by Abby Flavin '18, Emma Gresh '19, Emily Hill '18, Kat Grinnell '18, Brianna Levy '18, Janie Lorenzo '18 and Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne

�þ��� in Elon's The Call of South Africa Winter Term course traveled to the University of Cape Town on Jan. 12 to promote Elon’s powerful mission of sustainability. Excited by the prospect of contributing to a country that had already positively impacted members of the 2018 cohort and many before them, the students of The Call of South Africa planted 20 local orinoquia yellowwood trees, a local species known for its wood and durability under harsh conditions, on the university’s main campus.

Robert Buchholz, associate vice president for facilities management and director of the physical plant at Elon, spearheaded this initiative following his own journey to South Africa with the program in January 2017. Prior to the departure of the 30 students in the 2018 cohort, Buchholz visited the class and brought to attention the fact that study abroad courses constitute the majority of Elon’s carbon footprint. Buchholz’s office provided a small grant to purchase the trees.

Prudence Layne, founder and faculty leader of the Call of South Africa program and associate professor of English, worked with horticulturalist Noelene Le Cordier, head of the Garden Department at the University of Cape Town, to purchase and secure the trees from one of The University of Cape Town's plant suppliers, Starke Ayres (Pty) Ltd Garden Centre. During a planning meeting held at the University of Cape Town, Layne and Le Cordier shared their institutions’ mutual sustainability practices and carbon neutrality goals.

The university location was selected as the inaugural site for Elon’s international tree-planting program because of the sustainability goals it shares with Elon and the commitment and willingness of the staff to maintain and care for the immature trees. The effort takes on increased significance as the University of Cape Town campus and the rest of Cape Town is dealing with a critical water crisis, in what has been called “a hundred-year drought.” In the midst of the crisis, the university's Garden Department has employed strategic measures to care for its landscape. The University of Cape Town staff assisting the Elon students with the planting used limited amounts of “grey water” to plant the hearty yellowwood species and to launch the program.

So why plant trees? They provide shade and sound barriers, reducing noise by up to 40 percent, decrease air temperature caused by sunlight blockage and increase water evaporation. However, perhaps most importantly, trees absorb carbon dioxide and other potentially harmful gases from the air while simultaneously releasing oxygen. Each tree can provide a day’s supply of oxygen for four people, as well as store up to 13 pounds of carbon each year. An acre of trees can absorb 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Due to Cape Town's current drought, the type of trees planted and techniques used were carefully considered. When asked about these particular strategies, Le Cordier said, “they may fail, but our goal is to plant species that are drought tolerant. We have had to change our planting on the university because of this obstacle.”

Under Le Coudier’s watchful supervision, Elon students followed a careful process which consisted of digging a hole and inserting the tree directly in line with the ground, adding fertilizer and soil to fill the hole, and adding just enough water to keep the tree hydrated without being wasteful. The results were 20 trees with the potential for a very long lifespan – and therefore many years of benefits for the residents and environment of Cape Town.

Over the long term, The Call of South Africa program hopes to make the tree planting a permanent, annual addition to its Cape Town itinerary. The effort will add to the number of trees at the University of Cape Town site, which will soon be home to a new bus terminal and a park for the UCT students, faculty and community members to enjoy. The hope is that this first Elon Friendship Garden at the University of Cape Town will be replicated at other sites throughout South Africa and by other Elon study abroad programs around the world.

The Call of South Africa is focused strategically on offsetting the program’s negative environmental impact. To learn more about this and other South Africa Study Abroad (SASA) sustainability initiatives, contact Prudence Layne at playne@elon.edu. 

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The student authors of this article are participating in the communications group for The Call of South Africa, a Winter Term study abroad program led by Prudence Layne, associate professor of English.

By Abby Flavin '18, Emma Gresh '19, Emily Hill '18, Kat Grinnell '18, Brianna Levy '18, Janie Lorenzo '18 and Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne

Nineteen years ago, Jill Heyes moved to South Africa following the death of her husband. Formerly a teacher, Heyes left her life in England behind and began anew in Cape Town.

While touring a township soon after her arrival, her pastor challenged her about why she was not doing more. Inspired, Heyes began gathering women from the township. She provided them with wages as she taught them paper maché and what she calls “other useless and awful crafts.”

Realizing that their hard work was not translating into anything substantive, Heyes searched for another means that would allow the women to express their creativity and earn a living. It was Heyes’ friend Lanette, visiting on holiday, who over a cup of tea suggested using tea bags as an alternate medium for their art.

The tea bag company, Original T-Bag Designs, has been creating art with these very tea bags ever since that day. Employing both men and women from the Imizamo Yethu township, the company provides a stable income for a number of citizens.

