stand on their own two feet and take care of their families."
Schwing said she would love to eventually earn her master's and doctoral degrees in the human rights field. She said she wants to work with or form a nonprofit that helps an African community "complete a goal that it thinks would be good for its community."
Hanna Schwing, Spring junior, and Lindsey Bengfort, Sanger junior, will depart for Sierra Leone on Jan. 1 and will begin their journey back home on Jan. 16. The Global Youth Partnership for Africa is sponsoring the trip.
"I've never been to Africa," Schwing said. "I've lobbied for Africa and I've been really involved in African issues from the states and I figured if I'm going to be this active in African causes I might as well have gone to Africa."
Schwing said her minor is in peace studies and one of the goals of the summit is to learn about "post-conflict reconstruction" and "transitive justice." She said she thought the summit would be good for her minor and would help her "further understand Africa and African conflict, current events and history."
"I'm super excited," Bengfort said. "I'm majoring in international studies with a concentration in peace and development and the summit is focusing on peace and development. I'm excited to see first hand the devastation that's happened over there and how they've pulled themselves out of it."
Bengfort said that after she graduates she plans to work with non-governmental organizations or government agencies to help development in Africa. She wants to help people in Africa learn to develop themselves rather than being dependent on aid.
"That's what I want to do," Bengfort said, "work with people on development. And that's what the whole summit is about. There are so many refugee camps and aid out there but they're not really teaching people to … stand on their own two feet and take care of their families."
Schwing said she would love to eventually earn her master's and doctoral degrees in the human rights field. She said she wants to work with or form a nonprofit that helps an African community "complete a goal that it thinks would be good for its community."
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