Links between USA and Africa

I attend the Perspectives on the African Experience for extra credit this past Thursday evening. During this presentation, there were two global peace films shown. These films were very interesting especially the second one. After the films, Jennifer from the International Studies Office gave a presentation about study abroad opportunities in Africa. To be honest, I have never considered studying abroad in Africa. South Africa, Egypt and an African Safari are on my list of places to see and things to do before I die; however, due to the media’s interpretation of African issues and crime I would probably never spend more than a week in any African country. I believe that the places that I want to visit in Africa and the length of time are shared by the majority of Americans. This presentation provided me information that Africa is not as bad as the media portrays it, but my personal view of Africa will not be changed until I have my own experience of Africa through my visit there.
During the lecture I began to realize that the main issue with the lack of understanding of Africa is because there are very few links from United States to African countries; however, there are lots of links from Africa to the United States. The visiting Disney workers from Africa knew a lot more about America then the Rollins students knew about Africa. I believe that the steps that Rollins College is making to increase these connections between through classes, lectures and study abroad will begin to increase links between Rollins students and African culture and countries.