Heyes emphasized the beauty of each creation, not only because of the creative nature of the products, but also because each one possesses its own story. Whether the tea bag used came from a group of women gathering for tea, a couple enjoying a lazy afternoon or anything in between, each background story makes these products unique. Although some background stories remain mysteries, there is beauty in knowing the tea bag came from somewhere else and will be further shared with others to enjoy.

Due to its increasing popularity, Original T-Bag Designs is outgrowing its current space. The shop’s equipment is rusting and its nonprofit power suppliers have gone out of business, leaving Heyes and her team to create their own. In addition, the company relies heavily on tea bag donations from all around the world — including from �þ��� — and will only continue to turn a profit if these donations are sustained over time.

Although Heyes has been extremely successful thus far, she says, “I am never happy with where we are” because she understands the potential of her business. She wants to expand her business and would love a bigger facility to accommodate her operations and emphasis on recycling used tea bags and providing jobs for underprivileged citizens to promote her sustainable, fair-trade organization.

Elon’s “The Call of South Africa” Winter term program introduced the concept of recycling tea bags to the campus in 2017. The inaugural efforts collected nearly 300 tea bags, which were presented to Heyes during the class’s January 2018 visit and tour to the facility. South Africa Study Abroad Alums hope to increase the awareness of this business and sustainable practice.

Heyes has drafted a manuscript about this improbable enterprise. The book will explain the roots of The Original T-Bag Designs company and undoubtedly inspire those throughout the world to think twice before trashing a used tea bag.

To learn more about Original T-Bag Designs, Jill Heyes and the stories of some of the men and women whose lives have been transformed by this business, visit 

Those interested in joining The Call of South Africa’s ongoing efforts to support this business may send their dried, used tea bags to The Call of South Africa, �þ���, �þ��� Box 2338, Elon, NC 27244. 

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The student authors of this article are participating in the communications group for The Call of South Africa, a Winter Term study abroad program led by Prudence Layne, associate professor of English. 

On March 15, 2016, Associate Professor of English, Prudence Layne, delovered the Seventh Annual Women of Excellence Conference held at Halifax Community College in Waldon, NC. Layne’s lecture, “When Excellence Subverts Womanhood . . .” addressed this year’s conference theme “We are W.O.M.E.N.: Women Organized for Motivational and Educational Networking.”

In her talk, Layne challenged participants to extend their bonds of sisterhood in new and uncommon ways. She urged them not to lose the ‘woman’ or the ‘hood’ in their pursuit of excellence, indulge in self-denigration or the denigration of other women in the process.

Among the more than 300 women attending the conference were Halifax Community College’s fourth President and CEO, Dr. Erwin V. Griffin, Jr. and Mayor of  the Town of Halifax, Kristy Johnson , abd  the first female mayor of Halifax.

“Israel, Palestinian Territory, and Jordan: Living Stones of Peace” has been cancelled for 2015 due to regional security concerns.

Due to the tragic outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, both Winter Term programs to Ghana will not go to West Africa in 2015. 

“Ghana: West African History and Culture” has been modified for 2015 — the program will now be “Ethiopia and Tanzania: An Exploration of History, Culture, and the Natural World in East Africa.” “Ghana: Performing Arts in Cultural Context” has been postponed to January 2016.

Center staff members do not anticipate changes to other Winter Term 2015 programs to Africa, including “South Africa: The Call of South Africa” and “Malawi: The Warm Heart of Africa.”

The Isabella Cannon Global Education Center continues to accept spring semester applications for all Elon-approved programs in the Middle East and Africa, including programs in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. 

Staff members continue to monitor the situations closely and will implement contingency plans in a timely manner should conditions dictate a change.   

For more information please contact the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center at (336) 278-6700.    

The needs, challenges and opportunities for resettlement and adjustment of new refugees and immigrants in Greensboro are considered in this discussion moderated by Elon faculty members of PERCS: Elon’s Program for Ethnographic Research & Community Studies, Elon’s Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic, and by representatives from the nonprofit organizations North Carolina African Services Coalition and the Center for New North Carolinians.

For more information, contact Mussa Idris, assistant professor of anthropology, at midris@elon.edu.

Sponsored by PERCS, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Elon Global Neighborhood Association, African and African-American Studies, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Sociology and Anthropology Student Club, Lambda Alpha, Alpha Kappa Delta and the International Living and Learning Community

awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grants to seniors Mat Goldberg, Julia Okada, Nakhila Mistry, Kyle Whitaker, Lauren Kepke and Eryn Gorang. Two additional seniors and an alumna – Cara McClain and Kyle Keith, along with Katie Moran ’13 – were named award alternates.

