Stephanie Sather and a group of her college peers have bypassed white-sand beaches for their spring break and instead embarked on an interfaith service trip to New York City.
Sather, a University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, student and Littlefork-Big Falls School graduate, was among 29 Muslim and Christian students from the Lutheran Campus Ministry and Al-Madinah Cultural Center to embark on a week-long visit to the Big Apple.
But they are not there simply for the sights. They are using the time to reflect on the impact negative messages about religions have, and to engage each other in conversations that might otherwise not happen on a Midwestern college campus. They are also performing community service at New York food pantries and kitchens.
“The conversations that have grown out of this have been very thoughtful and within the dark places of the subject matter, we have looked for places of hope,” Sather said. “This has made us see that small acts of service and being open minded can go a long way and we can positively impact our world.”
She explained that one of the reasons her Lutheran group decided to work closely with the Muslim group was due to what she saw as inappropriate stereotypes perpetuated after the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks in New York. Afterwards, demonstrations about Park 51, the Islamic center near the site of the World Trade Center, caused her and members of her group to want to learn more about their college friends who practiced Islam, she said.
“I decided to go on this trip because in my time at the University of Minnesota, I have become friends with Muslim students and their faith was nothing like that which has been described by the media,” Sather explained from New York via email with The Journal. “Islam is not a violent religion and shares many common values with Christianity. I believe that with these common values, we can work together to make a positive impact in our communities, nation and world. By being curious about each other from various cultural and religious backgrounds and celebrating our differences while at the same time recognizing our similarities, the fear or misunderstanding that come along with the unknown disappears.”
It has been a learning experience for those on the trip, she said, as notions of tolerance and finding common inspiration have led to bonding.
“This group has provided a safe place for us to be open and honest with each other and to ask questions about one another’s faith,” Sather said. “Both the Christian and Muslim students on this trip care deeply about living out a faithful life in service, and this is what has really united us.”
One of the things Sather said she found most important was the class divide that is easily noted in the multicultural melting pot.
“New York has been a shocking reality of just how out of proportion access to resources is in this county,” she said. “New York City exemplifies the income inequality gap like no other city in the U.S.”
The group split into four groups and went to different sites throughout the day. There, they were charged with preparing and serving meals or working at food pantries. During these visits, the interfaith group was able to perform community service while also bonding with the group and meeting people of different faiths.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), my group prepared and served breakfast at a church in Manhattan. As we entered the building, there were people sleeping on the floor or in the pews of the sanctuary to sleep for a while before breakfast. The doors to the church open at 6 a.m. and an estimated 75 percent are homeless, so they do not have a comfortable place to sleep through the night most of the time.”
Sather said as she waited, she noticed carts, suitcases, and various bags against the wall. “And then it hit me — those were all the belongings some of them had, the equivalent of what I packed for my trip here,” she wrote. “This was further driven home as a watched a woman pick up her suitcase and pull it behind her half dragging it as there was only one wheel on the suitcase.”
After that experienced she saw the other side of the city. “The extremely wealthy side — expensive stores, huge skyscrapers, men and women in business suits, people lining up around the barricade of security personnel and NYPD (New York Police Department) officials to catch a glimpse of Tina Fey and other cast member of 30 Rock at Rockefeller Center.”
The group toured the United Nations, the World Trade Center site and the nearby Park51 Islamic Center.
The group has been fundraising since they decided to take the trip, she said. This is the first such trip including members of both Al-Madinah and Lutheran Campus Ministry.
And while the negative stereotypes and income gaps proved there was still work to be done, Sather said her trip has given her hope for the future.
“Already it has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “Through this experience, I have seen what we could be as people — it is a vivid picture of hope in a time when there are many difficult challenges facing us with poverty, environmental concerns, and acts of violence abounding.”
