Telling Your Story

One of the most important dimensions of any immersion-learning journey is finding the best way to tell our stories on our return. When told well, the stories give our listeners a glimpse of the experience we had, and can help them understand in a vivid and personal way the continued impacts of structural injustice. Our stories thereby magnify the power of our own experiences by motivating others to act with us in new collaborations for justice.

After an immersion-learning journey, most of us are eager to share our insights and experiences. But in telling a story that is deeply rooted in the hope for social justice, it is just as important to share how we made meaning of the experience. As you process your journey and begin to decipher its meanings, remember that this is an ongoing process: you don’t yet know the whole story, because it’s still unfolding within you. The meanings that will arise from your experience are still ripening. Have patience with yourself.

There is no need to understand all at once the ways you’ve been changed or impacted; there is no need to be sure of a path for action, nor is it really possible. But it will help you in the weeks and months ahead if you capture some of your early impressions after returning home, particularly the feelings and insights that make you more determined to act for justice, even if the path of that action is not yet clear.

Begin to write an outline of one or two key stories you want to tell about your journey. When you consider places you might tell your stories, support them when possible with photos you or others on your journey have taken, which help to make real the people and the setting you’re conveying.