Week 3: Milwaukee

We spent time with a variety of schools in Milwaukee this week that shed light on how diverse this city really is. A highlight of working with some many different students has been the exchange of information being shared during class visits. Our discussions take many different paths depending on what students are learning about in class and how they relate the Millennium Villages Project to their own communities. As much as Robert and I share a lot of information with students, we have learned a lot from them as well.

Many of our conversations are ignited by reviewing the Eight Millennium Development goals and asking students to think about which goals their own communities are struggling to achieve still. Many students pointed out that Reducing Infant Mortality is a challenge Milwaukee continues to struggle with and directly correlates with the city’s stark racial divide. Indeed, it appears Milwaukee has the highest infant mortality rate among African Americans in the country. While these are harsh realities for students to address, discussing these issues in the context of examining how other communities (halfway around the world!) have addressed these challenges facilitate a deeper understanding at how we can approach and change these realities in our own backyard.

Earlier in the week we spent the day with our first Middle School, Humboldt Park in Bayview, Milwaukee. We were incredibly impressed at the level of engagement and curiosity these younger students had while visiting the bus. At one point while chatting with a group we figured out that out of the 7 DIFFERENT languages were being spoken out of a group of only 12! In these moments it is almost overwhelming to think about all the different experiences and perspectives being shared on the bus.