Students aid Italian quake victims

Leaving for L’Aquila at 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22,­­­­­­­­ the 22 Pepperdine students and three members of the faculty family in Italy put International Programs’ motto of “Crossing Boundaries” into action as they aided the victims of the devastating earthquake of April, 2009.

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the city of L’Aquila, killing nearly 300 people and damaging thousands of buildings; some nearby towns were nearly completely leveled.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” said sophomore Beverly Cawyer. “I only knew we were going to help and work hard but didn’t know what that would end up like.”

The effects are still very evident in the city of L’Aquila, which is the capital of the Abruzzo region. Parts of the city were ghost towns, fenced off because they are still too dangerous to walk through. Between 4,000 and 6,000 of L’Aquila’s roughly 300,000 residents still live in tents as they wait for temporary housing.

“When we went into the epicenter of the earthquake, the damage was shocking, but it put all of our work in perspective to see what the people we were serving went through,” said sophomore Greg Pinizotto. “It felt nice that we could do something to help them out and just be able to love them.”

Elizabeth Whatley, Florence program director, initially had the idea for the service project when talking to Iacopo Braschi, a Florentine who has been involved in various activities with the Peperdine Florence program the past four years. Braschi helped in L’Aquila over the summer. Whatley said she saw the trip as a great service opportunity and a way to interact with the community.

“I hoped that the students would be able to understand the severe damage [to] and need of the city,” Whatley said. The project also gave students a chance to practice their Italian and stretch their cultural experiences. 

“One of the goals of International Programs is to get students immersed in the culture,” she said. “Volunteering is one way of doing this, especially because Italy is a country based on service, so it is a good way to become part of the Italian culture.”

Students spent the weekend doing many different projects. One group worked in a convent, wrapping mattresses, building windows and painting in preparation for it to open as temporary housing.

 Another group worked at La Croce Rossa (the Red Cross) preparing, serving and cleaning up meals for people who had lost their homes and were living in the shelter temporarily. Other projects included helping with the final stages of renovation on a house and clearing out debris.

“The thing that surprised me the most was how much of a community they had formed in the camp,” said sophomore Chandis Welton, who worked at La Croce Rossa. “In the dining experience alone it was like a big family. They were very concerned about making it feel like a community.”

The service was the purpose of the trip, but the cultural barriers crossed made more significant impressions on many of the participants from both the United States and Italy.

“Initially, I think they showed their excitement in ways we perceived as annoying and in your face, and at times we felt like we weren’t welcome, but it was a cultural miscommunication. By the time we left, I knew what we had done had made an impact because I could see it in the eyes of the people we were working with,” Cawyer said.

This trip allowed the Italians to see a side of Americans that they are often not exposed to with their interactions with tourists. Whatley said every Italian person she told about the trip was impressed that students would take their time to help out Italy.

“I had a lot of fun serving with Italians; they couldn’t really understand why we would want to help them with their problem, but were just really thankful,” Welton said. “Really, we are guests in their country so it’s the least we can do.”

Students said the service project provided a means for Pepperdine students to interact with the culture in a more intimate level then just day-to-day interactions and created a greater connection and understanding between the cultures.­­

“This opportunity to serve not only follows Pepperdine’s mission but is also important because it allows the students a chance to give back to Italy, who is constantly serving us,” Domeyer said. “Even if it’s small, it makes me feel like I’ve done something in return.”

The project exemplifies a tradition of service that takes place at all of Pepperdine's international campuses, according to Malika Rice, director of admissions and student affairs for the IP office. Efforts include community cleanup and involvement with local churches in Heidelberg, working at Bethanie retirement center and a refugee camp in Lausanne, and bringing food to children's hospitals in Buenos Aires. Rice emphasized, however, that students enrich their own lives and the communities around them through a variety of projects in each program.

“Our students don't just talk about [service]— they get involved and serve," she said. "It sounds like a cliche when everyone comes back talking about life-changing experiences, but when you talk to them about helping a 90-year-old woman in Lausanne, you see [the effect it had]."