Alumni News
Anastasia Shown, MSW'07
Amanda Grant, MSW'07
Anastasia Shown, MSW’07
In the 2007 SP2 Review, we highlighted Anastasia Shown, MSW’07, and the ways in which she shaped her social work education to complement her devotion to Africa. Last month we checked in with her to see how she has been putting her passion into practice as the Assistant Director of the African Studies Center (ASC) at Penn.
Simply stated, the position is a perfect fit for Anastasia. The combination of her personal ties to Ghana, the time she spent living there as a student and volunteer, and her critical understanding of the strengths and needs of the continent have created a wealth of knowledge that she is eager to share. For instance, she is quick to point out that Kwame Nkrumah, one of the most influential Pan-Africanists of the 20th century and former president who led Ghana as the first black African country independent from colonial rule, earned two Masters Degrees from Penn.
The African Studies Center is one of only 11 such National Resource Centers in the country, and receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Through its programming, the African Studies Center “brings together researchers and students, along with cultural, business and media entities, to gain knowledge of contemporary and historical Africa.” The ASC offers a major, minor, graduate certificate and language courses in 8 African languages. Anastasia is the Center’s contact for outreach activities.
Specifically, outreach at the ASC focuses on three areas: education, the media, and business. First, in terms of education, it offers free workshops for teachers, arranges for speakers to come to schools, and offers assistance with curriculum planning so that Africa is accurately represented in lessons. Next, the ASC fields daily inquiries from the media about Africa and acts as an information center. In addition to their goal of getting Africa in the news more often, they also urge for accuracy and balance in the media’s accounts of Africa. Third, the ASC is dedicated to assisting the business community in regards to investment in Africa. Through its website, outreach, consultative services, and programming, the Center is a national, regional, and local resource.
One of Anastasia’s big projects this year was partnering with the One Book, One Philadelphia project. Alumni in the Philadelphia area have probably heard of One Book, One Philadelphia, and are aware that this year’s selection was What is the What by David Eggers. Because of the novel’s focus on Africa – it is a story about the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ – Anastasia and the ASC played a key role in creating tangible connections between the book and Africa. For example, they linked organizers to Philly’s African restaurants, who then served as community partners and caterers for One Book, One Philadelphia events. One Book, One Philadelphia also highlighted the myriad ways SP2 constituents are active in the community: while Anastasia coordinated things from the ASC’s end, fellow SP2 alum Gerri Trooskin, MSW’06, served as OBOP’s Project Manager, and Marie Field, a member of the SP2 Board of Overseers, served as its Chair.
But Anastasia’s work isn’t limited to Philadelphia. Recently, she led a delegation of Penn faculty and staff to Ghana to develop Ghana as one of Penn’s core international partners. Although travel comprises only a small part of her job, she is always looking for ways to connect SP2, Penn, Philadelphia, and the larger community to Africa. During her last trip, she met with the chair of a social work department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, who was eager to build social work partnerships with Penn. She is keenly aware of the mutual benefits that result from establishing valuable partnerships, and how much both sides can offer each other. For more about Anastasia’s work and the African Studies Center at Penn, visit www.africa.upenn.edu.
Amanda Grant, MSW’07
Amanda Grant, MSW’07, leads the Department of Special Education at Sebastian Kolowa University College (SEKUCo) in Magamba, Tanzania. In this role, she not only teaches but is also helping to “develop the school’s and the country’s first special education program.” Amanda points out that her “background as a special education teacher and [her] degrees – a BS in special education from the University of Arizona and an MSW from Penn – laid a dynamic foundation” for the work she is doing now. But even with that background, and the six weeks she spent in Magamba between her first and second years in the MSW program, she explains that “much of her job had to be learned in the country.” Although her first few months in Tanzania included “language lessons and a crash course in university systems,” by October she was “teaching to packed lecture halls.” Amanda sent the following email in March, updating SP2 on her work:
It is mid-semester at Sebastian Kolowa University College in Magamba, Tanzania. The campus is quiet and I am completing grading of last semester’s exams. The distance from graduation in June to mid-semester in February is a few months and thousands of miles in space and culture. This is written on a battery powered computer, a necessity on a campus where power flows sporadically. At the moment, U.S. President Bush is leaving Arusha via Kilimanjaro Airport. Our faculty has tracked the presidential party’s route through the country. They passed a few kilometers to our west on the way from Dar to Arusha.
One can imagine the traffic in Arusha today. There is only one traffic light called by most of us the “robot” to control the flow of trucks, busses and DallaDallas. Our local offices are a block up from the United Nation’s court for the Rwandan genocide. One hopes that the Presidential journey has not slowed the crawl to justice in East Africa.
Much has been made of the United States’ commitment to providing drugs for AIDS children. Here we can attest to the commitment. However, for those of us with a heart for social policy and practice there is much to be done. A few days ago, I held an AIDS child whose life has been made possible [by an] inexpensive drug treatment. I also held a child without parents far from her community. She lives in an orphanage not equipped for a multiyear care-giving program. An implication of “policy” is clear: regular blood tests must be completed multiple times per year. It’s a multi-person, multi-day process hosted kilometers away. Budget priorities are changed by this expense. It is probable that no family will assume the cost and challenge.
SEKUCo’s students are drawn from across the Tanzanian social economic spectrum. Many have taught for years and now are pursuing an undergraduate education. Our district is short at least 1,200 teachers. Our curriculum, with a bit of help from the Philadelphia academic community, is unique in the region. We have built our course from the perspective of the special needs child and offer the hope that all students will benefit from the application of inclusive social practices and educational methods.
As I review what is written above, I realize again how many kilometers away from SP2 I am. I realize at the same time that the commitments we share are best explored at the margins of world society. So … Caster at Penn and SEKUCo in Magamba are but a graduation away. It’s an experience of a lifetime.
Sincerely,
Amanda Y. Grant, MSW ‘07
Amanda will be returning to the United States in July. More about her work at SEKUCo is available on her website.