Elon set its previous record for Fulbrights in 2012 when three students and an alumnus secured fellowships for �þ��� and research.

“We’re incredibly proud of our winners, and indeed of all the students who applied this year and put considerable time and effort into creating strong applications,” said Professor Janet Myers, director of the Office of National and International Fellowships. “Our office has witnessed rapid growth in the number of seniors and recent alums who apply for Fulbright grants as a way to build upon forms of global engagement that began at Elon. In some cases, this means returning to a country or region where a student studied abroad to teach English, or in other cases, pursuing an original research proposal that grows out of an �þ��� research project. 

“Throughout the application process, students benefit from the expertise of faculty and staff on Elon’s Fulbright �þ��� Committee, who mentor and interview students as part of an application process that helps candidates reflect on the importance of cross-cultural exchange while also refining their personal goals and plans for the future.”

The Fulbright Program currently operates in more than 155 countries worldwide. The U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program awards about 8,000 grants each year to students and educators across the globe.

ELON UNIVERSITY FULBRIGHT RECIPIENTS for 2014-15 (ALPHABETIZED BY LAST NAME)

The psychology major originally from New Jersey is one of two students headed to South Korea after graduation. Recipient of several leadership awards during his time at �þ���, Goldberg is an Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellow and a Periclean Scholar with an active interest in leadership studies.

Goldberg took part in the university’s Center for Leadership, the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement, Elon Hillel and the Handmade Co-Op, which supports local artists and helps sell art that creates a positive impact on the community. He also interned in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Interactive Resource Center, which provides assistance to people facing homelessness in the city.

“I feel excited for a new opportunity and the experience to ask questions, connect with a new culture and community and have an adventure,” Goldberg said. “I believe the Fulbright will help me understand the dynamics of education across cultures, offer me experience �þ���, and challenge me to think how to connect my commitment to service in my professional career.”

Goldberg was a finalist for the national Truman Scholarship in 2013. He is the son of Harlene and Marc Goldberg of Port St. Lucie, Florida.

The human service studies major and Honors Fellow from Salt Lake City, Utah, returns to South Africa in the coming months after traveling there the fall of her junior year.

At Elon, Gorang served the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement as a Leader in Collaborative Service for a Title I high school in nearby Burlington, North Carolina. She recruited, trained, and coordinated 25 Elon students to tutor at-risk students; coordinated the Cinderella Project that, among other activities, provides prom dresses for 50 low-income students; and established a partnership with Elon’s Handmade Workshop, giving Cummings High School students a chance to learn about entrepreneurship as they sell their own artwork and handicrafts. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

“This Fulbright ETA means that I can serve as a multicultural ambassador between the United States and South Africa, bridging the gaps between these two very different parts of the world and combating stereotypes that limit collaboration between our nations,” Gorang said. “As a leader, I have the responsibility to understand the situation and needs of those I am leading. Therefore, serving as an ETA gives me the opportunity to work as a teacher on the ground-level in South Africa to gain greater insight into the South African school system and the challenges teachers face. In turn, I hope to apply my knowledge in order to best implement educational programs in the future that will truly get to the root of the issue and make the greatest difference in the lives of South African youth.”

Gorang is the daughter of Kristin Wann Gorang and Alan David Gorang of Salt Lake City, Utah.

An elementary and special education major from Cary, North Carolina, Kepke is a Teaching Fellow at �þ��� with membership in the Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Eta Sigma academic honor societies.

She was active with the New Student Orientation program, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Teaching Fellows program, where she served as social chair. Kepke also helped found E-Splash, a program in the School of Education to connect incoming and current students with faculty at informal social events.

“As a future educator, the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship will further prepare me to serve my students,” Kepke said. “The immersion experience will develop my Spanish speaking skills and introduce me to new pedagogical knowledge.

“The award will also allow me to exchange ideas about culture and education with the people of Guatemala.”

Kepke, who plans to eventually teach special education in North Carolina, is the daughter of Mark and Ann Kepke of Cary, North Carolina.

The mathematics and religious studies double major from Texas plans to attend graduate school at the University of Maryland after her year in Sri Lanka. Mistry has been involved at �þ��� with several academic and leadership honors societies, including Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Mu Epsilon and Theta Kappa Alpha.

The Elon College Fellow served as a tutor to university classmates and to recent immigrants at the Avalon Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mistry also worked as a tutor for young children taking part in the university’s “It Takes a Village” Project.

“The Fulbright award means that I can fulfill my passion of �þ��� foreign students in South Asia,” she said. “I hope it will be a stepping stone between my �þ��� career and my plans for graduate school. I want to become a university professor, so I feel as though this opportunity will help me immensely in the future through giving me hands-on �þ��� experience.”

