 "Photo: Daniel Jerez")
The National Association of Social Work, as one of the highlights to their social worker exchange program, selected the Jane Adams College of Social Work as a point of interest on Tuesday.
The NASW program invites social workers from various Latin American countries and South Africa to come to Chicago while sending Chicagoan social workers to other countries. The goal of the program is to allow both parties to see what are the successful practices in the various programs throughout the world in order to form a collective effort, the result of which will be to provide the best possible social services.
Javen Owens, who organized the visit, stressed the importance of programs like the social worker exchange which help agencies do a better job of serving their communities. He is also proud of the Illinois chapter.
"It's very unique. It's the only chapter that has a program like this," said Owen. Owen mentioned that it was because of the reputation the JACSW has that it was selected.
The delegation Owens invited was from various agencies and professions in Mexico City. The delegation included several professors from The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), a psychologist, two federal social workers, a state social worker and a private sector worker.
The Jane Adams College of Social Work took the opportunity to host the event to share with the delegation what it is that separates this program from the rest of the country.
Dean Creasie Finney Hairston tried to make the delegation feel as comfortable as possible, "I've been working on my Spanish. While I am not good enough to conduct the entire presentation in Spanish, I do have some slides that I want to read in Spanish."
While the delegation members all understood English, the gesture was well received and appreciated.
After Dean Finney Hairston highlighted the various components of the college of social work, Associate Dean Faith Johnson Bonecutter provided the delegation with specifics.
While most of the dialogue occurred through the help of a translator, the two parties were able to share a meaningful discussion.
The delegation was curious to know the size of the college. Dean Finney Hairston replied, "We have the largest program in the country at 450 students." This was interesting to the several members of the delegation since the program at UNAM has about 1,300 students.
The difference in the sizes of the two programs led to questions about the educational systems of the two countries. Both the members of the delegation and their UIC hosts were surprised to find out that while the two systems set up the various levels, both educational systems ultimately take the same amount of time to get a masters degree: 18 years of total education.
Both Dean Finney Hairston and Associate Dean Johnson Bonecutter were able to answer all of the questions from all members of the delegation. The delegation ended their visit by presenting Dean Finney Hairston with a gift as a token of their gratitude.
The delegation was scheduled to visit some of the suburban social work agencies before returning home.
The event proves that even though language was an obvious barrier, when two parties sit down to discuss ideas on how to improve the system, communication is never a problem.
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