Mistry is the daughter of Rashmita Mistry of Wilmington, Delaware, and Bharat Mistry of San Antonio, Texas.

Okada, who joins Goldberg in South Korea next year, majored in history and earned her teacher licensure through the School of Education as a Teaching Fellow. With research interest in education reform and international criminal justice, the Ohio native took part in several campus organizations, including the Alpha Chi Omega fraternity for women, and the Phi Alpha Theata and Kappa Delta Pi academic honor societies.

Okada was the 2013 recipient of the Watterson-Troxler History Scholarship.

“I hope to take this incredible opportunity to expand my understanding and practice of instructional approaches in education,” she said. “It’s crucial in this day and age that educators gain a global view of instructional practices to best serve future students, especially when the world begins to become more interconnected and diverse. South Korea has such an incredible international professional learning community for educators and I want to capitalize on that resource as best I can when �þ��� for the next year.”

Okada is the daughter of Ron and Ann Okada of Strongsville, Ohio.

An English major and Honors Fellow from Duluth, Georgia, Whitaker regularly earned President’s List and Dean’s List honors throughout his collegiate studies, and he participated in the Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Tau Delta honor societies.

Whitaker was active with the co-ed a capella group Twisted Measure and he served as a SPARKS peer educator, �þ��� students about healthy lifestyle behaviors and the risks involved with drugs and alcohol. Whitaker also was active in New Student Orientation and the Epsilon Sigma Alpha co-ed service sorority, and he was inducted this spring into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

At the conclusion of his Fulbright service in Malaysia, Whitaker plans to earn a graduate degree in higher education and student affairs with the goal of one day working in a division of student life for a college or university.

“It is an indescribable honor to have been chosen for this fellowship,” he said, “and I can’t wait to get started.”

Whitaker is the son of Diane Whitaker of Duluth, Georgia, and Mark Whitaker of Winder, Georgia.

ABOUT THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM:

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered through the Institute of International Education, the Fulbright was established in 1946 by Congress to “enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

Since its establishment under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 325,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

�þ��� students and alumni interested in fellowships such as the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award should contact the Office of National and International Fellowships at (336) 278-5729.

Layne also led a workshop for faculty during the “Dean’s Hour.” The hour-long workshop, “Whose Teaching? Whose Learning” An Exploration of Student-Teacher Collaborative Partnerships” attracted approximately 20 faculty members, who were guided through individual and collaborative activities that explored questions and issues of  reciprocity in �þ��� and learning.

Coming from the Caribbean nation of Barbados and having taught in Kingston, Layne brought a perspective and Caribbean dimension to her paper titled “Transforming Higher Education: Restructuring Space and Minds.” The paper forms part of the chapter from her forthcoming book, Global Innovation of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education: Transgressing Boundaries (London: Springer Press, 2014).

To read more about Both Sides of the Story, visit http://go-jamaica.com/power/pp-bothsidesofthestory.html

Intense preparation, long discussions, and shared readings define this courtship; we look beyond ourselves to examine the role of the arts and the media in the fight of individuals, groups, and nations for civil rights and democracy; we draw on the knowledge of experts from all sectors of society to improve our understanding of the complex racial dynamics of South Africa and the United States and to compare the impact of segregationist policies on various communities; we give back, working with community partners in service projects that meet community needs, provide a deeper understanding of course content,  an enhanced sense of civic responsibility, and a greater interest in and understanding of community life. More importantly, however, this experience leaves everyone with a deeper appreciation of the pleasures and values of literature and culture, and a new perspective on their power to change oneself and the world. 

If you are looking for this kind of meaningful relationship, then come meet us Feb. 25 in McKinnon F from 5:15 – 6:15 p.m. for more information about the new Summer 2014 program and Winter 2015.

The conference was hosted Feb. 6-7, 2014, by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

In the interactive, 75-minute session, participants tackled the almost-taboo notion that international educators can and should derive professional and personal outcomes from their work leading students arboad, including research and publication opportunities. In a series of group and individual exercises, participants discussed and explored how to maximize the benefits of their work in study abroad. 

All the participants rated the session as excellent. Among their comments, some noted that the session was “thought-provoking,” “extremely useful” and “engaging.” 

This is the second consecutive year Layne has led a workshop for WISE. Her previous workshop, “How to Enter Culture to Gain Intervultural Competency,” was also highly praised and rated by the more than 50 participants who attended.

Layne has led various international education workshops on topics related to diversity, marketing and service-learning in study abroad to educators and staff across the globe. For more information about the  WISE conference, visit . 

To learn more and to schedule an international education workshop for your group or organization, email playne@elon.edu